House Update

I guess I should give all four of you an update.

We’ve taken possession of the house. It’s not painted yet. We’ll probably do that on Saturday. Tentatively I plan on moving in the Saturday after that.

One of the drawbacks of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit is that you cannot efile with that form until March 30th, so I won’t be getting the refund back until around April 15th. So that will delay the housewarming party as I won’t have most major appliances or a dining room set until after we receive the refund.

Back into Band

I'd wanted to resume playing trombone for years now, but never found the right time or opportunity. My friend Jenny works in the music department at Furman, and heard that the Greenville Concert Band was looking for trombone players, so she put me in contact with someone from the organization who told me to come by and sit-in with the band on Thursday evening.

When I burned out on music during my freshman year of college I sold my professional grade trombone thinking I would never need it again. Fool. I do have a small "pea-shooter" horn that looks great but has a scratchy slide. I'd always meant to get it fixed, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. So, I called my friend Richard who was wise enough to keep his pro trombone from high school, and I'm borrowing that for the moment.

Having a day or two before band rehearsal I took out the horn and put myself through the paces. It's remarkable how much came back right away. I can still remember every major scale, alternate positions, even some etudes and solos from over a decade ago. The only problems at this point are endurance, articulation, and range, which should all work themselves out in time.

I showed up at the band rehearsal and out of five total trombone players, I was the only one younger than 55. There were a couple of decent players there, but by and large it was like high school band: 2-5 great players, 5-10 good players, and the rest were mediocre or worse. I can't wait to get my chops back in gear and audition for a higher caliber group like the Foothills Philharmonic.

Also, at the rehearsal for the band last week the principal clarinetist mentioned that trombonists were needed for an upcoming production of Funny Girl. I called the musical director and now it looks like I'm in the pit orchestra for that show and will get a small stipend for my effort. I plan on putting the money toward a decent quality instrument.

I can't believe I've gone eleven years without playing. I never knew how much of a gap not playing left in my life until I was the rehearsal last week. I almost broke down weeping at the sublime joy of playing in a large ensemble again. I don't care how good a stereo system you have, it will never replace being in the midst of 50+ musicians.

So, I'm off to my second rehearsal with the band tonight, after which I should have my own folder of music, so I can stop sight-reading and start practicing.

Bridal Weekend

Over the weekend two of Megan's best friends flew in and they spent the weekend together doing wedding stuff. They saw our house, went to the place we're having the wedding, ate lunch at the restaurant catering the reception, tried on dresses, and then they met us for karaoke at Guadalajara. I was there to view the house and go to lunch. Stacy and Maria are both funny and full of energy and it was great to see Megan perk up when they were around. It's too bad they live so far away.

We had a funny encounter at Perkins late at night, and luckily Pher was there with his camera. I got home and in bed at 3am or so.

On Sunday I woke up at 5am to meet them for breakfast and drive the girls to the airport. I went to church after that, but had to leave just after the sermon as I was getting a lot of sleep deprivation. I made it home and slept off and on most of the day.

The house inspection is in a couple of hours. Hopefully I won't find out the house is build over a burial ground. ;)

Looks Like We Have a House....

We found a house we liked very much in Fountain Inn on Monday evening. We went back at 7am on Tuesday to see it in daylight, and decided to put in an offer. Since the house was a foreclosure where the asking price is radically lower than the average sales price in the neighborhood, we offered X for the house where X is the list price plus 3% closing costs.

I got the call yesterday that the offer was accepted. I'm depositing the earnest money check into an escrow account today, and should have a signed contract by the end of the day. I'm very excited.

The house itself is a 3bd/2ba with a two-car garage. It's a 2.5 year old house in a development. I really wish it were not in a development, but since this is a 5-7 year "investment" house and not our permanent home it'll be fine for that timeframe. Once we have the signed contract, I'll put up some photos.

Bidding War

Well, my Realtor notified me that someone else submitted a bid on the house as well.

We have until noon tomorrow to change our bid and submit it to the bank that owns the house. I have no idea what their bid is and they have no idea what our bid is. Whichever bid is the highest will get the house.

We'll see what happens....

Made an Offer on a House

Well, we put an offer in for a house last night. We were looking at two houses in the same cul-de-sac in Greer. House A is a 3bd/2.5ba with a 1-car garage and a more usable backyard while House B has 4bd/2.5ba, a 2-car garage, and a formal dining room.

By the time I met up with our Realtor yesterday House B was already under contract after receiving 3 offers that day. So we decided to put in an offer on House A.

Everyone keep your fingers crossed. :)

Housing Woes...

Nearly a month since my last post!

Megan and I are looking for a house, which due to our desires and budget shouldn't be *that* difficult, but we're both good at finding reasons to pass on houses that would please most. Our budget is $75-110,000 and we're looking for a 3bd/2ba house on .5 acres within a half hour commute of downtown Greenville. Currently there lots of houses that meet that requirement (and *many* more if you remove the .5 acre) but we've found reasons to not like many of them.

This is the house we were initially in love with, a 2bd/1ba brick ranch on 1.5 acres in Piedmont, but we had a long discussion and decided that we needed a 3bd/2ba in case our family grows, so we had to bid this house adieu.

This is a really nice brand new house in a redevelopment area, but the schools aren't good and the lots are best measured with a yardstick.

Another was in a horrible neighborhood, while yet another needed too much work.

We thought we had found the one when we saw this house near Laurens Rd. & I-85. We liked it a lot when we were there, but after we left I began to have second thoughts. Sure it has .5 acres of land, but almost all of that land is on a high grade slope that would make it difficult for Josh to play in, not to mention mowing the lawn. Also, it had a fenced back yard, but it wasn't a privacy fence and our dog Kobi can get over the fence that is currently there.

So back to the drawing board. My lease in my current apartment is up at the end of this next week. I've been moving my belongings into a storage unit, and I'll be staying with my folks for a month or two until we find a house and close. Hopefully it won't be too long.