We just put in a bid for our #1 house and the agents and seller are meeting on it right now.

We bid $30 K below the asking price.

They've been meeting for over an hour.

*nervous as hell*

Oh my goodness, I think we found someone who wants to buy our condo! And she's offering our asking price, minus the cost to install a washer/dryer in the second bathroom! Hurray!

But she would like to move in toward the end of June, which means we really have to move on getting a home of our own! We really like one in particular - great location, fully finished, landscaped yard, LOVELY kitchen, but I'm worried about the price. It's the most expensive home we're seriously considering. So we're torn between going for this more expensive home with everything done and pretty much everything we want or going for a cheaper home that we don't like as much. We definitely need to make offers by next week.

Also, does anyone know how long it can take to go from finalizing an offer to closing? That time frame where we would get an inspection and get the loan approved and the title set up and all that? I've read all sorts of ranges, from 3 weeks to 3 months. I'm worried we may be cutting things close.

I've been stressed about this whole thing for a while now. I've been sleeping like crap and having constant dreams of touring homes, ack. I'll be happier once we make a decision and figure out what our budget would be with a mortgage, utilities, insurance, and all that other stuff.

In science:

We got word from the journal today that my paper was accepted! This was the paper that encompasses most of my thesis work (6 years) plus the time it took to alter the paper per journal reviewer requests when we submitted it the first time (6 months). YAY! I'm so happy that we don't have to do yet more experiments - the topoisomerase assays are a real pain in the ass and I'm the only one in the lab that does them regularly.


On the housing front:

We've had two people look at the condo a few weeks ago, one of whom is now thinking about a house instead and the other is talking finances with his parents. A med student came through tonight with her parents and another is coming tomorrow morning. It's nice to have these two visits spaced so close together so we only have to clean the place once. A fifth person from Stanford has also shown interest - the bf is actually talking to him on the phone as I type. So that front is promising!

We spent last weekend looking at homes and we plan on going to open houses and touring with an agent this weekend too. We've seen about 2 dozen homes. So far we've found one great home that has EVERYTHING we want...except it appears to be the most expensive one in the neighborhood. And I've been told that it's far better to buy a cheaper house in an expensive neighborhood than an expensive home in a cheaper one. So that house looks to be out. Hopefully we'll find something great this weekend!


We're going to go out and celebrate right now and then...BSG YAY! :)

I spent all of Wednesday cleaning the condo since a real estate agent was coming to give us an estimate on pricing. The place was the cleanest I've ever seen it! ^_^

The agent thought that we could get $150K for it, which is around what I had estimated. She said to seriously consider any offer that was 6-7% less than that, since we're not currently using an agent to sell and if we did they'd take that much as commission. Sounds good!

And, as an added surprise, one of our interested buyers stopped by to see the place that very night. Thank goodness the place was so clean and tidy. It was hard to get a read on him, but the bf later said that he was very interested and they talked about a potential price of $145K. He wants to think about it for a week. We also had someone else stop by on Friday and he may be interested as well.

So it sounds like we won't have a big problem selling the place! Fingers crossed until things are finalized though! Now the bigger problem is going to be finding the ideal house! :)

To add onto my last entry, watch out for fans who see any similarities between the phrases "I hate what's happened to SGA, I think it's time to cancel it" and "I hope your dog gets shot". O_O

Did a bunch of cooking yesterday! I made a baked caramel apple pancake for breakfast and then baked a baguette and made my first beer cheese soup for dinner. The baguette recipe is tried and true, but the soup was not quite as thick and rich as in restaurants because I used milk instead of heavy cream. Better for you, though one could argue that cheese soup isn't that good for you to start. ^_^

A potential buyer is coming to see our condo on Friday! That means I need to clean the crap out of the place and remove as many knickknacks as possible to give the place that new feel. And we need to get a real estate agent to price our place. (They often do this for free with the hope that you'll use them to sell your place, though we aren't planning on using an agent to sell unless the condo sits on the market too long.)

I should take some photos of the place when it's all clean! That way you guys can see where I've been living for the past 4 or so years. :)

The bf and I are trying to figure out a good asking price for our condo. We're trying to sell the place without a real estate agent, as they get 6-7% of the sale for commission, so we don't have their input available for pricing the place.

The building was constructed in the late 1960s. Many of the units have never been remodeled or updated. One unit in the building sold last year for $129,000. We know the guy who bought it - he's currently doing a huge remodeling project on the whole place. This implies that the unit wasn't in great shape. There's also a unit currently for sale for $144,000. The website only has pictures of the outside of the building, no pics of the actual unit, which also makes me think that the unit hasn't been remodeled either.

In comparison, a couple of years ago we completely remodeled our unit. New pergo flooring, new carpet, tile in the bathroom and entryway, new kitchen cabinets and granite countertops, new appliances, new granite bathroom vanities, new lighting, and new paint and molding everywhere. Pretty much everything has been revamped or replaced. The place looks fantastic.

So we're trying to figure out how much to ask. The bf would be happy getting $140000, but I'm wondering if we should try for more. The place is great, but the selling market for houses is pretty cold right now. What do you guys think? Should we ask for $150000 with the option of negotiating for less? Or should we ask for more or less?

Note to self: total lunar eclipse tonight between 8-11 pm!

We looked at more houses last weekend. Right now our comfort range for pricing is between 250K and 300K, though the bf's father thinks we should be buying something that's 400K and more. Ack.

Things we'd like: 3 car garage, 3+ bedroom, 3+ bath, wood floors, stone counter tops, walk-in or closet pantry, laundry room with counter top and utility sink, fireplace, plenty of windows, reasonable sized backyard (for a garden), and a walk-out, finished basement is a plus. It's a GREAT buyer's market right now, so hopefully we can get as much on this list as possible for a reasonable price.

We walked through 5 houses on Saturday - the first was a huge 5000 sq ft, custom built monster for $500K (lovely, but WAY too pricy), then two new homes next to each other that were around $300K but not all that great, then another custom built home with cabinet and trim made from wood that was way too dark for my tastes. The final home was the one we liked the most, with a HUGE yard and a lovely kitchen and living room with big windows. But the laundry room was literally in a closet, the kitchen didn't have a lot of storage, and they used a variety of wood (the wood for the trim was slightly different from the wood used for the floor and the cabinets).

So no winner so far. And that's okay, because we still have to get the condo ready for showing. We have someone coming to see it early next month - hopefully that will be enough time to get everything ready. I'd really like to sell the place without using a real estate agent.

It's -40 windchill outside. Brr. Now is the time of year when I get sick of winter and hope for spring. It can't come soon enough...

I'm currently baking a custard, since I always think that warm and sweet eggy dishes go well with cold weather. And I'm sipping on a hot apple spiced tea. Mmm.

We're getting ready to sell our condo and buy a house! I've been wanting a house for a while, and we figure that the transition between student and fellow/resident is a good time to do that. We'll be starting out fellowships in the beginning of July, and things are going to get VERY busy then, so we'd like to sell and buy before that. We've been browsing the houses for sale (it's a great time to buy right now) and we've been fixing up the condo. Kiwi's enormous cage has finally been moved out of the closet and we rented a storage unit to put all our empty boxes and the like. Plus there are all sorts of things to fix - paint touch ups, molding installation, finishing up the second bathroom, etc. There's plenty to do, so I'm trying to do a little every day or every weekend to avoid feeling overwhelmed.