Househunting
So, as you may now be aware, my wife and I are actively hunting for houses.
We started casually looking about a year ago. Casually at that point because we didn't see any possible way that we'd ever be able to afford a house until we paid down some more debt and all. You get the picture. Between my loans and The Missus', we had at least another couple years before we could pay some debt off and save a down-payment.
Turns out God had a better plan.
My dad was a collector. Some people collect stamps. Some collect baseball cards. Some collect belly button lint.
My dad, when not ogling Mary Hart's legs on Entertainment Tonight and fighting his urge to drink alcohol, collected life insurance policies while they were going out of style. When he died in 1991, he had two known life insurance policies. But I've spent years looking for the unknown ones.
In February, my mom called and told me to go to the Minnesota Commerce Department's Unclaimed Property page because I had something waiting for me.
Turns out that something was about $16k in insurance money, which I finally received last month. Hence, the urgency in the house hunt rose quite a bit. What, with the low interest rates threatening to get higher based on Alan Greenspan's infernal ill-timed tinkering, we need to get a move on.
So, we got ourselves a mortgage broker, an agent (actually a family friend), and a lot of time looking at houses while driving around and wasting gas and surfing the 'net.
What we've found is usually disappointing, but I have to get used to the fact that given my poor credit history (too many pizzas and beers in college, not enough foresight) I'll have to start humble and work my way into Trump-dom.
The Missus is getting frustrated, though. She found the ultimate home while I was out on my boondoggle. The story was that the place was a bit small-ish, but had a party room in the basement with a wetbar, padded benches, and a Tiki-Room set-up.
I was, of course, away. We were also two days from having our home loan pre-approved, but that didn't stop my wife from making a bid on the home (with permission, of course...), only to find out it had been snatched from under us just hours before.
My wife will never recover from that shock.
So, last night we drove around North/Northeast Portland (affectionately known to some as "The DA Ghetto", whatever that means) and found three or four acceptable properties.
At least, we thought they were acceptable. The Missus did site visits today, and all reports are negative. And she is frustrated.
That, and it's hot out again.
So, she's not happy, and thus, I'm not happy.
Househunting is a *expletive*. I just hope we find something soon, so we can throw our much-anticipated Halloween party. Due to the fact that some may take offense at the theme, I'll just have to let you guess at that, or contact me and brown-nose for an Evite.
Anyway, enough of my whining.
Links
This is very, very bizarre, and also pretty sad.
***Updated material here.
Portland's Z100 gets national attention.
Imagine this police chase.
On your next DUII, compare your BAC to these famous athletes!
Well, that's all. Couple pictures to follow, then I'm out.
Catch ya later.
We started casually looking about a year ago. Casually at that point because we didn't see any possible way that we'd ever be able to afford a house until we paid down some more debt and all. You get the picture. Between my loans and The Missus', we had at least another couple years before we could pay some debt off and save a down-payment.
Turns out God had a better plan.
My dad was a collector. Some people collect stamps. Some collect baseball cards. Some collect belly button lint.
My dad, when not ogling Mary Hart's legs on Entertainment Tonight and fighting his urge to drink alcohol, collected life insurance policies while they were going out of style. When he died in 1991, he had two known life insurance policies. But I've spent years looking for the unknown ones.
In February, my mom called and told me to go to the Minnesota Commerce Department's Unclaimed Property page because I had something waiting for me.
Turns out that something was about $16k in insurance money, which I finally received last month. Hence, the urgency in the house hunt rose quite a bit. What, with the low interest rates threatening to get higher based on Alan Greenspan's infernal ill-timed tinkering, we need to get a move on.
So, we got ourselves a mortgage broker, an agent (actually a family friend), and a lot of time looking at houses while driving around and wasting gas and surfing the 'net.
What we've found is usually disappointing, but I have to get used to the fact that given my poor credit history (too many pizzas and beers in college, not enough foresight) I'll have to start humble and work my way into Trump-dom.
The Missus is getting frustrated, though. She found the ultimate home while I was out on my boondoggle. The story was that the place was a bit small-ish, but had a party room in the basement with a wetbar, padded benches, and a Tiki-Room set-up.
I was, of course, away. We were also two days from having our home loan pre-approved, but that didn't stop my wife from making a bid on the home (with permission, of course...), only to find out it had been snatched from under us just hours before.
My wife will never recover from that shock.
So, last night we drove around North/Northeast Portland (affectionately known to some as "The DA Ghetto", whatever that means) and found three or four acceptable properties.
At least, we thought they were acceptable. The Missus did site visits today, and all reports are negative. And she is frustrated.
That, and it's hot out again.
So, she's not happy, and thus, I'm not happy.
Househunting is a *expletive*. I just hope we find something soon, so we can throw our much-anticipated Halloween party. Due to the fact that some may take offense at the theme, I'll just have to let you guess at that, or contact me and brown-nose for an Evite.
Anyway, enough of my whining.
Links
This is very, very bizarre, and also pretty sad.
***Updated material here.
Portland's Z100 gets national attention.
Imagine this police chase.
On your next DUII, compare your BAC to these famous athletes!
Well, that's all. Couple pictures to follow, then I'm out.
Catch ya later.
posted by Rusty at 11:59 PM
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