LG. Lavada Goddess
Friday, April 27, 2007

Joen and I have been eying this Washer and Dryer set by LG. It's a bit pricey but the reviews are good and these units have been known to last for years and years. So we go from store to store to compare prices and get all the information we can . This was aside from all the online researching Joen had to do (read: Geek! Dork!). Anyway, today, after I picked him up in the office, the plan was just to go to NFM to play Guitar Hero (Joen is SO hooked!) but we strayed and checked out the appliances section. There they were-- our desirable laundry units... ON SALE! And not only were they on Sale, they had a $175 discount on top OF the Sale price. Whoopee!! So we made a drastic yet practically wise decision to check out Best Buy (which was just 5 minutes away) and see if they do price matching.

They did!

So we had to go all the way back to NFM to get some paper proof on the price drop and presented it to Best Buy. They matched everything on there but the warranty. What's more, they offered 0% interest for 2 years. Double whooppee!! We enjoyed this accidental buy. It might have required us to drive back and forth but for a savings totaling almost $400, it was well worth it. Look at me- Proud Owner. Consumer in Bliss. Lavada Goddess!

posted by maudester @ 10:15 PM   0 commentus maximus

The Chinese Way
Thursday, April 26, 2007

Always loved that song by Level 42.

So the other day, I made a print-out of our house lay-out on my afternoon break. My intention was to just impose the Feng Shui octagon over the print out and I could then carry on with my business. That "break" took about 3 hours. I became so immersed with all the colors and labeling that I ended up making a mock-up of what will soon be our feng shui-inspired decor. With the help of Google Earth, I was able to ascertain the specific directions our house was facing. We now have some sort of visual concept of our home's interior-- where the water fountain is going to be, what kind of furniture to place where, where to place the wind chimes, what lamps to have and so on. Of course, we are not buying all these at one time. We have already agreed to not rush into decorating because, like a can of Pringles, once you pop, you may not be able to stop. If we are fortunate, we can find some great steals at Garage Sales. Otherwise, we will wait it out. Feng Shui masters discourage placing all remedies and cures at the same time so just as well. And as much as I am loving one FS principle after another, I do not intend to apply each and every one of them. Practical application is the way to go after all else, our house will be loaded with crystals and chimes and bells at the risk of looking like a Chinese artifact museum! Unh-unh.

Anyway, I was just happy to realize that our front door faces primarily east and our bedroom window faces the west. Our kitchen happens to be situated primarily in the North while our living room faces both east and southeast. The front door directly facing the stairs can easily be cured as well as the sliding door to the deck being right next to the kitchen. The work area being Southeast is an auspicious direction for both Hoen and myself so that should be a good thing. I discovered several other good things but just a few bad things and that's always a sigh of relief. Of course, all this going hand-in-hand with our daily prayers will hopefully make us better people living better lives. Man, I can't wait to get started!

posted by maudester @ 9:35 PM   1 commentus maximus

Garage SOLD
Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Now that we are less a month away from closing our house and with Spring's warmer breezes, garage sales are a-mushroomin'! Time to skimp! We always joke around about eating just twice a day, not going on vacations and wearing "bahag" all because we now have to pay for mortgage. As much as it sucks not to have all the money in the world, it actually has helped us discipline ourselves from buying into ANY trend. Because we don't have any money, it's easy for us to look past the wants and stick with the needs. We rarely buy regular price and we hardly purchase anything on impulse. Tahnee told me about this placed called Thriftworld and I really ought to check it out. I love bargain shopping!

HUGE SEGUE dontchootink? Back to the program.

We have been garage sale hopping for the past 2 weekends. So far, we have been very happy with our purchases because most of it has been for the house. We have bought a water fountain, a wall clock, a scanner, a jar of river stones, a boardgame, a bag and several other stuff. Last Sunday was crazy because we went to not one, but THREE garage sales. The second one we went to was from a posh neighborhood so most of the stuff on display were high end. There we met a woman who gave us her card for us to check out her puppies. Sooo cute! It was a surprise weekend for us, one we truly enjoyed. We're not stopping the hopping anytime soon so I hope we bring enough cash every weekend. Who knows? We just might see more garage sales at the side of the road.

posted by maudester @ 10:37 PM   0 commentus maximus

Lay-out
Monday, April 23, 2007

Joen and I have been plagued by one big question after another. "Should we paint the dining area the same color as the kitchen? Or should it be in the same color as the living room? Should the rest of the walls leading to the hallway be likewise as well?" And that is why I wrote to Maybelline for help. I downloaded a trial version of the MS Visio software and made a bird's eye-view of the lay-out. Hopefully, this will help May help us. =)

posted by maudester @ 3:45 PM   0 commentus maximus

Say, "Cheese!!"
Friday, April 20, 2007

The last time we had dinner at Panera with the lovely Tahnee, she told us (in jest), "Guys, you didn't have to pick this place. You could've picked The Cheesecake Factory or something...!" So last Monday, guess where we had dinner.

......

Brilliant! Here we are, after having finished really sumptuous meals. Never mind our end-of-day tired faces. After the Virginia Tech massacre that happened that day, we needed a more-pleasure-than-business dinner.

posted by maudester @ 10:21 PM   0 commentus maximus

Da Hood
Wednesday, April 11, 2007

This is how our "future" neighborhood looks like.

To our left.


To our right.


Right in front of us. (Bad Feng Shui but can easily be remedied)

posted by maudester @ 8:07 PM   0 commentus maximus

Inspector Mills....

If you don't know the song then, you... are... not... OLD.

Anyway, as we were up for having the house inspected already, Joen (as usual) did some research on Home Inspectors here in Omaha. We had forgotten then that Nancy had already given us brochures of 2 Home Inspection companies that were in CBS Homes' preferred list. Anyway, as Joen was researching, he came across this article http://independentinspectors.org/inspection-pdf-files/homeinspectorsinvestigated.pdf which mentioned that CBS and AmeriSpec were under media investigation last 2005. Allegedly, CBS Homes got paid by AmeriSpec, HBP and two other Home Inspection companies for including them in the list. They denied these claims and we're not sure how it all ended but anyway, this article mentioned this home inspector, Larry Crouch, who independently opted out of being on the preferred list. If this is indeed true (we don't know actually if it is), the conflict of interest makes sense so we decided to just play it safe and go with Larry Crouch.

Today, we had the home inspection at 3:30 pm. He was already right about done when we arrived so we just went ahead and sat down to go over the findings with him. He found 5 minor things that needed to be fixed. These were all Safety issues:

1) The Deck Door lock wasn't working
2) Repair the gas leak at the drip cap at the basement utility room (sealed in red tape)





3) The railings of the stairs leading to the downstairs Family Room might need to be reinstalled (here it is leaning against the laundry room wall)






4) Provide vents into the furnace room for combustion air






5) Install a grounding jumper at the water softener piping





Nancy... poor Nancy who had to drive down from Chicago dropped by for a short while to get her copy of the inspection results. She was obviously short of breath from all the running around she had to do that day. Hope she gets to relax soon. Joen and I were there for about an hour and a half with Larry as he explained to us in detail what things to look out for and what things to do during what season. We were very happy with Larry.

Oh, and here are some pics I forgot to take before.

The kitchen sink faucet turned out to be a pull-out. Weeee!!





The showerhead turned out to be a Raindrop showerhead. Weee!!! Weee!!!




Here are some things we need to be on the look-out.

We need to put some more dirt at this side of the house every Spring to make sure that water flows out of the house at all times. Keeping this part sloping keeps the water away from the house. We need to put some more dirt below this gravel by the outside steps as well keep the water out. We also need to change the air filter here every month or so. And in the occurrence of a water pipe leakage, we're supposed to switch this green thing to shut off all the water.


Joen and I call each other "Homey" now. Hehe

posted by maudester @ 5:47 PM   0 commentus maximus

Lend(er) us a hand

Yesterday, Joen and I met up with Tahnee Markussen of First National Bank. We met her at the free home buyer's seminar and we immediately liked her. She was this sweet but thorough mortgage loan representative who gave us personal attention even then. Last night, we had a light dinner at Panera and she was able to give us a good faith estimate very comparable to Randy's. Joen asked Randy if he could come up with a rate to compare with Tahnee and he did. So Joen went to his office where Randy just handed him a piece of paper and walked right back to his office. Tahnee gave us her BEST faith estimate just earlier today and right away, we wanted to lock it in. We feel very comfortable with her because she really takes the time to explain each and every detail and is never in a rush to get things going.

Now that we've chosen the lender, it's one task down. We're assured Tahnee would be very helpful even after this deal is over. She's just that kind of loan officer-- you know, who goes that extra mile.

posted by maudester @ 5:30 PM   0 commentus maximus

Somewhere over the rainbow... of colors
Sunday, April 8, 2007

Yesterday, Joen and I made a trip to Lowe's to check out their paint color palettes. I know, I know, it's still too early, but can we help it if we're excited? After all, we've already seen the inside and outside of the house so we can now start envisioning the colors and decors and such. Although we both agreed that we shouldn't do everything we need to do at one time and that we should schedule it on a monthly or quarterly basis. Even Feng Shui practitioners advise against doing everything all at once because the elements might be too overwhelming. We both kind of know already that the kitchen will be certain dark shade of red and that the living room will be some shade of avocado green. The family room in the basement can be painted later but it just might be a cool gray blue. We don't know just yet. We went to Borders where Joen read about house flipping and where I browsed through decor magazines to get ideas for the living room and Dining Area.

Today, Joen and I went to Home Depot to inquire about their paint classes but they didn't have any for the month of April. Hoh well, I guess next month then? We went over to their BEHR section and did this virtual color printing via touch screen monitor. Pretty smart and enjoyable. We then went to B&N where I continued to read more on my Feng Shui and Joen got immersed into a whole new world of painting and decorating. He says he wants to take charge of landscaping. YIPPEEE!!!

posted by maudester @ 6:07 PM   0 commentus maximus

Black Saturday Offer
Saturday, April 7, 2007

And the sellers accepted our offer! HOLY SHEIK! I guess that house will be ours within the next month. We may not be in a rush to move in but at least we have MORE than ample time to move our stuff. And given that the house is 15 minutes from the apartment, having non-rush trips is what's best for us. When Joen got the news first from Nancy that they homeowners had accepted our offer, I guess that's when it really occurred to him that we are THIS close to getting what we've been wanting. When he opened the bedroom door and told me about it while lying beside me in bed, I knew this "FEELING" of owning an actual house will not sink in soon. After all, we were vying for July and it's still April. We ended up laughing and giggling as if to think, "Ok, NOW what do we do? Do we really what to do or what to expect?" Somehow, we both found it extremely funny realizing just how ignorant we were at owning and investing on the most important property we own. Hihihi.

Here it is. But before I sing "Our house... in the middle of the street", we have to realize that it ain't over 'til all the signatures are over.

posted by maudester @ 11:09 PM   0 commentus maximus

Crossing fingers, toes and eyes!!
Friday, April 6, 2007

At 4:20 pm today, Joen and I met with Nancy to go over the numbers if we were to make an offer to that house we were really interested in. Turns out, we were able to work out a number that might be 3 grand more than their advertised value but we would end up savings a lot of money. We actuall spent a good 3 hours just going over everything. We didn't want to leave the room with more questions in our head and Nancy made sure we had a thorough understanding of the terminologies.

What was important to us was knowing how much our out-of-pocket expense would be, even if it all becomes a wash in the end. Since Joen and I are very price-sensitive, we have to get ourselves ready for any and all expenses leading to the closing. Imagine this, Nancy is giving the sellers 'til noon tomorrow (April 7th, twelve o'clock pm) to go YEY or NAY. If they accept our offer, we could be moving in to the house as soon as next month! If they counter our offer, then more negotiations would have to be made. If somebody else makes an offer, then that would be just plain *BLEEP*. Hehe. So let's wait how it goes tomorrow. We're praying they accept our offer so that we can already focus on closing the deal.

Crossing fingers, toes and eyes!!!

posted by maudester @ 10:50 PM   0 commentus maximus

Week 10 -- OHMYGOD...
Thursday, April 5, 2007

...we just might have found the house that we're going to buy!!!!

Today, Nancy took us to see 3 existing houses and one of them happened to be something we really liked. Joen, who doesn't easily get excited (and believe me, he was), was ready to close on this house right away. But we had to do some research first along with Nancy's help. Anyway, I will show you the pics of the 2 houses we saw before I show the pics of the house we just might be buying. (All three houses were Hearthstone houses, by the way)

HOUSE 1 -- 15303 Young St. Bennington

View from the door; View OF the door; Double-sink vanity in Master's Bath; Master's BR; Step-in Closet


Walkway; Top of the Stairs; Living Room; Family Room; Treadmill in FR;

HOUSE 2

From the door; the kitchen; the dining area across the kitchen; small basement


Master's BR; Master's Bath and Closet; Steep Yard; Huge deck

And now, for the POTENTIAL MORENO HOUSE. (Hehe)

View from the door; Dining Area across kitchen; Living Room; Sink Area; Cooking Area; Walkway


The yard; The Grill on the Deck; Master's BR; Step-in Closet; 2-sink vanity in Master's Bath


Room 1; Room 2; 2nd full Bath; Family Room; Family Room; Garage

Let's wait see if this really is the house for us. But the price is right, the location is just unexpectedly classy and the neighborhood lovely. The thing is, the owners of the house have to move out after 30 days since the house they constructed is already done and they will lose that house if they don't sell their old house. Joen was so excited over this one, he basically wanted to make an offer right away. But Nancy had to get more information since our timeline was supposed to be July. Now we have to think about the possibility of transferring to the house within the month of May which is NEXT MONTH!!

I hope everything works for us. We're praying go well since I've practically played around with some visuals on my mind-- what paint I'm going to use, what decor we're going to have and what changes to do here and there. Hehe.

posted by maudester @ 10:46 PM   0 commentus maximus