Let it go..

 Let it go!! 🎵 Let it go!!

Let me preface this post with a couple of things. This is a VERY long post. I'm blogging about this a couple of months after we've moved in. I haven't posted, I don't think, since October because I've been in turmoil over whether or not to actually post such negativity. BUT, I only have a couple of blog followers, most of who know what's been going on and can just bypass this vent. That's what it is. It's me getting a chance to REALLY vent. After you read it (if you do) you might ask.. 

#1. Would we move out here if we knew back then what we know now? ABSOLUTELY! 

#2. Would we have bought the same house if we knew back then what we know now? ABSOLUTELY! We admit it and it's embarrassing, that when we saw this house for the first time, we were quite blown away by the fact that it had everything we wanted, 3 bedrooms on the 1st floor and a huge bedroom upstairs, 3 car garage and a fenced yard. It's only 5 years old too. But, and here's the embarrassing part, we had blinders on. We only came through once before making an offer. Oh the things we didn't notice! One thing is for sure, we will grow to love our house and not long from now it will feel like home. 

Friday, November 6

We are officially moved in! What a whirlwind it has been. I have lots to post about the first week or so (edit, first couple of months!) and it's all super negative. I just feel I need to vent about it and move on. I have moved on and so has Paul, but the whole process has been pretty awful. Feel free to just move along and not even read this, I totally understand. There's enough negativity in the US right now. 

When we found this house and decided we wanted to make an offer, the house had been on the market for about 26 days or so, almost a month. Our house sold before we even got it on the market. So we came in at $20k under asking price, knowing everyone want's to feel like they've made a deal and knowing he (the seller) would counter. Which he did at $10k. So we considered it a fair compromise and agreed. 

Fast forward to the inspection. We arrived at the house and the owner answered the door. Well, he's a divorced emergency room doctor who works 3rd shift. We get it. So we met with the inspector and he went over about 7 or 8 things he found. Now the house is only 5 years old so there were only 3 things we felt were safety issues, and therefore we wanted them fixed. 

1. The electric outlet that was burned out in the garage. 
2. The sump pump runs continuously and therefore needed to be fixed before it burned out and also the lid needed to be sealed on it. The disclosure stated there was water in the basement 5 years ago but he got it fixed.
3. One of his dogs had chewed one of the eyes of the garage door and needed to be replaced. 

Our agent, Judy, let his agent know our wishes from the inspection. His agent said "well he's come down $10k in price, he'll just put it back on the market"! 😲 Now...I've worked in the real estate business for over 20 years and that is just not something you'd ever say to a buyer...ever! Especially since you haven't even presented the items to the seller! I was livid! She did present them to him however and he said he'd get those things fixed. 

We were to have our closing on Friday the 5th. We had our walk through scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Now understand, this is the walk through to make sure everything is the way it was when we initially viewed the house and made an offer and the items on the inspection were fixed. Our agent met us at the door and said "It's a sight" 😟. 

 

the entrance

entering the master bedroom

my new closet..yay. at least it's just messy?

                                                                                    

You get the idea. I was heartbroken. We were supposed to move in at noon the very NEXT DAY! Jennifer with her pregnancy nose said the carpet reeked. Dan thought he smelled it too. We knew he had 2 BIG dogs. We decided to ask for a carpet allowance. Judy talked to his agent and told her and his agent said "WELL HE'LL JUST MOVE BACK IN!". I'm telling you, at this point I wanted to go down to that agent's office and talk to her manager. She did talk to the seller and he agreed to half of what we asked for and asked if we could do another walk though the next day at noon. We agreed. 

The 2nd walk through was much better. 

  

And we move in! 

                                                                                

                                                                                

So as we're moving boxes in etc. I see a lady at the front door. Thinking it was the cleaning person (although not dressed like one) I go walking up the path. I see she's taking the lockbox off the door. It's the seller's realtor. Now ANYONE who knows me, knows I'm not one to confront people. I'm shy and I'm always "wishing" I had said something. I have a couple of regrets of not saying things either for myself or my kids but, that's in the past and that's where it will stay. 

So I decided this was not going to be one of those times where I wished I'd have said something. I approached her and told her that I'm the new owner and wanted her to know that she made this home buying process very difficult and not enjoyable for either my husband or myself. To tell us on not one but two times that the owner will either put the house back on the market or move back in was just totally unprofessional. She apologized and explained that her mom was having health issues etc. I accepted her apology although I do wish I had explained that I worked in the real estate business for over 20 years and when an agent is having problems at home, that it's always best to ask someone in the office to take over her clients for a while. And...there goes another "I wish I had said" 😏. Nevertheless, I was very proud of myself. 

He (the seller) FINALLY moves out around 8pm! We were going to hire a cleaning crew to deep clean the house but were told by his agent that he had a cleaning person and she would be over to clean one last time. Should have hired our own. Next day Jenn and I decide to clean AFTER the cleaning girl and her guy helper left. It was nasty. Got the house clean and looked in the appliances..

Mistake #2. (mistake #1 was not coming back and thoroughly looking at the house). Look INSIDE appliances! Even if you're "thinking" of buying...even if it is only 5 years old!! The fridge had a broken drawer and the dishwasher looks just as bad as the oven!  

    

                                                                                

Paul and I spent hours trying to clean the oven and it was no use. We had planned on getting a gas stove put in after the holidays but there's no way I was going to COOK and EAT using that oven. So, we ordered a new one along with a fridge and dishwasher. Hooray for early Black Friday deals!! 

In the meantime, I walk into my new bedroom and the sunset takes my breath away..

Wednesday, November 11

We went to Costco and made a huge haul of food etc. in prep of hunkering down. I took a nasty strip off the bottom of our shower door and replaced it along with a handheld shower head. Paul got his bulbs planted..yay! Direct TV and internet came out and got us hooked up. Now I'm gonna sound whiny again but this area is considered Waterville Twp, not Waterville. So Spectrum internet is not out here (yet), we have to use Buckeye Broadband 😖 It's the pits and way more expensive. But it is what it is and we're in the country now. 😀

Paul spent an hour and half walking around the backyard with a trashbag...a trashbag, picking up dog poop! He texted the seller with pictures and said thanks for the housewarming gift. The guys said the lawn service was supposed to do that. Really?! No.

Saturday November 14th

I ordered the fridge and dishwasher from Home Depot and the stove from Best Buy. The fridge and dishwasher came in!! They installed the fridge but not the dishwasher!  The guy says we need a special hose! So someone's coming out on Monday to install it. At lease we did get the $75 installation fee back from Home Depot. 

In the meantime while I was out, Paul, Jenn and Dan got the mirror hung over the fireplace and I then got my wreath up! 

Sunday, November 15th 

Not sure if you remember or not but there was a day when it was SUPER windy!! Our patio furniture blew all over the place. 

And our guttering became detached and banged above our bedroom for 2 nights, ugh! 

Dan came over and helped Paul put the guttering back together. 

Monday, November 16th 

Guy comes and installs the dishwasher for $375!!!! Paul called the owner and he did drop the installation free about 10% 😖

Saturday, November 21st

We got our new oven!! I'm so excited that it arrived before Thanksgiving. 

Out with the old..

yuck! He was into candles, even burned one inside a cabinet! 

In with the new..YAY!

BUT...

It's dented on the bottom door. So the door binds and the guy installing it mentioned it and said he'd order another one right away but to just use this one until the new one came in. Ok, no problem. 

So we've moved in and something we were really blinded, I mean BLIND to..THE WALLS! Didn't even give them much thought and neither did Paul. 

Behind a door. Who looks behind doors?

I wrote that 😉

Not only were they different colors but a different sheen 😵

Paint around pictures? 

Poor Paul. He took at least 6 trips to Sherwin Williams to match up paint in different rooms. Even took chips off the walls to them. They said they match color but not sheen. We now have them touched up and painted with paint that matches. 

Monday November 30th 

Haven't heard from Best Buy about the stove so I thought I'd call them. After being transferred to 3 different departments I get to talk to someone. They have absolutely no clue what I'm talking about!! No order, nothing! After an hour and forty five minutes, she finds a picture of the dented door. Hooray! But no order. So she says no worries, I'll put the order in myself. Okay. Well...they don't have that model anymore so would I like a different one? Ugh, NO! Well she looks at my order and says we have 14 days to replace an appliance. Since we waited 8 days before calling, we now have 6 days left. They may or may not get any more in during that timeframe. WTF?! 

So I hang up and decide to spend the next 6 days with my fingers crossed and checking online at Best Buy to see if they get any. About 3 days later they did, I called them back and they ordered it. Whew, got my oven finally! 

Saturday, January 2

Paul goes downstairs to get a stepstool and when he opens the basement door, he's surprised there's a musty smell. Turns on the light and THE F-ING BASMENT HAS FLOODED!  2" OF WATER IN IT!!! We've only been in the house 2 months and we have a flooded basement! 

I'm not sure if you remember but 10 months ago in Avon we had a flooded basement. After that flood we upped our homeowners insurance to include the flooded basement. Thank goodness it wasn't finished. 

We called the Home Warranty peeps and a plumber came out to check on the sump pump. Remember when the home inspector said it needed fixing and sealed? Well the homeowner said it was just the float that needed to be reattached. He did fix that because when we came back for the walk through, it wasn't running continuously and it was sealed. 

Plumber says it isn't covered under the Home Warranty. Great. So he looks and the sump pump isn't running, the float wasn't properly put on etc. And it's broken. He notes it has a water backup which he says is great. He goes to the store and buys a new sump pump and installs it. Notices the date on the sump pump is 2017?! The disclosure said it had water 5 years ago (when the house was built) which would have been 2015. 😬 

He gets the new sump pump up and running and shows Paul how the backup works by disconnecting the sump pump. Nothing happens. He says hmmm. Wonder why it isn't working. He says he's installed 400 of these over the last 20 years and has never seen one not work. He looks and says the backup system has been shut off!! So he turns it back on and nothing! It's broken!! So now he says he has to order a water backup and he'll bring it in a few days. 

Now the insurance. They don't cover the sump pump 😠. At least they do cover the restoration company we hired to come and suck out all the water and leave 10 fans running for 3 days. We have a huge 2600 sq ft basement. They do cover our belongings that were ruined. 

The pool table was face down to prevent the sides from warping until we decided to finish the basement, that's ruined. A tv that we had on the wall and not a stand. Some pictures and kids puzzles/toys etc. were also badly flooded. 

A couple things I treasure got wet. 2 cross stitch pictures my mom made, a needle work piece I made for my friend Carol, who's now in heaven, and a cross stitch I had made for Paul. I took everything out of their frames and washed them and ironed them. They're now ready for new frames. 

When we bought the house and saw all the scratches on the floors from the huge dogs, we figured we could have the floors refinished since the MLS stated it had "hand hewn hardwood floors". We had a flooring company come out to give us a quote. Hardwood floors? WRONG! They aren't hardwood and the real estate industry is pretty vague about what is and isn't hardwood. So, since they can't be refinished, we will live them for now. I don't even want to think what it would cost to get them replaced.  

So, I have to say we think the previous owner was a liar and a real scumbag! We say it all the time. Since the flood I have smudged and try not to blame too much on the fact that I got sidetracked and didn't smudge as soon as we moved in. Paul helped by following me around and closing windows in each room as I went through.  

If you've stuck with me reading this until the end, thank you for being here. Whew! I really feel better. The next post in a few days I will have lots of good things to say about the house, the holidays and how much fun we're having being close to Jenn, Dan and Ellie xoxo. 

As always... thanks for stopping by.