Wednesday, 04 July 2007
My first job out of college was for the interactive arm of a full-service advetising agency here in Columbus. One of the biggest accounts I was responsible for was for a fairly large logistics company based out of the UK. The work I did on that account was pretty varied, and it often required conference calls with their web team located overseas, and figuring out a time that worked for everyone was always a headache. Since they're six hours ahead of us, that pretty much just gives us a two hour window first thing in the morning, and if you know me you know that mornings are not my preferred time for talking to anyone about anything, let alone describing to a room-full of Britons how to use their web-based content management system.
Independence Day always reminds me of working with them. I'm not exactly sure why, but every year when the holiday approached and we were trying to set schedules for a conference call, I always felt a little awkward acknowledging the upcoming holiday. You know, the one marking they day when we told them all to piss off. "Sorry, I'm not available for a call this Friday. I'll be out celebrating the day that, two centuries ago, my country's founders broke up with your country's leaders. Have fun working that day, I'll be sleeping in and then blowing things up."
Today is another sort of Independence Day in the Soell household. Today, July 4, 2007, January and I are officially debt free. Aside from the massive home loan we just signed off on, of course. No more credit card balance, no more car payment, no more student loans. It feels like a weight has been lifted off our collective shoulders, and it really makes going into dealing with mortgage payments and January's impending acceptance to grad school feel so much more manageable. I don't regret getting into the debt -- most of it put toward the wedding, which was well worth it -- but if you can avoid it I highly recommend it. Having that monkey on our backs for the last 9 months has been a strain, and going into a new house and factoring in grad school in a debt-free state is going to make a world of difference.
Saturday, 30 June 2007
The other night I was at the birthday party of a friend, discussing the house buying process with someone I had met once or twice. We had actually run into each other at an open house several months back. The conversation came to a halt, however, when he mentioned how much fun it was to look at all these houses.
No. It's not fun. It's heartache and depression.
After looking at every house available in Clintonville that wasn't going to cost us half of every paycheck, we finaly found one that seemed like a nice fit for us. Three bedroom, large back yard, great kitchen, hardwood floors, updated laundry area, and an asking price that was within negotiating distance of our budget. We were in love. That's when we came head to head with the first time homebuyers worst nightmare: the stubborn and out-of-touch homeowner.
After almost a week of trying to agree on a price by way of the "you come down by one thousand dollars, we come up by one thousand dollars" gambit, they decided to pull a power play: They announced that, they're so sorry, they didn't see in the original offer that we were asking for closing costs and all appliances. They then proceeded to "counter offer" with their same exact original offer, but with the slight change that their washer and dryer were not included. That's right, they counter offered with a worse offer than their previous counter offer. Their realtor made sure our realtor new that the washer and dryer were "brand new" and that the wife "just can't bring herself to part with them." After another half week of continued childishness on their part, including counter offers delivered up to a day past the deadline, they finally just stopped responding. Altogether. A deadline came and went and we didn't hear a thing. It's really tough when you finally find a house you can see living in for years only to find that the sellers aren't serious about selling the place.
At this point, I think both January and I resigned ourselves to the inevitable fate of renting for another year and saving up for a down payment. That's when fate stepped in. Fate, in the form of an email to our friend Katie. That Wednesday evening, at our weekly "Lost" party, she mentioned that she saw an email go out on the church message board that a couple was planning to move later this summer and they wanted to see if anyone was interested in their house. They were barely asking more for it than they paid four years ago, so January gave them a call and set up a time to look at it the next morning.
Two bedrooms, hardwood floors, large master bedroom, decent sized bathroom; Within 24 hours of that call, we had seen the place, discussed the price and timing with the current owners, and submitted an offer. A couple of counter offers later, involving only the timing of closing and possession, and we were in contract! Here's a quick look:
That's ours. The one in the middle. All three windows on the top floor are for the master bedroom.
A working fireplace! Almost every house we looked at before this one had, at best, decorative fireplaces.
One car garage. It's on the small side, so the plan is to renovate it into a studio where I can work during the day and January can work on her budding wedding photography business.
Working with the previous owners was such a great experience, especially in light of our experience negotiating on the first house. They were open with us about how much they wanted to get for the place, when they needed to be able to move out, and the entire process was just about as easy as I can imagine it being. We closed on the house on June 15, and letting them stay there until August 15 when they move to Boston. That's the only drawback: We went into contract on April 21, and we won't have possession until August 15. That's almost four months of looking forward to house-living while continuing to live in our apartment. But we're counting down the days now, so it won't be long until we stop throwing our money away on rent.
But you know does make me happy? Remember the first house, with the owners who passed on our offer because it included their $800 washer/dryer set that they couldn't part with? It's still on the market. With a new listing price below our last offer.
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
Shortly after meeting January's dad, Rex, for the first time, he gave me a little bit of advice. "Andy," he said, "if you're going to spend any time getting to know January, you need to know one thing. You had better be prepared to answer the question 'why' a lot." I remember not really being sure what to make of the comment at the time. This may have been the second or third time we had any real conversation and I wasn't quite sure if it was some sort of inside joke or not.
It wasn't.
This has become a regular point of joking between January and I, as she is constantly asking "why" to statements that typically do not warrant a "why" response. This has been most noticeable to me when it is in response to my statements indicating that I love her. For her, it's not enough to know that I do love her, she needs to know why I love her at that particular moment.
While I'm more than happy to explain it to her, over and over and over again, we've instituted a regular moratorium these queries. Once a week, every Wednesday, I have complete freedom to answer or disregard any and all "why" questions.
So, from me to you, happy "No Why" Wednesday.