Changing Houses In the Middle of the Dream

The bottom line is, too many repairs and the sellers weren't willing to come down in price enough to cover them.

Capitol Idea

I had "New Employee Orientation" today. After almost three months of employment. Some of the people with me at orientation had been working four months already. Made the "choose your health provider within thirty days of hire" stuff pretty stupid.

At least I got to be out of the call center for the day. Orientation was held right near the Capitol, so during lunch I went for a walk and took some pictures.

Roof Un-Ready

The roof is only 10 years old and what we could see from the ground looked fine. But up on top of the house was a different story altogether. Going through the house carefully with the inspector, there was also a lot of supporting evidence that the roof needs to be replaced. And before winter. We hope we can convince the sellers to come down a little bit more now so that we can afford to get it fixed.

Burning Down the House

The furnace is old and will have to be replaced. We're hoping that's the worst thing the inspector finds when he does his thing for us tomorrow.

Closing Counters

We got a counter counter counter counter counter offer and gave them a counter counter counter counter counter counter offer which was accepted.

Saturday we have an official inspection by a certified inspector with us present. Afterward we'll go to the bank and present them with all our paperwork to show how they really should give us that mortgage. Then we'll go look at paint and carpet samples.

House It Going?

We put in a bid. We got a counter offer. We gave a counter counter offer.

Meanwhile, the bank has agreed that we can still try for a mortgage even though we haven't had a credit card or borrowed any money in the past ten years. We just need to provide, amongst other things, 4 "Letters of Credit" from places that we have accounts. Like the utilities and the landlord. We are going to try and provide as many as possible to stack the deck in our favor. I've already gotten hold of the electric company, AT&T, Verizon, the vet's (both here and back in AZ), and the landlord. Carrie has letters from AAA and our insurance company already in hand.


UPDATE

We got a counter counter counter offer and put back a counter counter counter counter offer.

Augusta Fresh Air

We think we'll be able to get this house. The price has already dropped into our acceptable range, it's been on the market for two years, and we know of no other people interested in it. We've put in a bid and will now wait for the counter offer. The difficulty will probably be in that it is currently jointly owned by four siblings.

Meanwhile, our bank has sent us an automated denial letter based on our empty credit history. We, by choice, don't have credit cards and have only borrowed money once before. That was to buy our previous house, and we paid that off in about seven years and that was ten years ago. Basic credit reports don't go back that far. We're trying to see if our bank won't do a real credit check to see we actually have enough in cash and other assets to buy the house outright as well as how reliably we pay our rent, utilities, etc. If they won't do that, we have a couple of recommended mortgage people as well as going to the Maine State Employee Credit Union (who I will be calling tomorrow.)

Bidding Adieu

We placed a bid on the Auburn house, but it, and the two that came in from others, was rejected. We placed a higher bid. It was rejected and we were told it was way below the other two bids. So, on to the other houses we were interested in.

As mentioned before, there were four places we liked. One was under contract even as we were contemplating the one we got outbid on. Another had its price go up and then it got rented out. So that leaves us with one.

The photo above shows the back of our new hope. It is in good enough shape to move right into, though we would prefer to replace the living room's shag carpet first, if only because it's in such sorry shape. We're going to take a second look at it tomorrow.

An interesting bit about these two houses is that the one in Auburn was built the year I was born and this one, in Augusta, was built the year Carrie was born.

Train Gang

This is where I won't be for the next two weeks. My usual workplace is about 45 minutes away from Freeport in Augusta. I will be getting training in Orono, about another hour further north with about 20 other people. "Fortunately" I can stay at a hotel across the street from the training center and get reimbursed for the cost. I'll be coming home for the weekend in the middle, so Carrie and I don't have to be separated too long.

Then I'm back at the Augusta office for another week of phone training, and then back up to Orono for a final week.

Is this job really that complex? Or are the people they hire really that dumb? Either way is pretty scary.

Unemployment Benefits

In this picture I am at Unemployment. Not on unemployment, at. That's where I got a job. All other State Government Departments are on a hiring freeze, or even downsizing, but Unemployment employment is up. The office is in Augusta, the State Capital, and is a little bit more of a drive than going to South Portland for Staples was, but it's usually doable.

On my first week there, Monday was a holiday, so I couldn't work. Tuesday I drove up without the directions, relying on my memory of having driven there before. I took the exit off the highway that was familiar and immediately saw my mistake. It was familiar because it was the one Carrie and I took on Sunday when we were house hunting. Oops. Fortunately I had been through town before and was able to get myself in the right direction and arrived at work just on time.

Wednesday was a foggy morning and nothing looked familiar, but I took the correct exit anyway.

Thursday my car wouldn't start and Carrie eventually had to give me a ride in. Poor Carrie, an extra 80 miles to both her morning and evening commute. Thursday night I got a new battery.

Friday the car started up fine and I got to work 15 minutes early. And they put me to work right away.

So far it isn't difficult, but I haven't really gotten any training. A lot of busy work that is making me more familiar with forms and some of the computer system. As with any new job I hate not knowing what to do. It is very frustrating, exasperating, etc. I really hate that part. I find it both physically and emotionally draining, but keep at it because I know it will get better and it is good to be employed full time once again. At a state job no less.

As always, for a bigger view, click on the picture. If you do, you can better see the beige bulletin board and the green cubicle walls.