Plan B is Really Plan C....and on to Plan D??

SIGH......just when I think things are on a definite path I can count on, comes yet another fork in the road!!

First, to back up before I could even think of starting a home planning chronicle -- our original plan when we bought our acreage was to build a log house....a rustic little "cabin in the woods". Lack of finances prevented that or any other improvement in housing for many years. By the time we were able to realize our dream of a cute, modest, respectable home, for expediency's sake, we decided on, first, the stick-built home we selected earlier this year, and then, the new manufactured home we fell in love with a few weeks ago. So, if you want to get really technical about it (and I do), I have mislabeled my chapters on this blog to this point. The log cabin was Plan A. The stick-built home was Plan B, and the home I described in the last few messages of this blog is really Plan C. Now that I cleared that up, I haven't added to my chronicle for the past couple weeks due to a stall in the process regarding financing. The first financial institution our mortgage lady presented our package to instantly rejected our app for a strange reason. They apparently won't even look at loan packages for mobiles that don't have a garage or carport attached. The reason they gave is that they did a study that showed there are more foreclosures on loans for mobiles that don't have a garage or carport. Even if this is true, it doesn't make sense that they would not even look at a loan for that reason alone. We purposely omitted the garage to save on the total expense, figuring it can be added later if we decide to. But that was their answer - and then our mortgage lady went on vacation for a week. She apparently IS going to ask that lender to take another look at us and also has others in mind. For now, we continue to wait - and I continue to realize that even if we do obtain the financing, the payments for this particular home will be a real stretch, likely leaving nothing left for even short vacations or any other extras. But then, a few days ago, came the fork in the road.

A real estate agent who is still in the office Rex worked in and who lives two blocks from us learned from a fellow agent about a still-unlisted 8-year-old mobile, from the same manufacturer as the new one we chose, in great condition. It's on leased land and would need to be either offered as a rental, or purchased and moved. Considering the fact that I felt we had found the home of our dreams and that God would somehow make a way for us to have it, my initial reaction to this alternate option was not pleasure. But I agreed to at least look at it. I realized the monthly payments for this used mobile would be more affordable for us and possibly mean the difference between being "house poor" and never getting the mortgage paid off, or having a little money to spare each month and maybe getting it paid off. But having gotten my heart set on the home we chose earlier this month, it hurt to think of having to settle for less. Rex said that if I didn't like it, we wouldn't even consider it an option and would continue attempting to obtain the home we really want but admittedly will have trouble affording.

We saw the gently used mobile ("Plan D") yesterday. I admit I liked it very much and don't feel it would mean "settling for less". I was able to picture Rex and me living in this home. It was really cute and very well-maintained. It had the open "great room" feeling of the models we had visited. The kitchen was long and fairly narrow, without room for a center island. However, it had a lot of nice counter space, and a large number of nice cabinets that appeared to be oak and had very pretty stained-glass look doors. There were also nice touches such as a built-in shelf for collector plates and another open area for collectibles. The master bedroom and its closet were not as large as the new home, but still adequate, and the "me room" and "his room" were a similar size. The utility room has a side door rather than a second front door like the new home had, which is an advantage. The home has dark teal carpeting throughout, which is a color I like, and the kitchen and bathrooms have dark blue-green (a bit greener than the carpet) countertops, which will actually go with the red kitchen items I've bought so far (a nice contrast) and the navy towels I bought for the second bath. If we do go with this home, I expect we would paint all the walls a warm beige, since the light sage I originally envisioned would clash with the teal. The outside of the home is two-tone beige and white with aqua trim, and it even has a cute little front porch, which we wanted on the new home but would have had to add afterwards. The square footage is close to 1,300 as opposed to close to 1,800 for the new home, yet it is quite space-efficient and doesn't feel that much smaller. The main places the size difference is noticeable is that the new home would have the cute little separate TV room where we wanted to have our TV and recliners, and the main closet is not nearly as big, but is probably big enough considering that the two smaller bedrooms also have closets. The place did have a very nice overall feel, and considering it is just the two of us and our pets, it would do everything we need a home to do and be much more affordable.

So, Rex will meet with our agent friend tomorrow and "crunch numbers" to help us decide what to do. If the cost of moving the home adds enough to the cost that it would get close to the price of buying a similarly sized new model we saw, then maybe we will look into going that way instead (so I guess we really have Plan D-1 and D-2 to consider in addition to C). I still admit I very much want the home we walked through in Vancouver a few weeks ago and spent hours the following week picking out just the right exterior, carpet, tile and counters. Part of me doesn't want to think we will not be able to have that home. The other part of me does really like the more modest but still very nice little home we saw yesterday and feels somehow that we are supposed to have it. So.....the uncertainty continues, with the only certainty being that we WILL have better housing soon, housing that I can take some pride in and have guests visit without cringing, housing that will be a refuge to come home to after a long day at work. God knows what that housing will consist of and what day He will let it be a reality. When that mystery is made known to us in the coming days and begins taking shape, I will continue reporting on the progress right here. Stay tuned!

(By the way, don't tell my hubby, but I won the eBay auction for 8 place settings of "Sheraton" by Oneida. Because this is a somewhat bigger purchase than the towels, bath accessories, bedspread and kitchen items I purchased to date, I hid the flatware away and will consider it an early Christmas present to both of us. It really is beautiful! I will post two pictures below. )

Plan B, as in Buy Home Decor!

I feel just a little guilty. And more than a little obsessed. It's hard for me to think of anything else nowadays besides my pretty little house and the way I want to decorate it. Compared to the cluttered and rundown living environment I've had to endure for so many years, I guess it's easy to understand. But the guilt part comes from not only finding it hard to concentrate at my job (where concentration is definitely required) but also not wanting to differentiate between things we NEED for the new place and things we WANT. And I suppose I am really getting ahead of myself, since our financing isn't even officially approved just yet. But I can't help myself. I really want to start fresh with all new dishes, cookware, towels, bedding, bath accessories, and even flatware -- though we don't NEED new flatware. I suppose the stuff we have been using is perfectly fine. I felt that way till I was in Macy's at lunchtime the other day and found "Sheraton" by Oneida. (With flatware, it's really important to not only see it in person but hold it in your hand and love the way it feels.) It was the same type of "this is just right" feeling that I had when I walked in our model house almost two weeks ago. Told by the nice sales clerk that it retailed for $90 a place setting, undaunted, I proceeded to duck into good old eBay after lunch and found it for MUCH less. I also found the serving pieces at discounted prices and proceeded to buy a gravy ladle, serving spoon, slotted serving spoon and serving fork. AND I placed a bid on 8 place settings. I also have ordered the following goodies so far this week: a burgundy bedspread and pillow shams, an oak quilt rack (for displaying three of my crocheted afghans), a red stand mixer, a set of three red casseroles, two red and cream gingham appliance covers, navy blue towels for the second bath, and sets of bath accessories (wastebasket, tumbler, soap dispenser, toilet brush holder) for both bathrooms from a nice eBay seller who I have had a friendly E-mail correspondence with the past two days. I plan to register with bedbathandbeyond.com (they actually have a housewarming registry) for some other stuff and was going to include the bath accessories there, but it is so much more economical to buy them on eBay. I also found out about the wish list on froogle.google.com and will include some stuff there when I have an idea of the target date our HOUSE will be here. (I don't want any of my cyber friends to feel obligated; the list will be more for my record keeping of what I have already and what I still want/need, and if I end up needing to pick up most of it myself on eBay, that's what I'll do.) It's just that I have been waiting SO long to have a modest but pretty little place to call my own and have room to fix up a bit, that it's hard not to be obsessed with the idea now that it looks like it's finally almost here!! So forgive me if I appear just slightly materialistic right now. I'll get over it as soon as I am surrounded daily by my burgundy, sage and cream (with navy and peach accents...) rooms........

Plan B, Chapter 7

Last night we had the important appointment with our lending officer, a lady Rex knew from his days in real estate, who had already pretty much prequalified us but who was not contracted with the builder we originally planned to use earlier this year. We were there 2-1/2 hours and it went quite well. She was optimistic that the funding would be approved. We unfortunately have to go with a 30-year mortgage, and the rate already went up a quarter-point from when Rex met with her a couple weeks earlier. But it is still a good rate, and we decided to sign the agreement to lock in the rate so that we won't have to worry about it going higher. When we got home, I sent our lender the info she requested about my job history of the previous two years, and Rex will do the same today. Our lender said we may have the answer back from the financial institution in as little as two days or as long as two weeks. She didn't expect any surprises and I have confidence she will do all she can on our behalf to get our loan package through without a hitch. For a little while longer, I will continue to feel that my middle name is "wait". But now my dream feels that much closer....

Plan B, Chapter 6

This past Friday night and from 9 to 5 Saturday, along with other women from my church, I attended my first Women of Faith conference. This is a conference featuring nine prominent, inspiring, talented, sometimes funny and often poignant female Christian speakers and singers. You can learn more about it here. Since we are, if all goes as planned, about to FINALLY buy our first home, I was determined not to buy any of the books or other merchandise being offered. I certainly didn't plan to pick up an $18 T-shirt. But when I tell you about the shirt at the end of this message, I think you'll understand.

I'd selected today as a vacation day months before since I knew I would be at Women of Faith much of the weekend. But it turned out to be great timing, as it gave Rex and me a chance to see the lady at the local office of the builder of the home that spoke to us a week ago Saturday - and she is not there evenings. Rex also wanted to stop at the county courthouse first and make sure we would be allowed to temporarily live in our present dump, I mean mobile, till we were able to get all our belongings brought 50 feet down to our new home. Then he remembered it was Columbus Day. But miraculously, the courthouse was open. And because everyone else probably assumed they were closed, there was no waiting to talk to someone and find out we could do that. (Someone had told Rex the county had a rule against having two dwellings on acreage at the same time. But we can just have this one changed to temporary status for up to 30 days.)

We were at the builder's office almost 3 hours. I probably won't remember all the options we picked though there weren't a huge list and I previously mentioned some of them. We did decide to have a door on the utility room for the dogs though it will mean two front doors, and get two windows in the dining area instead of the sliding glass door. We eventually want to have a sort of wooden canopy added to the front with a small porch below, so then it won't appear so obvious there is another front door, and it will be a lot more practical for our dogs. We are getting the deluxe insulation and deluxe carpet pad, and the French double doors on the den, but decided to skip the second window in the small bedrooms since the windows are so tall. I'll mention other things as they come to me. Then came what I have been waiting for - time to pickout the carpeting, countertops, tile and exterior colors. The part that took the longest was the carpeting, and that is still not set in stone. We knew we wanted a warm medium beige that would harmonize with both burgundy and sage (we plan to paint all the walls a light dusty sage). I held those two colors against the beige standard (but still nice) carpet samples and found one I felt was just right. But Rex felt we should get the deluxe carpet though it's over $1,200 more. We do want the carpet to be resistant to our doggies trying to dig it up, and the deluxe carpet was very plush and soft but I wasn't convinced it would be more "bulletproof" (or "clawproof"?). We tentatively chose it in a color called "Albany Smoke". But we'll see what the numbers look like when we see our mortgage lady Wednesday night.

My kitchen and second bath flooring will be very pretty - kind of hard to describe - has shades of beige, brown and gray in it. My countertop will be light sage and the tile will be a variegated dark beige. (I plan to have barn red decor in the kitchen and barn red and navy decor in the second bath.) The master bath floor is more of a light beige and white with a beige countertop and dark sage tile, and the decor will be more of a sage and cream. The exterior will be light sage with brick red trim (and white window grids and doors). I will try to go into more detail re the colors when I see them again, and like I said they can still be changed, though we both felt satisfied with what we chose. It's just hard for me to believe that it looks like this all is really finally happening!!!

As for that shirt I just had to buy at the conference: well, it's royal purple which is just about my favorite color for clothes (along with teal). But that's not why I bought it. The front says "Extraordinary Makeover" - and those words are inside the shape of a house. Now I know it's talking about the "house" that is our body and soul, not a literal house. But the timing of it and the extraordinary difference between this 672 sq. ft. disaster I have endured for 13+ years and what I am about to have in its place - to me, THAT is one extraordinary makeover, so that shirt really spoke to me. And on the back it says, "Our designer works miracles!" Amen. Thank you, God, that we are on the verge of seeing this miracle I never thought I would see.

Plan B, Chapter 5.5

Rex went to visit our local rep of the builder today during the day while I was at work, since she is not there evenings. He reported no surprises as to what comes included with our house and the few options we do want. None of the few additional items we want are prohibitive in cost, not even making it 2 feet wider to be the same size as the model we visited. We will "hash over" the options together to make sure we are on the same page when we visit her Monday - when I happen to have a regularly scheduled vaca day. (I will be at a "Women of Faith" conference Friday night and Saturday with some ladies from church and look forward to that.) We will then see our mortgage lady next Tues. or Wed. evening since she is off Monday. So far so good.....dare I presume that it's really going to happen this time!!!

Plan B, Chapter 5

Doesn't it seem strange that some weekends you have nothing going on and other weekends you have too much going on? The latter was the case this weekend. Our HR manager had given me two tickets for the Mariners game Friday night against the Athletics. I haven't really followed the "M's" this year, and they haven't had a good year anyway (am still a Cubs fan; don't ask me why). But Rex and I had never been to Safeco Field (which replaced the Kingdome a few years ago) and were curious to see it. And it was a good game. We won 4 to 1, Ichiro got his 200th hit and it was popular catcher Dan Wilson's last game. So it was worth staying for the whole game. However, that meant we had to wait an hour and 20 minutes for a ferry. We didn't get home till 12:45 a.m. So we didn't get as early a start as we would have liked for our 3-hour drive to Vancouver to see what we sensed could be the model home we have been longing for. The weather slowed us up a bit as well. "Scattered showers" were predicted for all of western Washington. At one point, about halfway there, the "showers" turned into torrential rain and hail, bad enough that we pulled over and waited it out for 10 minutes. Then it was back to pesky on-and-off showers, but finally a little after 2 p.m., we made it.

We planned to look at all the models at this location, having driven all that way in the rain, even though I already sensed which one would still be right. This was confirmed for me as soon as we walked in. It looked every bit as good as the pictures. One unique feature was, as you walk in the front door, off to your right is a cute, tiny room that I originally envisioned as a computer room/office, the way our pastor and his wife use a similarly placed little room. But instead, I think it will be a place to put our two recliners and the TV. It would give us a cozy place to watch TV and keep that function separately from the rest of the "great room". The "great room" itself has (this is hard to describe) a divider with three large arched openings separating the living and dining areas (a feature we were shown the photo of at the local office and said "wow"). So it is actually two rooms, but the openings are so large that it still feels spacious and connected, in addition to the arches being attractive and architecturally interesting. This whole area is open to the kitchen, which is not as huge a kitchen as some other models we have seen but is still a nice size with LOTS of very nice cabinets and the large island I want for food preparation and other duties. The master bedroom is a nice size and its walk-in closet is HUGE. The master bathroom of this model is the deluxe version (with both the large round tub and shower stall) at no extra charge. Another big plus of this model is that, unlike most "mobiles", it has flat, level ceilings throughout instead of sloping ceilings. So you definitely don't feel at all like you are in a "mobile". The only possible drawback is that the utility room (which we sort of wanted to have a door put in for the dogs to come in and out) is in the front of the house - and the location of this room can't be switched with the second bathroom which is opposite it. So this would mean putting a second door on the front of the house, which we would rather not do. (The second door of the house is a sliding door in the back of the dining area.) We will figure something out, since everything else about this model really spoke to us. In addition to the deluxe bath, it comes with other features that have to be bought as extras on other models we visited: thicker walls and insulation, the deluxe kitchen cabinets that come in either alder or oak (we thought we wanted oak, but the alder is very pretty - darker than oak but not as dark as cherry), window grids, wood windowsills, etc. The only extras we may need to buy are the double French doors on the TV room (the model had these and it's very pretty in addition to allowing for quiet if the other person doesn't want to hear the TV), a pull-out sprayer on the kitchen faucet, possibly the thicker carpet pad, maybe a second window in "my" craft/sitting room and Rex's office/room, and he wants horizontal "lap" siding to give it even more of a house look. (He was impressed with many of this builder's construction aspects as compared to the other builders I don't know if skylights are offered - but due to the high, flat ceilings, many of the windows in this house are extra tall which should let in plenty of light. We did also learn that the model we saw actually had two feet added to the total length - making the master bedroom/walk-in closet and the dining/utility areas one foot wider than the standard model. So we want to see what that may add to the cost, since we liked the size of the rooms the way we saw them. All in all, I feel this house has more personality and features suited to us than the house we originally tried for earlier this year, and is 5% larger in square feet even if we don't extend the length by the two feet.

So.....the next step is to see the lady at the local office and, as hubby says, "crunch the numbers". I hope we can do that one evening this week and not have to wait for the weekend. Hopefully the numbers will be relatively close to the estimate he gave our mortgage person. The payment estimate he received will be a stretch, but should be doable. I do feel our search is over as to finding what best suits us and am determined we must find a way to get the ball rolling very soon. (By the way, according to our real estate agent friend, apparently in this county, mobiles that are about ten years old are currently going for about the same price as new ones from the quality builder we have decided on. So that further helps seal the deal that what we found today is the right way to go.)