Karen-we might be next!

[tizzylou]

Laurie, Hope your offer is accepted, will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Karen, tried the Diffwallpaper stripper and even that didn't work. I'm beginning to think that they sized the wall, and then used wallpaper paste on prepasted paper, I'm serious this stuff isn't budging. Sure I'll come tile, could use a nice vacation, and I don't mind work while I'm on it. However, if it is very cold, I might freeze, we haven't had much winter this year, and it was 70 degrees today,so when you have been able to wear sandels most of the winter in Colorado you know that if it very cold you might freeze. This part of Colorado isn't very scenic however, lots of brown prairie. although some of the fields with the winter wheat are starting to green up, so it is look less dreary.

[ladycattat]

Ack.....turns out this home buying thing is wayyyyy more complicated that we thought!
Honestly, DH and I are just babes in the woods in this regard. Nobody thought to tell us about the *earnest money* we would need if putting in an offer, and truly, our savings are pretty meager. We alsdo have some stuff on our credit report we need to take care of....not a lot of stuff, just a few little things that our lender originally said we could take into escrow with us, but now he says we are better of of paying them down now. (why don't people just tell you in the beginning what they want you to do. Wouldn't that be easier?)
There is also the fact that while we have been pre-approved, we still don't have our financing in place.....so while I thought we were at the place where we could just go looking and if we found a house we could just make an offer....we are just not quite there yet.
But it will happen. Sooner, I hope, rather than later.
My parents have also come in with a very unexpected, and very welcome, offer of financial assistance that they said we could use in any way we see fit. So if it gets us into our house of dreams, BOO-YAH!
I'll keep you all posted. I'm sick as a dog right now, and a little discouraged....but I will soldier on, and fight the good fight!
Laurie

[karen]

Laurie- hang in there! You will get there! Between thrifting, and Craig's list, and all of the cool little shops you'll visit you're going to have the coolest house! One that *no one* else could ever have, and it's going to be spectacular! Ruby said it's always a work in progress, and that's saved my sanity more than once. It's the biggest roller coaster ride of your life with lots of ups and downs. It pretty much took us a year to get into this house, between getting the credit squared away, and the financing in order, and then actually finding the house and the inspections, surveys, etc. That credit thing is the biggest pain- once you find all of those weird little bills and start paying them off they come out of the woodwork with new ones. It's like wack-a-mole. I had to pay a surgeon $20 because one time they thought I had appendicitis and he literally peeked into my ER room and somehow that "counted" as a visit- mind you I never saw the bill until it was on my credit report. And the banks are just a mess. I'm not sure what things cost out there, but after the earnest money you also have to pay for the house inspection once you put in an offer- they want that check before they hand you the report. Those were our 2 things we had to pay before closing- but we had a really simple transaction- no appraisal or survey. Thank goodness for parents! It feels so daunting some days, but when you get it, and the kids are picking out their rooms, and you're hanging curtains in your new living room it will all be worth it. I'm making pinup girl curtains for my retro pink bathroom- and thanks to Craig's List I have 20 feet of bowling alley just waiting to be turned into spiffy counter tops- total cost was $50!!! You're going to love it, and it's going to be sooo much fun!

Get well soon!!!

Well it's 42 today and it feels like Spring if that's any indication...no, winters here aren't fun at all, but it's one of the nicest places in the world in the summer. It sounds like someone did a really *good* job hanging your wallpaper- and you're right that is no fun to remove. Eeesh. On the DIY channel beaded board looks easy to hang (no sanding!)- but everything looks easy on DIY, so who knows.

[ladycattat]

Pin-up girl curtains and bowling alley countertops???? Karen, really? How cool is that? You obviously have a vision! I like your *wack-a-mole* description...seriously, that's what it feels like.
Plus, my van's been in the shop for 3 days for a minor little dealy that I told them what the problem was with, and I cannot stand not being mobile. Luckily we live close enough to school the kids can walk, but I seriously need some cheese with my whine right now!
Thanks for all the encouragement; I really didn't expect it to be easy; it just sounded so much smoother a process than it really is---kinda like life!
Laurie

[tizzylou]

Laurie hang in there despite the set backs you will get there and it will be all worth it in the end. Karen, I want to see your bowling alley counter tops when they are finished, that is way to cool. Yeah, i think this is one wallpaper that I'm going to see if I can paint over when I get to that point, it is on there way to good. I'd love to be where you are in the summer when it is 110 around here, but you can't bet the mild winters, although this year has been warmer than usual( it's supposed to be 80 on Sat), most years you can play golf at least 2-3 days a week ( not that I like to golf, I don't ) but it is a good way to show that we may get snow, but it doesn't last and the sun usual shines more than it is cloudy. I'm not sure what the average winter temp is, but I would expect mid to upper 40's most of the time. If the weather is going to be really miserably cold, we may have a week of 20=30 with lows below 0 in late December early January. I don't ski, so I don't care that I am 4-5 hours away from the mountains, just as long as they get snow,even if we don't so that there will be water for the farmers in the summer.

Are you planning on hanging bead board? That i haven't done, so can't say if it is easy or not.

[lcash]

Re-wallpaper stripping. Hubby got a wallpaper steamer at a garage sale, and the stuff comes rEALLY easily. You do, however, have to be careful not to burn your arm off with the steam in the process. Perhaps you could find a used one on ebay or rent one locally? Lauren

[tizzylou]

Lauren, Thanks for that suggestion, I"ll have to start lokking for one.

[ladycattat]

I HATE THIS WHOLE PROCESS!!!!!

We have just been outbid on the 3rd house we have put in an offer on!!!(poor grammar, I know...)
The listing agents on the houses don't even have the courtesy to even let other realtors know that there have been other offers; that's what kills me.....We could have offered more!

Being on jury duty for 3 weeks has totally messed up our process and our time. I know that we missed out on some great houses just cuz both dh and I didn't have the time available to do our *homework*.

I know there is a place out there just waiting for us; but I am so discouraged right now!
Thanks for listening!
laurie

[karen]

We got outbid on our house too...3 times actually. It "sold" to 3 different people before we finally placed an offer they accepted. Our first offer was in October- and then after all of the other monkey business we finally got it in Feb. They're never really "sold" until the closing day, and there's a ton of stuff that can happen between getting an offer accepted and closing.

It's like dating- a whole lot of good and bad before you find "the one". I have lotsa pinup cowgirl fabric- and am happy to share!!!

[JenW]

Hugs, Laurie!

Hang in there. I definitely feel for you.