What's Up with the Lockhart Family?

Bed-rest, House Hunting, Ice Training, Oh my ...

First a little business:

Why no pics in a while? A couple of things; we have a dinosaur of a computer (it's 9 years old) that works great and does what we need but it takes it's sweet time when it comes to things like opening up iphoto with almost 4000 photos on it and I don't usually have that kind of time to waste. Uploading them to the blog is another batch of time, and then of course there's the time it takes to get them from the camera to the computer (I still have our DC trip on the camera because we are not entirely sure our computer even has enough space to fit anything else). We would love a new computer but it's just not that high on the list right now so we urge our dinosaur on and praise it often :)

Secondly, Sam recently received training at work that has given us great pause about cyber life. We are in the process of deciding wether to go private with the blog or blog without pictures. So for now we will blog without new pictures.

Why such random spotty posting? Time. Blogging is about my last priority and as you can see I just don't get around to the bottom of that priority list often.

Why today? So glad you asked. I am alone. The house is quiet. And I can't do anything else. Why? again, thanks for asking. I am currently on 'modified bed-rest'. It seems this little peanut is trying to come early (which I wouldn't entirely mind). If I am up and walking around for more than a few minutes contractions start. As long as I sit or lay down fairly quickly it all goes away. If I stay up then I am in for who knows how many hours of fun. It's not something I have had to deal with before and it's not my favorite for sure. The children are great and have been so helpful and are taking care of me and the peanut, but today when a friend called and offered to pick them up I thought about how they really deserve a break and someone else to look at besides me. It's not bad when Sam is around, Dad's are so great, but he happens to be away for ice training and I am so glad they could go play with their friends and have a break today.

House hunting update:

We are building a home! We are so excited and can't wait to start experiencing all the milestones with the children. Sam started researching building in the beginning of our search and I wanted no part of it. Way too expensive, far beyond what we decided our target number would be, and just not the right time. So, he kept researching while we were looking at existing homes. He checked out all the local builders, narrowed it down to three, and found a floor plan that he was excited about. Smart man. Of course I fell in love, with the home - not the idea or the price tag. We went to see a spec home in that same floor plan, priced out with the agent, and then I was absolutely convinced that building was not for us. Sam however, was not so convinced. He kept crunching numbers, looking at different locations, and quietly kept the dream alive.

All the while we are still looking at existing homes and becoming more and more frustrated by what we were finding. We viewed so many homes our heads were spinning. We did find a couple that would work, but nothing that felt like our home. Then we found one that I loved and Sam was not against. It had been completely redone with hardwood floors, tile, fabulous bathrooms, brand new kitchen with all the bells and whistles, new drain tile in the basement, basically brand new and ready to move into, a great yard with wonderful mature trees and landscaping, and it was the number I was looking for. I was sold. I felt like it was the perfect compromise for us, old but new. Sam was intrigued, but was still more for building. He liked it okay but wasn't ready to move on it.

So we kept looking and found another home that we both fell in love with. Absolutely in love but in a scared silly sort of way. Let me explain. The house needs a good $40-50K of renovations which we were willing to sweat for, and the seller would have needed to come down at least that much in price to make it even worth our time (she's been trying to sell for 4 years!)

Can I just pause for a moment and give you some insight. Let's talk about pink people. Pink wallpaper covering every wall, yes I said every. Oh wait, I forgot it's not covering the awesome paneling in the family room. No worries, we are not done with the pink; pink carpet throughout the home (except the kitchen which is indeed pink linoleum -awesome!), pink tub, tile surround and countertops in the bathroom. But here's the real kicker straight from the mls sheet, "seller to leave all chandeliers imported from Italy" Oh, you mean those ghastly things that I would take wire cutters to the second we owned the home! Those horrid light fixtures throughout that have so much dust, spider webbing and other goo on them that you can barely tell they are lights? You mean those precious gems one of which Sam whacked his head on because it's hanging low like it should be over a dinning table but it's smack in the middle of a hallway and you can't even open the door to the closet because of the thing? You mean those imported beauties? Thanks but you can keep them, really.

Upon mentioning this to Neil, my step-dad, he said, "I've been to Italy. They sell plenty of junk there that I am sure they wouldn't mind exporting." Funny stuff - and extremely accurate in this case. There's much more, but I'l leave it to your imagination, except for 1 more thing. Remember the pink linoleum in the kitchen, what color do you think the countertops were? Nope, not pink. Green. Glorious green and pink kitchen - absolutely fabulously pink and green. I just can't stop now - one more thing; the best thing. Again, straight from the mls sheet: many upgrades and improvements in the last 6-7 years, yada, yada, yada, this, that, and the other ugly pink (or green) thing, and then pow it hits you, new Pella windows with pull down shades. Yeehaw, we say new windows with internal blinds and the roof is new. We can live with ugly and do the work ourselves, hooray for new windows and roofs.

Later, that same night: "Did you see any new windows?" "No, none of them looked new to me." "Maybe we just didn't notice." "I'll send and e-mail to Jennifer and see what she can find out for us." Reply from Jennifer (our agent): the windows were replaced in 1980 or 81, seller can't remember the exact date. Is it just me or does someone need some help with their math skills? 1980 or 81, it's 2010 people, I don't care how you spin it, those windows are not new in the last 6-7 years, nor are they any kind of new at all!

So at this point (if you are still reading) you are asking yourselves why we even wanted to mess with this house, or seller. We kind of were too, but we loved it for all it's charm and potential, and one other small thing. LOCATION! It just so happened to be two houses away from great friends of ours on a cul-de-sac, who doesn't love a cul-de-sac with kids?! When we went to look at it the children (ours and our friends) were all running around having a blast outside and we looked at each other and commented on how great it would be to have this be an everyday thing. The amazing yard with the 3 deer that came to visit us that evening weren't bad either. Oh, I almost forgot, it's also up on the bluff overlooking the lake (the bluff overlooks the lake the house doesn't quite have lake views but they are just around the corner at the park), steps away from a great park and the beach. It really is perfect.

We were in love, or maybe infatuated, but we needed to make the best decision for our family, which for us always involves the Lord, and oftentimes fasting. We prayed a lot and decided we should see the home at the end of our fast day without any children and for a good long time. How convenient that we could leave them two doors down. Upon walking into the home, I started having problems breathing and I couldn't really figure out why. The seller has a cat, but it seemed like more than that to me. I was willing to ignore it because we loved this house. We ended up spending almost 20 minutes down in the basement at the end. A lightbulb blew up in Sam's face as he was trying to check something out in a dark corner (no injury thankfully). After getting that cleaned up Jennfier says, "There sure are an awful lot of air fresheners down here." We started to count and smell, we stopped at 10 and Sam noticed a damp, dank smell. We chat for a bit and as we turn to head upstairs Jennifer points and says, "Look at that." Big black gooey mold, the size of a diner plate. We say, "How in the world did we miss that?!"

We were definitely infatuated, we were still trying to figure out how to make it work. There's just no way. The spores are everywhere and with a VA loan they won't even think twice about mold. It wasn't to be and as sad as we were we both knew one thing, we were so blessed to have been lead to that before we put in an offer and paid for inspections and appraisals. No money lost on our part and a great deal of time and effort not spent on something that would never be. BUT we still needed a house.

Back to "Juniper" the new old house that I was already sold on. We take a few days, see even more homes, and Sam ends up coming around and even being excited about Juniper. We see it twice more and make an offer. I am not excited. Don't know why, just something about it. So now Sam is carrying the excitement for us both and I can't figure out why I am indifferent about my brand new old house anymore. I can live there, it's a great house, so I decide to just go with the flow. What is my problem?

By now it's mid- November and we've been looking at homes since the end of September. And by looking I mean we've literally seen everything there is to see, viewing at least a few a day most days. We were diligent little house hunters. Sam has also still been bringing up this build a house idea with new twists and ideas to try and convince me we could actually do it. I am not convinced but we meet with Stacy again, our building rep, and are able to negotiate down $30K. I am surprised, shocked really, that we are so much lower than before, but we are still plenty outside my comfort zone and I am wanting no part of it. Except the part of having a brand new house, that I could live with :)

With our offer sitting at Juniper the seller goes deer hunting and ignores the fact that he's supposed to respond to us. Nice. After seeing a comp we had somehow overlooked we realize we have offered him more than the house is worth. We pull our offer. We really are done being burned in the housing market. We lost enough money for a lifetime in LA and are not emotional home buyers in the least. We submit another offer, seller is back from hunting - we get a call. There is another offer, we are in competition and the seller is not happy with either offer. He multiple counters, we are not happy. We counter. He is still not happy with us and accepts the other offer. We are back to square one, but feeling perfectly fine as we'd rather not overpay and be the best but most expensive house on the block.

Stacy, our building rep, calls Jennifer, "How are the Lockhart's? If they are still in the market we can build their home, *as it's currently described, on their favorite lot for $___ ($18K less than the already $30K they knocked off a couple weeks ago)." What? Okay it's time for us to get serious about this building thing.

We see a couple of existing homes that are 6 and 4 years old in the price range that our new home would be. They are in lesser locations and not areas that we had wanted to be in, but we are trying to compare apples to apples here. We are done with the Sable (the name of our floor plan). We love this home, we'll compromise on location and just get it done, these bedrooms are gigantic and we'll live with less space downstairs. BUT I can't get the kitchen from the first house out of my head, it was perfect, more perfect than the Sable. Yep, we are done with the Sable, it's between thing one and thing two. 20 minutes later while still touring thing two. "We need to go back and see the Sable again." "How many minutes ago was it that we just said we were done with the Sable?" "About 20." We have the greatest agent on the planet, I tell you what!

A few days later we spend almost 2 1/2 hours at the Sable spec. We talk and talk and talk for a couple of days and then call Jennifer to set up a meeting with Stacy. When we tell the children we are going to build the Sable they can't contain themselves, and I am sure glad they didn't even try. A steal of a deal and a wonderful home for us to settle in. Who knows for how long, but we are going to enjoy every minute of it and are so grateful for this blessing.

It's been a journey for sure. Good for Sam for keeping the torch burning and good for me for trying to stay so far away. In the end we needed both to get the deal we are getting. You can't help but feel a bit excited when people are chasing you down to build with them. It's kind of nice! We will end up with a great house and instant equity, you just can't scoff at that these days. You can't scoff at energy star rated either. Have I mentioned before how much we pay for heat in the winter here at this fabulously leaky, over a century old farm house? $600 a month. Can't wait to actually be warm and pay a fraction of the cost for it. Can't wait for a lot of things, but I will, mostly patiently too, mostly.

As soon as permits are finalized they have 120 days to finish, but it's generally more like 4 months in the area we are building. They are estimating breaking ground about mid to late January. Can't wait, just can't wait! Some things take a while. Some things are worth it. This is definitely one of those things, yum!

*As it's currently described:

Two stories with a basement. A glorious walk-out basement with two full size windows and a sliding door. Plumbed for a full bath I might add. 4 bedrooms upstairs with a bathroom for the children and a wonderful walk-in closet and luxury bath for Mom and Dad. The main floor has two formal rooms at the front (we are not so much formal people but they will make great music and library/school rooms) with the entry. The back of the house is the wonderfully great family room, dinning, and kitchen. Off the kitchen is the laundry room with an entire wall for Sam to build lockers on, glorious lockers. Can I just say that my favorite part of a house is a mud-room. Oh how I love a mud-room! Oh, and a half bath right by the mud-room, how great is it to be able to contain all the mess to one bathroom and a mud-room. Come in through the garage, enter the dirt wing, leave all your dirt and junk there, and then enter the home. Glorious, just glorious!! One of our custom upgrades was to bump out the family room 3 ft which gives us 3 ft in the basement as well. The 3 car garage will be amazing for storage and a workshop for Sam. We kept the high-end finishes out of it to keep the price where we wanted it, knowing that we can add those things later if we choose. There's much more, but you'll just have to come see us if you want the full awesomeness of it. We are just so excited, yipee!