Does This Blog Make Me Look Fat?

We finally got our Obama Bucks, and tomorrow they are installing our wood flooring in the front room. I wanted handscraped, pre-engineered hardwood, and since the dark wood (which I really love) shows so much dirt and dust we went with this.

I'm excited to finally be able to make that room into something. I'm just not sure what yet.

Angie and Rena sent us the coolest housewarming gift for our pool! It's a "disco light ball". All you do is add the music and BOOGIE ON!

Groovy.

This is our new sod in the back, but Willie is supposed to stay off of it for a week. He doesn't really understand why he has this nice new grass in the backyard but isn't allowed to go there.

Gazanias and Sea Thrift.










I especially like the Gazanias because they close up at night and then open when the sun comes up.

We finally got party lights (and a party animal).

It's kind of hard to get a picture of the whole room. Just so you know, Mom: I cleaned the windows yesterday!

And dinner last night!

We're putting together our patio furniture today and doing a few other things.

It's the den. I know it's still a mess. I promise to clean up my room this weekend!

Should I go with something fun like this for the back patio?






























Or something more practical?


http://www.partylights.com/Strings-Bulbs/GlobeLightSets

And Mom always gets what she wants!

Today, we have the front of the house. I don't think I have posted a picture of it since it was cleaned up.















Hi, Mom! I love you.

Hi, everybody. We're finally in the new house, but there is still a lot of work to do between cleaning the rental and putting this one together. I feel like I've been moving for a month. I am trying to take deep breaths and pace myself. It's easy to get stressed when you try and get everything done at once. Our refrigerator arrives today so having a complete kitchen will be nice and make it finally feel like a real home.

Willie was a little nervous in the new house last night but he's settled down this morning. He tells us he thinks he's going to like his new doggie door just fine!

I'll post more pictures when I can. Right now everything is pretty much still a mess. Most everything is still in boxes in the garage.

This morning we met the painters and walked them through the new color scheme of the house. This evening we stopped by for a peek to see how far they had gotten and to see if we could get an idea of what everything looked like.

Boy were we impressed. They were almost finished, everything brushed and rolled with two coats and all the baseboards done. They think they will be done by noon tomorrow. As for the colors, they are even more beautiful than I thought they would be. I'm so happy with them!

Tomorrow we meet the tile guy who will start refinishing, cleaning and sealing the travertine once the painters are finished. This is so much fun. It's almost like watching one of those home shows on HGTV.

I'll try and get some pictures up this weekend. The movers are scheduled for a week from this Friday so if everything goes according to plan we should be in the house next weekend.

Yesterday we got news: "No news today. Will check again tomorrow."

Yesterday we should have closed on our new house. Anyone who knows me will tell you that patience is not a virtue of mine. The first thing a realtor will tell you is that if you pursue a short sale then you need a lot of patience.

This is our second attempt in purchasing a home through a short sale. Believe me, if I had a choice I wouldn't be doing this right now, but in the Phoenix area most homes on the market are either short sales or foreclosures. We started looking at the beginning of July. Our offer was finally accepted by the bank 10 weeks later, the day I lost my job, forcing us to withdraw the offer.

We started this sale in mid-November. We thought it was approved fairly quickly considering the Holidays that came and went. Inspections went well, a closing date was set. The only thing that could have derailed the close was the appraisal. Enter the low appraisal less than two weeks before close. I know it may be hard for some people who live in areas that haven't been hit so hard by the housing crisis to understand how quickly home values are falling here, and every foreclosure and short sale pulls the comps down. It's nearly impossible to look at one home and figure out what it is worth. What you offer in November may be too much by February when the appraisal is finally done. This is what happened to us. We offered $20,000 under the listing price, and it still ended up being too high. Yes, we could just pay the extra $5500 (if we had an extra $5500), but why should we in a market that isn't expected to rebound until 2012?

One thing I would tell you if you decide to pursue a home via short sale is that even though you may feel like you have all the leverage in a buyer's market you are at the mercy of a bank who is in no hurry and may even refuse to sell you the house even though you are approved and ready to sign.

So, today is another day of waiting for the phone to ring with either good or bad news. Patience, Tracy. Patience.