We made a major Room & Board purchase over the weekend (although I guess any purchase from R&B is major). It was funded by us not getting each other more than one $50 gift for Christmas and by a generous Christmas check from my parents. See photo. Eventually, we will put a new TV on top of it. Maybe next year!
It’s December 29, and 2009 is nearly over. WHAT A YEAR. The dust has definitely settled and Mark and I are enjoying being homeowners (and married). Christmas went well – we hosted 7 guests and the house looked great.
Is everything perfect? Of course not. But it feels like home and we are slowly and surely making this place our own.
The heater is acting funny, in that it sometimes puts out cold air. Mark has gone nuts trying to figure it out and we even called in a heating repair guy. He gave us a new filter and told us nothing was wrong with it. So there. I guess the cold air is our imagination. Since his visit, we’ve had a couple more experiences with cold air, but the heat has been working for the most part. It’s moody I guess.
Also, our 80’s-era garage door opener is on its last legs. When you ask it to raise and lower the door too often in a 24 hour period, it smokes. So there’s that. But we got a Lowe’s gift certificate for Christmas, so we’re ready to replace it if need be.
I went nuts in the back garden and cut back the purple potato bush. And planted a few crocuses. Can’t wait for spring, I’ve got huge plans for herbs and jasmine and maybe even a tomato plant. I gotta try.
In 2010, I hope our home continues to be good and not cause too much trouble. Knock wood, but paying these 5 mortgage payments hasn’t been nearly as painful as I feared. We’re definitely cutting back, but I feel like we’ve got a good toe hold on our future.
My biggest goal for 2010 is to get that garden in shape, and really create a backyard space we can spend a lot of time in. I’m an exceptionally lucky person, and I know it.
We’re in!
The move went surprisingly smoothly - we gambled and didn’t pay the $300 to get official reserved parking/tow away signs from the city. But it paid off, because we got spots right in front of both places with no problem! It could have been a nightmare but it wasn’t.
I spent the next day cleaning out the apartment, saying goodbye to the fireplace and having the rugs picked up for cleaning. 4 rugs, $1000. Yikes. Welcome to homeownership, where everything costs at least $1000.
The house is revealing all sorts of neat things: great light in the front room, neat tree views out of the window when you’re sitting in bed, etc. I really really love this place and look forward to never moving from it.
Met our neighbors on one side - two brothers. There’s a small cottage behind their house where another guy lives, we met him moving in boxes last week. Everyone seems very nice.
The house on the other side is vacant and for sale. A few years ago it was evidently a crackhouse and has since been completely remodeled. We went through the open house yesterday. It has 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, a (barely) one car garage and a yard half the size of ours. Oh, and it’s a million dollars. I’m not quite sure who want that kind of house in Bernal. I guess we will find out…
My body aches in weird places but I am so happy!
It’s official! We own a piece of this fabulous city called San Francisco. But yet again we must wait…we agreed to let the (former) owners stay longer and they aren’t going to move out until July 13. We get the keys then…!
So the papers are signed, our money’s been received. We take title on Monday, June 29.
The reality that we just bought a house is not sinking in yet for either Mark or I. I don’t think we can let ourselves “go there” until title’s been filed in the San Francisco County Court House and it’s 100% official.
On Monday, we will own a piece of this city. For ever more, our names will be associated with this small patch of land. It is mind-boggling and very exciting. And for a while there I never thought it would happen.
We sign the title on Wednesday, June 24. Packing has not been fun.
Today is the appraisal — when we find out if the house is worth the money we are asking the bank to give us. Our agent and mortgage broker seem to think it’ll appraise higher than the sale price…we shall see.
UPDATE: It was appraised at sale price, so not good but not bad. Oh, and we locked in our loan interest rate at 5.5%, right before it went up to 6.0%.
Welcome! Meet our new house (if all goes smoothly).
Detached on one side — big selling point in Bernal Heights.
