What a wacky ass day I've had

[JonInMiddleGA]

Not that too many people will give a rip probably, but it was just such a freakin' rollercoaster that I thought I'd tell the story. If nothing else, maybe it'll help me wind down a little.

The schedule for today was pretty straightforward
1) Son has the interview portion of the entrance exam this morning, and we get the results back from the written entrance exam he took a couple of weeks ago.
2) Have lunch
3) Go look at two houses, reasonably promising, both in outstanding proximity to aforementioned school (one less than five minutes away, the other less than 10). Just before leaving home this morning, I called the agent & asked him to try to add one more house to the list today, since it was about 10 minutes further away but was priced well & we were already in the general neighborhood anyway. It was basically a "might as well, while we're there" kind of thing.

So, we go to the interview with the lower grade headmaster & Will totally aces it. Never betrayed how nervous he had been about this for days (really he was more sweating the results on the written stuff), cool as a cucumber, answered the questions he was asked, was conversational at the right times, wasn't too tight or too loose. I swear, if he interviews for jobs the way he handled this, he maybe never miss out on a job he applies for. Majorly proud parent moments throughout, as he seemed to finally take to heart the advice I'd been giving him all along "Just be Will. Don't try to guess the "right" answer, don't "try" anything, just be yourself. That's more than good enough for any situation, just be Will and everything will be fine."

That's the good news. And the fact that he apparently blew the written test out of the water too (they never showed us the actual results, but the comments they made were pretty clear about how he did).

The bad news: they are maxxed out for applicants for his upcoming class, they may not have a single student not returning for next year, meaning that there's no room at the inn no matter how hot his scores were. Factor in preferences given to children of alums & sibilings of current students & the chances are not in his favor. :( Major props to the headmaster for his outstanding effort to make it absolutely clear to Will that if he ultimately doesn't get invited to attend this year that it has absolutely nothing to do with him, that it just an unfortunate numbers game. No matter how things eventually turn out, I'll always remember & appreciate how hard he tried to emphasize that point & I'm happy to say that the message appeared to get through (Will tends to take on more blame than he should, even when things are out of his control).

Bottom line is that we're probably looking at going on a waiting list, with poor chances for getting him in during the 06-07 school year (3rd grade), expected less than 50-50 for 07-08 (4th grade), and probably not much better than 50-50 in 08-09 (5th grade, when they expand from 2 classes per grade to 3 per, creating 18 new slots). We won't know anything for sure until early April, when the invitations or waiting list letters go out.

Well, needless to say that was a bummer, since this school had emerged as the heavy favorite over all the other options in the area and we're really torn about what choice #2 is/should be.

Get back to the car, check phone messages (since we're away from the office at a pretty busy time) and have one from another agency that we joined to pitch for a pretty significant piece of new business last week. We were up against five other agencies & were supposed to hear a decision yesterday (Monday). No news yesterday, so in this case we figured that wasn't good news.

Wrong.

Phone message went something like "We DID IT! Just got the call, we've been chosen as the agency of record for XXX. The client just called, he said that we were the only agency who presented that showed any research or background material, and that the dedication & effort we showed by doing that put us ahead of everyone else."

Remember last week, when I mentioned that I was trying to plow through a big pile of very tedious work? Guess what I was doing? Yep, I was doing the stuff that was named as the difference maker on a deal that will last through at least the end of 2007. This is big time news for us. I haven't mentioned it (and still don't want to go into much detail to be honest) but things with our main client (damned near "only" client) have become extremely unstable in the past couple of months. Internal politics beyond our control or influence may leave us out in the cold much sooner rather than later & things have been pretty bleak here on the homefront because of it. This new deal (which is a long & crazy story in its own right) replaces more than 60% of the revenue we're expecting to lose pretty soon. It's not a complete solution, but it'll sure as heck keep the wolves away from our door for a good bit longer.

Sad to say, we're so bummed by the school situation that I don't think any of us were able to really enjoy what should have been a pretty big time celebration. Meanwhile, my enthusiasm for the two houses to see was pretty much killed. I mean, damn, if you aren't going to be dealing with that school, who wants to look at the place every single day? That's too much like having to see a girl you have a mad crush on but who told you she could never think of you as anything but a friend. Sorry, there's enough stress in life that occurs naturally without having to invent shit to go through.

Still, the agent had driven nearly two hours to meet us there, so we'll go through the motions.

First house isn't bad. Smallest house in a killer neighborhood, about 4200 square feet (avg in the subdivision is probably 6500-7500). Quiet neighborhood, right across the street from the school entrance. House needs quite a bit of work though, between interiors (carpet, appliances, etc), blowing out some walls to make the house function better for our routines, adding a 3-car garage to up the re-sale value, looking at spending about 40%-50% on top of the purchase price to get it right for us. That figure is about the top end of what we're prepared to spend right now, probably a little above what I'm really comfortable with. But, theoretically, it's doable & could be serviceable ... and after months of searching, that makes it a definite contender.

Second house was good, but considerably too small. And the style & materials for the home (a stucco exteriored French Provencial) really made trying to add on to it a nightmarish task, if it could be done at all. Good house really, priced reasonably for the area, but it just wouldn't work for us.

So, it's off to the final house on the list, the one I added at the last minute & really more on a whim than anything else. Hmm ... makes a very good impression from the road, a fairly imposing brick structure that looks very solid. Inside, well, it needs a lot of updating (carpet, appliances, paint, etc) but otherwise seems much more solid than usual. Turns out the owner is a retired Navy Submarine Commander, with a Harvard MBA and a nice financial consulting firm. Read that as: the house is pretty squared away. It isn't perfect & will need a few structural changes inside to make it more suitable but even with the addition of a pool (Item #1 on Will's priority list), the work would run about 25% of the purchase price, probably the least amount needed on any house we've looked at to date. The neighborhood itself has a lot of appeal: we're near the end of a cul-de-sac, with neighbors that consist of 3 doctors, a retired Westinghouse exec, and 2 very high-ranking UGA officials. Just the sort of neighbors we really want: the kind that are likely to have as little interest in us as we have in them (usually referenced by me as "I'm looking for a new house, not 10 new best friends"). It is, by a pretty big margin, the most house for the money we've seen yet. Only one big downside ... it's about 4 miles on the wrong side of a county line, lying in Clarke County rather than Oconee County. And among other things, that means property taxes that are roughly tripled.

So, we're torn a bit, but pending the outcome of some more research into that specific part of the county, we're leaning toward making an offer by the end of the week. We're going into this figuring that it's a fairly short-term house for us, 2 years give or take a little. It isn't the dream house of anybody in the family, but it seems more workable than any option on the table or on the horizon. And I figure if I've managed to survive 12 years in this one, I can spend 2 years just about anywhere ... if no fatal flaws turn up in the next couple of days that is.

All in all, a pretty doggone wacky ass day AFAIC.
I'm flippin' exhausted.

[Cuckoo]

4200 square feet? Wow, I need to do what you do...

[Lorena]

Funny how you had a wacky ass day, and the first person who responds to your post is Cuckoo :rolleyes:

[Fouts]

At first I thought he was applying to a college, but then saw that it was for the 3rd grade. Lot of pressure for an 8 year old.

[bbor]

Funny how you had a wacky ass day, and the first person who responds to your post is Cuckoo :rolleyes:


LOL

[JonInMiddleGA]

At first I thought he was applying to a college, but then saw that it was for the 3rd grade. Lot of pressure for an 8 year old.

Yeah Fouts, but whaddya do? I've got an (nearly) 8 year old who has tested out reading on an 11th grade level and is 5th grade+ in math ... when he's in the middle of the 2nd grade.

We believe you can't just ignore that sort of potential and not try to get him into a school where his ability will be maximized. And those are few & far between here, so the admissions are a pretty tough nut to crack (although in this case, it looks like we cracked all the nuts except the ones labeled "alumni preference", "sibling preference" and "maximum class size").

[JonInMiddleGA]

4200 square feet? Wow, I need to do what you do...

Eh, the house we're in now is right at 4000 sq. ft. and that was bought before we ever started our own business. (Granted, it was bought at a very low price because of the location and we've been in it for 12 years)

[Cuckoo]

Eh, the house we're in now is right at 4000 sq. ft. and that was bought before we ever started our own business. (Granted, it was bought at a very low price because of the location and we've been in it for 12 years)

Sooo... you hiring? ;)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sooo... you hiring? ;)

Nope ... how the hell do you think we can afford the new house? ;)

[ShaefIllini]

Yeah Fouts, but whaddya do? I've got an (nearly) 8 year old who has tested out reading on an 11th grade level and is 5th grade+ in math ... when he's in the middle of the 2nd grade.

We believe you can't just ignore that sort of potential and not try to get him into a school where his ability will be maximized. And those are few & far between here, so the admissions are a pretty tough nut to crack (although in this case, it looks like we cracked all the nuts except the ones labeled "alumni preference", "sibling preference" and "maximum class size").

I can't agree more with this. When I was in second grade my parents/teachers pushed me to get involved with the district's gifted program. While I wasn't necessarily thrilled with leaving many of my friends it turned out to be a huge benefit, even if I haven't reaped the real rewards as of yet.

[Fouts]

Yeah Fouts, but whaddya do? I've got an (nearly) 8 year old who has tested out reading on an 11th grade level and is 5th grade+ in math ... when he's in the middle of the 2nd grade.

We believe you can't just ignore that sort of potential and not try to get him into a school where his ability will be maximized. And those are few & far between here, so the admissions are a pretty tough nut to crack (although in this case, it looks like we cracked all the nuts except the ones labeled "alumni preference", "sibling preference" and "maximum class size").

Nah that's cool. All my kids have been or are in the GIFT program. I'm just trying to imagine my 7 year old stressing out about a test and interview. Kids seem pretty mature nowadays, and always surprise me on what they can handle. Maybe I'm just thinking about my own insecurities about failing.

[Eaglesfan27]

Yeah Fouts, but whaddya do? I've got an (nearly) 8 year old who has tested out reading on an 11th grade level and is 5th grade+ in math ... when he's in the middle of the 2nd grade.

We believe you can't just ignore that sort of potential and not try to get him into a school where his ability will be maximized. And those are few & far between here, so the admissions are a pretty tough nut to crack (although in this case, it looks like we cracked all the nuts except the ones labeled "alumni preference", "sibling preference" and "maximum class size").
I didn't want to threadjack about my own home search, but just a quick comment re: the schooling issue. I tested the same way except I was at a 11th or 12th grade math level (everyone including myself thought I was going to be an engineer until my Sophomore year of college) and about a 6th grade reading level when I was 8 or 9. My mom also took your attitude despite in her case being very poor. She managed to scrape together every dime possible and also we were lucky I got a partial scholarship. However, she managed to send me to a private school for a few years. Eventually, she just couldn't keep up with their tuitions, but those couple of years of doing higher level math and other higher level work in that private school had a profound affect on my future academic success. Just saying, that I know to many it seems like a lot of pressure for an 8 or 9 year old, but it can be quite productive..

[Raiders Army]

Funny how you had a wacky ass day, and the first person who responds to your post is Cuckoo :rolleyes:
Great observation!

[Honolulu_Blue]

Was this new business for the water filters? If so, I would like my percentage please.

I just bought a 3,500 sq. foot house and think it's huge. Massive. Granted, it's just Lady H_B and I at the moment, but, assuming all goes well with the new job here, we were planning on staying in that house for, well, pretty much ever. It's funny, the house we bought was owned by a German engineer and it gave off the similar impression of being much more solid/well maintained than usual, especially considering how old the house is.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Was this new business for the water filters? If so, I would like my percentage please.

I just bought a 3,500 sq. foot house and think it's huge. Massive. Granted, it's just Lady H_B and I at the moment, but, assuming all goes well with the new job here, we were planning on staying in that house for, well, pretty much ever. It's funny, the house we bought was owned by a German engineer and it gave off the similar impression of being much more solid/well maintained than usual, especially considering how old the house is.

Yep, or at least the bigger part of it was the water filters (there's another product in the company that's a much smaller part of their business). You already have my undying gratitude, surely there can be no greater prize ;)

I can't help but smile at the similarities to your comments about your old house and the ones we made about our (current) old house. 100 years old, not long after purchase I specifically remember commenting that "they can bury me under that apple tree out in the back yard as far as I'm concerned".
And I imagine you've seen my comments regarding how I feel about living here now. The overwhelming desire to be somewhere else (almost anywhere else) has little to do with the house though, it's about the location. It's already kind of sad to us about the house, we spent 12 years getting it brought back to its prime after years of neglect by previous owners, she's a grand old house really & we'll miss it when we're gone. I mean, it's the only place my son has ever known as "home" and it's been part of a lot of huge events in our lives so it'll always have sentimental value to us. But the over/under on how long before I land in prison (for succumbing to the definition of the word "stress") is getting smaller & smaller, I just can't take the accumulation of in-bred (literally in a number of cases) morons any longer.

Sorry ... strayed off on a tangent there I think.

The other similarity I noted was how you felt about the amount of space. When we bought this house it was by far the biggest I'd ever dealt with, it seemed almost cavernous to me. Now (and for a number of years), it's felt very cramped, too small, and generally like I was bumping into something all the time. Yep, that's a function of simply collecting more square feet worth of stuff than the house will comfortably hold ... but if my wife has to choose between me & her antiques, I'm well & truly screwed in the exchange, so I figure a bigger house is a much better option for me ;)

[Butter]

Is that Oconee County, South Carolina? If so, which town if you are willing to share?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Is that Oconee County, South Carolina? If so, which town if you are willing to share?

Sorry, Oconee County Georgia (next door neighbor to Clarke County, GA, which is Athens)

[Butter]

OK, b/c I lived in Oconee County, SC and there just isn't much there. So I was wondering.

[cartman]

I'm all for getting a house that's smaller than the surrounding houses. It drives the value of your house up, compared to a same sized house in an area where it is the average or bigger than average.

My place is a little over 3,000 sf, and it's just me living here. Most of the houses around me are 4000+, with a new one just built that is 12,000! :eek:

I've been reading about Solecismic's house build, and the stories others have shared about their house hunts. I guess I was just damn lucky in my search. I bought the only house I looked at. It was a repo, but only a couple of years old. It had been custom built on a 1.6 acre lot by a couple that divorced 6 months after they moved in. So it was basically a brand new house. They both walked away, and the bank assumed the note. It was a total of 36 days between first seeing the house and closing on it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Since I'm prattling on ... here's the house that's getting strong consideration
http://www.middlegaonline.com/images/Houses/maybehouseFrontExterior.jpg
http://www.middlegaonline.com/images/Houses/maybehouseFrontExterior2.jpg

[CamEdwards]

that looks like an awesome house, Jon.

[Eaglesfan27]

that looks like an awesome house, Jon.

I absolutely agree. From the outside at least, that house looks amazing.

[Honolulu_Blue]

That's no moon. . . It's a space station.

[FrogMan]

dear God Jon, this isn't asimply a house, it's a mansion! Seriously, looks like a very sweet place to call home. Good luck with the offer, if/when you make one.

FM

[Crapshoot]

To echo the sentiments, that looks amazing. To get something like that within the Boston city limits would set me back $1.5 mil plus - easily. :D

[CamEdwards]

To echo the sentiments, that looks amazing. To get something like that within the Boston city limits would set me back $1.5 mil plus - easily. :D

Hell, I'm 16 miles outside the Washington, D.C. limits, and a house smaller than Jon's would set me back a million or more.

I was actually talking to my wife last night. She'll probably be taking over the family business in a couple of years (cocoa processing), and will be working in Delaware. I'll presumably still be working in D.C., so it looks like we'll be moving to a good halfway point between the two. I might finally be able to get out of the real estate hellhole that is the D.C. metro area. Thank God!

[JonInMiddleGA]

To echo the sentiments, that looks amazing. To get something like that within the Boston city limits would set me back $1.5 mil plus - easily. :D

Okay, I was trying to stay classy & not get into the specifics of dollars, but this comparison makes me so happy that I can't resist.

I'll just say that the asking price is less than $500k.
(And now you know a little more about why we're so interested in the house. Even if I pay 100% of asking, I feel like I'm getting a good deal)

[wade moore]

Hell, I'm 16 miles outside the Washington, D.C. limits, and a house smaller than Jon's would set me back a million or more.

I was actually talking to my wife last night. She'll probably be taking over the family business in a couple of years (cocoa processing), and will be working in Delaware. I'll presumably still be working in D.C., so it looks like we'll be moving to a good halfway point between the two. I might finally be able to get out of the real estate hellhole that is the D.C. metro area. Thank God!
I grew up in the DC Area. I would have so many more career options, family close by, lifetime friends close by, etc if I moved back there.

I just can't fathom paying what it costs to live there. I have a small 1300 sq. ft house, yeah it's 75 years old, but it cost me $127k... if I was up there within 30 miles of DC it would cost me at least $300k if not $450 (even more the closer you get)... I just can't imagine...

[FrogMan]

Okay, I was trying to stay classy & not get into the specifics of dollars, but this comparison makes me so happy that I can't resist.

I'll just say that the asking price is less than $500k.
(And now you know a little more about why we're so interested in the house. Even if I pay 100% of asking, I feel like I'm getting a good deal)
don't know why you'd think you're not classy, that's an awesome deal and the whole situation (neighbourhood, location and such) makes it look like a slam dunk. Again, good luck with whatever decision you make.

FM

[JonInMiddleGA]

dear God Jon, this isn't asimply a house, it's a mansion! Seriously, looks like a very sweet place to call home. Good luck with the offer, if/when you make one.

Thanks, this has been so crazy a situation that I'm really happy to get some positive reinforcement.

To be honest, it's not as good on the inside as it is on the outside. The bathrooms & kitchen both need complete revisions, and the bedrooms are kinda funky due to being quite a bit larger than normal for guest/child rooms but too small for master BR's. (There may eventually be a wall coming down or something, we don't have that quite figured out yet). But the house is awfully sweet from the road view and, shallow though it may seem, that's worth more to me than I thought it would be. It gives such a good visual impression that I really think I'll enjoy pulling into my own driveway, and my general mental attitude certainly needs all the help it can get.

The basement area (aka "Jon's section") is amazing. It's fully finished & had enough space that it has housed five full-time employees at one point. And that's pretty sweet for me, considering I'll spend 99% of my waking hours in the part of the house.

I've got a lot of interior pictures I shot yesterday but I'm going to have to re-size them down to something manageable before trying to post them anywhere. Right now they're like superjumbomegawhopper pics.

[FrogMan]

Thanks, this has been so crazy a situation that I'm really happy to get some positive reinforcement.

To be honest, it's not as good on the inside as it is on the outside. The bathrooms & kitchen both need complete revisions, and the bedrooms are kinda funky due to being quite a bit larger than normal for guest/child rooms but too small for master BR's. (There may eventually be a wall coming down or something, we don't have that quite figured out yet). But the house is awfully sweet from the road view and, shallow though it may seem, that's worth more to me than I thought it would be. It gives such a good visual impression that I really think I'll enjoy pulling into my own driveway, and my general mental attitude certainly needs all the help it can get.

The basement area (aka "Jon's section") is amazing. It's fully finished & had enough space that it has housed five full-time employees at one point. And that's pretty sweet for me, considering I'll spend 99% of my waking hours in the part of the house.

I've got a lot of interior pictures I shot yesterday but I'm going to have to re-size them down to something manageable before trying to post them anywhere. Right now they're like superjumbomegawhopper pics.
not one house you buy will be to your specs, I mean they will almost always have stuff you need to improve/work on.

I'm not sure I caught how old it is but it looks structurally solid from the outside.

I just read the "I'm looking for a new house, not 10 new friends" comment and I couldn't agree more. This is worth a whole lot of money to me...

FM

[Honolulu_Blue]

I grew up in the DC Area. I would have so many more career options, family close by, lifetime friends close by, etc if I moved back there.

I just can't fathom paying what it costs to live there. I have a small 1300 sq. ft house, yeah it's 75 years old, but it cost me $127k... if I was up there within 30 miles of DC it would cost me at least $300k if not $450 (even more the closer you get)... I just can't imagine...
The DC prices are insane. It's one of the reasons I decided to move. The place I was renting was nice. It was a 2 bedroom town house on Capitol Hill (6th & D NE for those familiar with the area). It had a small, fenced in backyard, a nice living room and family room. I loved it, but it was old and the landlord had done very little to update/maintain the place. She did what was required, but almost always on the cheap. I have no idea what the square footage was, but I imagine it was somehwere around 1,200 or so sq. ft. I reckon that place would be listed at around $700K. A friend of mine bought a town house (not that big at all) in Clarendon (right behind the Crate & Barrel there) and it cost over $800K.

I would say the houses we were looking at in Michigan (in a decent area) ran about 1/3 of the cost they would in DC. We started looking at some houses in Detroit (South of 8 mile) for a while. Those were JiMGA-sized houses, built in the 20's for captains of industry when Detroit was thriving. Those houses were around 3,600 - 4,000 sq. ft. and ran anywhere from $250K - $400K depending on the state of them.

[Crapshoot]

Hell, I'm 16 miles outside the Washington, D.C. limits, and a house smaller than Jon's would set me back a million or more.

I was actually talking to my wife last night. She'll probably be taking over the family business in a couple of years (cocoa processing), and will be working in Delaware. I'll presumably still be working in D.C., so it looks like we'll be moving to a good halfway point between the two. I might finally be able to get out of the real estate hellhole that is the D.C. metro area. Thank God!

I know what you mean - my mother lives out the other side from you (Chevy Chase), and the housing market there is - frothing. Houses around her place are going for 30-40% more than she paid 2 years ago.

[CamEdwards]

That is a great deal, Jon. You should be proud.

As for the DC market, our lease is up next May. I'm thinking that would be an excellent time to move, considering our neighbors who own their homes have seen their property values increase by (no kidding) $140,000 in the past year. I know our landlord is going to jack up our rent, and quite frankly, I'm not willing to pay more than I'm paying now.

As it is, I already have a 45 minute commute. If we found a place that was about a 90 minute drive for me and a 90 minute drive for my wife, that would be acceptable. We want to stay out of Baltimore itself, but are considering areas to the northwest and southeast.

I'd love to live on the Eastern Shore, but I'm afraid that would be an impossible commute to do every day.

Sorry Jon, didn't mean to threadjack. :)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sorry Jon, didn't mean to threadjack. :)

Not a problem. Hell, we're like our own little mini-boom around here, we probably ought to start a "Housing Buy/Sell" permanent thread, kind of like the NHL, NCAA, etc. season threads ;)

[wade moore]

The DC prices are insane. It's one of the reasons I decided to move. The place I was renting was nice. It was a 2 bedroom town house on Capitol Hill (6th & D NE for those familiar with the area). It had a small, fenced in backyard, a nice living room and family room. I loved it, but it was old and the landlord had done very little to update/maintain the place. She did what was required, but almost always on the cheap. I have no idea what the square footage was, but I imagine it was somehwere around 1,200 or so sq. ft. I reckon that place would be listed at around $700K. A friend of mine bought a town house (not that big at all) in Clarendon (right behind the Crate & Barrel there) and it cost over $800K.

I would say the houses we were looking at in Michigan (in a decent area) ran about 1/3 of the cost they would in DC. We started looking at some houses in Detroit (South of 8 mile) for a while. Those were JiMGA-sized houses, built in the 20's for captains of industry when Detroit was thriving. Those houses were around 3,600 - 4,000 sq. ft. and ran anywhere from $250K - $400K depending on the state of them.
My brother bought a condo in Logan Circle inside DC...

650 Sq. Ft...

$330k...

[Honolulu_Blue]

My brother bought a condo in Logan Circle inside DC...

650 Sq. Ft...

$330k...
Wow. Logan Circle is cool location and all, but $330K for 650 sq. ft.? That's just about $461 per sq. foot. Wow.

[wade moore]

Wow. Logan Circle is cool location and all, but $330K for 650 sq. ft.? That's just about $461 per sq. foot. Wow.
Yup.. to his credit, he LOVES it.. he works on uhh.. 12th and K? Something like that... basically, a mile and a half away from his place.. he sold his car so he has no car and just loves the city life..

Not for me, especially for that price, but hey, I live next to a corn field ;)...

[Crapshoot]

Wow. Logan Circle is cool location and all, but $330K for 650 sq. ft.? That's just about $461 per sq. foot. Wow.

Eh - you'd pay more in Boston. On Comm Ave in Back Bay, apartments go for 500K for less than 600 sq ft.

[Mr. Sparkle]

My parents are going to be putting their house in Napa, CA on the market in the next month or so. Bought the land for $20k and built the house for $60k in 1979, now it will probably fetch somewhere between $1,000,000 to $1,200,000. It's only about 2000 square feet on a little less than an acre. Crazy part it whomever buys it will most likely just knock the thing down and build something new.

[Eaglesfan27]

Okay, I was trying to stay classy & not get into the specifics of dollars, but this comparison makes me so happy that I can't resist.

I'll just say that the asking price is less than $500k.
(And now you know a little more about why we're so interested in the house. Even if I pay 100% of asking, I feel like I'm getting a good deal)That is incredible. It also makes me wonder if I'm considering offering too much for my house that is about 800 square feet less ;)

Seriously, from what little data I have it sounds like that is a great deal.

[Eaglesfan27]

My brother bought a condo in Logan Circle inside DC...

650 Sq. Ft...

$330k...
And this post just made me absolutely giddy. Thank you :)

[wade moore]

And this post just made me absolutely giddy. Thank you :)
There's a reason I like to repeat it over and over to myself ;)...

[cartman]

My brother bought a condo in Logan Circle inside DC...

650 Sq. Ft...

$330k...

That's just about the same as my friends that moved from San Antonio back to San Jose. They bought a 1950s house, an Eichler I think is the style. It is 1200 sf, and it needed a lot of work when they moved in, to the tune of $60K. Things like rotted beams in the front, and not to code modifications by the previous owner, who BTW, offed himself in the garage. Due to that little fact, they got the house at a discount. $800K. And their dog refuses to step foot in the garage.

I told them they could have bought my house and the house next door for that kind of cash, and still have money left over to furnish both of them.

[Buccaneer]

Since I'm prattling on ... here's the house that's getting strong consideration
http://www.middlegaonline.com/images/Houses/maybehouseFrontExterior.jpg
http://www.middlegaonline.com/images/Houses/maybehouseFrontExterior2.jpg
Wow.

about 4200 square feet (avg in the subdivision is probably 6500-7500).
Just wow.

[FrogMan]

Since I'm prattling on ... here's the house that's getting strong consideration
http://www.middlegaonline.com/images/Houses/maybehouseFrontExterior.jpg
http://www.middlegaonline.com/images/Houses/maybehouseFrontExterior2.jpg
Jon, the more I look at that second pic of it, the more it reminds me of a town hall, :) very classy look...

FM

[Ksyrup]

Our 6-year old has been tested for gifted, but we haven't heard back on the final phase of the testing. I don't think she's reading anywhere near high school level, but she is reading chapter books in first grade.

On the housing issue...man, I must be doing something wrong. We're still living in a 1500 sq. ft. house, desperately needing another 500-1000 sq. ft. I'm hesitant to upgrade right now, though, because we're 2 years into a 10-year mortgage and if we can stick it out another 5+ years, we'll have a helluva down payment on the next house. I'm thinking about putting an addition on, in the interim. I don't know. But 4,000 sq. ft. seems way out of my league at this point.

[GrantDawg]

That house is somthing, Jon. I hope everything goes well. But I'm working the weekend you are moving. :)

[JonInMiddleGA]

But I'm working the weekend you are moving. :)

No matter what weekend that happens to be ? ;)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Figured I should update just a bit -- Earlier this evening I faxed over our initial offer on the house discussed in this thread. We didn't put a drop-dead time limit on the offer, so we'll see whether he gets back to us before or after the weekend.

Offer is about 6.5% below asking price, seller to pay all closing up to $8k (which won't cost nearly that much, so basically seller to pay closing costs). We'll see what he counters with. My prediction was him countering back at 2.5% below original asking & split closing, then us to 2nd offer at 4% under original ask + seller pays all closing). Hopefully then he'll either take the price but want to split the closing or up the price enough to cover the closing split.

If it follows that pattern (and passes subsequent inspections, etc.), then we'll have ourselves a new house, target for closing is end of April (we can't move until school is out in mid-May anyway, so we're not in any real hurry about closing).

[Eaglesfan27]

Figured I should update just a bit -- Earlier this evening I faxed over our initial offer on the house discussed in this thread. We didn't put a drop-dead time limit on the offer, so we'll see whether he gets back to us before or after the weekend.

Offer is about 6.5% below asking price, seller to pay all closing up to $8k (which won't cost nearly that much, so basically seller to pay closing costs). We'll see what he counters with. My prediction was him countering back at 2.5% below original asking & split closing, then us to 2nd offer at 4% under original ask + seller pays all closing). Hopefully then he'll either take the price but want to split the closing or up the price enough to cover the closing split.

If it follows that pattern (and passes subsequent inspections, etc.), then we'll have ourselves a new house, target for closing is end of April (we can't move until school is out in mid-May anyway, so we're not in any real hurry about closing).
Odd how many parallels there are between our experiences. We also made our offer tonight and are looking to close at the end of April.. :)

Hopefully, it goes well for both of us.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Odd how many parallels there are between our experiences. We also made our offer tonight and are looking to close at the end of April.. :)

Hopefully, it goes well for both of us.

LOL, I was posting to you in your thread to make sure you had seen mine after I read yours ... opened another window to grab the link to this thread ... and here you were already.

Good luck to ya'll, you deserve a smooth & trouble free transaction AFAIC.

[Eaglesfan27]

LOL, I was posting to you in your thread to make sure you had seen mine after I read yours ... opened another window to grab the link to this thread ... and here you were already.

Good luck to ya'll, you deserve a smooth & trouble free transaction AFAIC.
Good luck to ya'll too :)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Update time:

Around 4p, our agent called & told me to go check the fax machine, he would walk me through the seller's counter offer on the house.

Up the thread a bit my prediction was "him countering back at 2.5% below original asking & split closing"

The actual counter was 97.7% (or down 2.3%) of original asking BUT they agreed to cover all closing costs. Closing date is our option, either before 4/22 or after 5/2 (they're traveling in between).

We're countering back with just a small adjustment, which is to reduce their contribution to closing (we had put an $8k figure in there, actual closing costs are $4500 or less) and reduce the price by the exact same amount. In other words, the seller clears exactly what he was trying to clear in his reply. My guess is that we'll have a final deal settled by Monday.

[FrogMan]

similar to what I said in EF27's thread: looking good!!! :D

FM

[rjolley]

Congrats on the deal. Hope everything goes smoothly. The house looks great.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Bumpity with an update

We closed on the house Friday. Closing took a whopping 23 minutes from start to finish (we actually waited longer on everyone to arrive than the process around the table took). And, bonus, we only had to put 20% down instead of 25% to get the interest rate we wanted. Double bonus, somehow there was math error in the original paperwork or something, our actual out of pocket was $3,700 less than originally stated the day before, so we got to send a check back with our banker when we were finished (I was really impressed that the closing attorney cut a check for the difference on the spot instead of us waiting to wait for his next check run).

In addition, the whole school thing for Will seems to be working out. Our first choice didn't have space so he was put on the waiting list there but the Catholic school I mentioned in another thread had space in only one grade: the one he's going into. He apparently blew their tests out of the water and they were very positive about him attending next year. We got a much better vibe from them Friday when we dropped off some paperwork & the deposit than we got on the day he was there was testing & shadowing, so I feel a good bit better about the situation than I did at that point.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that when we got home Friday night, we got the quote from the contractor for the work we want done to the house. We'd had problems getting together with him (3 weeks of failed attempts) so he got his first look on Monday, and then worked up an estimate. Nothing quite like getting a quote that's 236% of anticipated budget. And an estimate of 10-12 weeks instead of the 8 weeks I was looking for. And that doesn't count the fact that we ballparked the addition of a pool too low in the first place (looks like the $25k we had guessed for that is going to be more like $35k-$40k).

So, instead of getting to enjoy the closing & the prospect of the new house I've spent the weekend about as dispirited, disenchanted, and disgusted as I can recall being in quite a while. The kind of despair that makes you just want to sleep in order to avoid being awake & having to deal with it.

Maybe, although it's only a maybe, there's a dim light in the tunnel though. Doing a little checking with someone who knows what's what in the contractor's area, we learned yesterday that he's just been asked to be part of what's basically the building of a new town (mixed-use development really I guess, but it's the size & scope of a small town - residential, commerical, the whole nine yards). It seems possible that he high-balled the quote in order to avoid taking our job since what's on his horizon is probably a 2-3 year project that'll take every crew he's got. Same source was able to recommend one good possible replacement for this guy and suggested at least three other possibilities.

So, maybe, just maybe, we aren't going to end up as screwed as it appeared Friday night. Then again, right now I feel like most lights at the end of the tunnel are probably going to be attached to a train.

[SirFozzie]

Grats, Jon!

[Eaglesfan27]

Sorry to hear the bad news. Glad to hear how smoothly the closing went on Friday. We close tomorrow morning on our place. Hopefully, it wil turn out that the contractor high-balled the quote.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Bottom line is that we're probably looking at going on a waiting list, with poor chances for getting him in during the 06-07 school year (3rd grade), expected less than 50-50 for 07-08 (4th grade), and probably not much better than 50-50 in 08-09 (5th grade, when they expand from 2 classes per grade to 3 per, creating 18 new slots).

25 months later ...

April 1, 2008

Athens Academy is pleased to invite ... to join the Class of 2016 for the school year 2008-09. It will be a pleasure to have Will join the fifth grade class.

Whew. I think my wife summed it up when she pointed out that she was accepted to a half dozen colleges with less than a tenth of the effort this has been.

[oliegirl]

Sweet! Congrats on the great news :) I've been thinking of trying to get Anthony into one of the local private schools, but I've pretty much missed the boat for 5th grade, so now I'm contemplating 6th grade...but with all the changes that will be coming - getting married, hopefully getting pregnant soon, transitioning to middle school, etc...I'm not sure another change at this point would be good for him. Being a parent really sucks sometimes, can't I just get someone else to make all these decisions for me?

Congrats again :)

[JeeberD]

Congrats :)

[JonInMiddleGA]

can't I just get someone else to make all these decisions for me?

http://www.fallacyfiles.org/Magic8Ball.gif

[Coffee Warlord]

Musta missed this thread the first run through. Congrats on the kid!

As an amusing side. My offer on my soon to be new home was accepted yesterday. Still waiting to find out if they will agree to the minor things that were uncovered by the home inspector, but it's pretty close to a done deal.

[Coffee Warlord]

Sweet! Congrats on the great news :) I've been thinking of trying to get Anthony into one of the local private schools, but I've pretty much missed the boat for 5th grade, so now I'm contemplating 6th grade...but with all the changes that will be coming - getting married, hopefully getting pregnant soon, transitioning to middle school, etc...I'm not sure another change at this point would be good for him. Being a parent really sucks sometimes, can't I just get someone else to make all these decisions for me?


I'll offer to help with the getting pregnant part. :D

[stevew]

did you manage to get the other house sold yet jon?

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

This would be a sick April fool's joke.

Congrats JIMGA. Best wishes to the little JIMGA and his new school.

[JonInMiddleGA]

did you manage to get the other house sold yet jon?

Nope :(

But our lead (yes, the same one) is actually as alive as ever. I mean, it's hard not to consider them a live lead when they've actually been paying their landscaping crew to work at the house, they've paid for minor repairs a couple of times in the past year, etc. It's a really screwy situation that is now waiting for them to sell off one of their properties elsewhere in order to be ready to close on ours.

[Galaxy]

Nope ... how the hell do you think we can afford the new house? ;)

Schmidty will not approve. :)

Your an entrepreneur?

[Galaxy]

Woops...Didn't realize the date of the thread.

[Izulde]

Congrats, Jon! :)

FWIW, I wasn't able to get involved in any type of gifted program until 7th grade and even then it was only partial.

There -was- a full-blown gifted program available earlier on in the public system, but admission into it was extremely political and often involved certain exchanges from the rumors I've heard.

Course this was back about 20-25 years ago. Don't know what it's like now.

That said, I think there's some valuable benefits to be gained from a public education.

[flere-imsaho]

Hey, Congrats!

[JonInMiddleGA]

This would be a sick April fool's joke.
Congrats JIMGA. Best wishes to the little JIMGA and his new school.

Thanks, not only to She-Rahn but to everyone who offered their congratulations.

As for the April 1st date, don't think for a second that didn't cross my mind.

[Klinglerware]

Congrats to your child for surviving the private school admissions process. Pretty soon, with all that fancy book-learnin' he'll be trained to look at the old man with a critical eye, if he isn't doing it already!:)

[Barkeep49]

Jon, congrats on this accomplishment. I work at a private school in an area with excellent schools and there is much of the same competition that you describe. I'm sure it makes you proud to have such a great kid and I hope this school is a better fit for Will's needs.