Happy New Year!

This is my first post for 2017!!!! This will be a very exciting year for us. We closed chapter 2016 on a very positive note. We closed on the town house on December 30!!!! My husband was able to sign some of the closing documents before we left for South Carolina. The day of closing the settlement company simply faxed over three additional documents for us to sign and send back.  Since the house is now sold that is one less thing we have to worry about (because this is one of the loan contingencies). I can focus my attention on the fun stuff!!! I drove pass the lot when we returned from vacation. I didn’t expect much to be done during the holidays but it did look like the excavation is complete. Our second Weekly Construction Meeting was today. Check out the construction updates here.

Sold…not Sold… Sold!!!

Our house was listed September 16^th. So exciting!! Ten days later we received a full offer. That was fast… Long story short after the inspection the lady did not want to move forward. Its ok, she just wasn’t the right buyer for us. The house was relisted on October 5^th. We received the second offer a few days later and the house was Pending (Contingent) on Oct 17^th. The buyer used a Maryland state first time home buyers program to receive closing cost assistance. The process is beneficial to the buyer but a headache for the selling. We had two inspections and then a re-inspection a week before closing to make sure everything was complete. Not to mention from start to finish the process is an elongated 60 days! Good thing we weren’t pressed to sale fast. However, we didn’t really mind the wait in the end. It allowed us more time to stay in “our own space” before moving in with the parents.  We are set to close December 16^th. Fingers crossed.

On November 28^th we were contacted by the structure and wiring company Audio Buys, to make our electrical and multimedia selections. He sent over a few documents with pricings for the options but I admit it went way over my head. I told my husband to take a look at them. We scheduled a meeting to finalize our multimedia selections in mid- January.

Prepping to Sale

We contacted our realtor to set up a walkthrough of our property. He sold the house to my husband five years ago and is a family friend.  He noted some updates and changes we needed to make to get top dollar. We immediately contacted our contractor to get started on the work. The townhouse was built in the 90s. It had laminate counters and white appliances. The cabinets are in pretty good shape. We didn’t plan on doing a full kitchen remodel so we purchased simple granite counters and stainless steel appliances. We had to be comparable to newer townhomes on the market that have granite and stainless steel.  Ceramic tiles were added to the kitchen and bathroom floors before my husband moved. That saved us a ton. The house was in pretty good shape so we didn’t have to invest a lot of money, just a bunch of small things.

Townhouse Kitchen Before:

Townhouse Kitchen After:

 

Here is a list of things we updated before putting the house on the market:

• Added granite counters and stainless steel appliances to the kitchen
• Pressure washed, restrained and repainted the deck.  (The previous owners painted the deck which was a headache. The paint was badly chipped.)
• Replaced wood under window frames (The wood frame under the windows on the back of the house was rooting.)
• Repainted the basement
• Wiped down all the walls
• Major house cleaning
• Hired Stanley Steamer to clean the carpets. (we tried to cut costs by not replacing the carpets)
• Washed light fixtures that were dusty.
• Fixed a broken bathroom fan
• Repainted the front door frame and trim
• Repainted the garage door frame and trim
• Cleaned up the yard. (I attempted to plant flowers… Total fail! I purchased flower pots instead)
• Uncluttered the house. (Purchased a storage unit)
• Replaced broken toilet
• Fixed drywall from a busted pipe that we fixed years ago

Major Key: Having our realtor walk through the property before we put it on the market was a big help. We fixed a bunch of small things that the home inspectors would’ve noticed.  We ended up saving time and money. When the home is under contract the state (MD) requires licensed contractors to complete any improvements. This is fine for some but for small things like we had non-licensed is just as good.