3 seen, 2 offered

So we saw 3 more homes this evening when running around with Patrick (our real estate agent). Two of them we liked enough to place offers on.

The first home that we placed an offer on was exactly the same model as our first offer, but it was down the street about 5 houses. We underbid, and aren't expecting to get it.

The second home that we saw and placed an offer on is shown above, and is on Cove Lane in Discovery Bay.

View a photo gallery of it here.

About the home:
* 1 story
* 3 bdr, 2 bath
* 2 car garage
* 1750 square feet
* Some hardwood floors

We liked the layout, and the separate breakfast nook and dining area a lot. The master suite was very big, which was great, but (and my photos didn't show this) it didn't have a bathtub. We figure if it ever bothers us enough we can re-do the bathroom. The 2nd bathroom does have a bathtub though, if it comes to it.

So, two offers, we're rooting for the second offer more. But the first is a great house too and we wouldn't mind living there at all.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Happy Birthday Mommie!

Happy Birthday to my mommie! You are super special and I hope you have a great day. Andrew and I love you lots. Enjoy your new satellite radio.

910 Yardely

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UPDATE 9/13/04
Our offer was rejected on the house. One of the other offers included 50% down payment, and we couldn't compete with our 100% financing. We'll keep you posted as we keep looking for more homes.

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We found a great home in Brentwood today, when we went around again with our Real Estate Agent. In fact, it was so great, we decided to make an offer on it.

The basics:
Built in 1999
3 bdr, 2 bath
Central heat and air
Built-in 5.1 surround sound
Fans in every room
Great master bathroom
1490 sqft
1 story
.14 acre lot

View a photo gallery of the house.

Unlike the other homes that we've looked at, this one isn't a fixer-upper. In fact, there isn't much we could do to it to fix it up, its all done! It has a great (covered!) patio in the back yard, with a good floor plan in the house. It flows nicely.

Also, its in a nice neighborhood. The only two concerns we had about it were that it backs up to a street that is pretty busy during rush hour, and its next to a railroad. The extention of eBart into Brentwood would run on the railroad tracks as seen in the second picture in the gallery linked above. About 3 houses from us. The plus of that is that it probably wouldn't happen for 5-10 years, and even if it does we don't think that it would drop the property values below what we'd make in the 5 years before we leave anyway.

So think good thoughts, and we'll keep you posted!

Update!
We've put together a small floorplan of the home to help you see its layout a little bit better. You can see it right below this text. Click on it to see a larger version.

Bobby Got Married!

Andrew and I were lucky guests at my past roomate's wedding. Bobby and I lived together my senior year of college at Davis. We had a blast and I often reminesce about the crazy times we had together. He put up with my cockatiel Kiwi and an assortment of small creatures that he would find loose in the apartment. Bobby married his girlfriend of 4 years, Brittany Priest.

They will be starting a new family where Bobby will be a proud step-father to Brittany's five year old son Chandler. We wish them the best of luck and hope they live happily ever after.

The wedding was held at Whitney Oaks Golf Club in Rocklin, CA.

The fun part about the wedding was that one of my father's great friends officiated the ceremony. Bobby works in the Sacramento Courthouse where my father's friend, Judge Gunther, is a Superior Court Judge. He did an excellent job and I enjoyed seeing him and introducing him to Andrew.

Congrats to Bobby and Brittany. Cheers!

Home Shopping Summary Sept. 8

So we drove to Brentwood this evening to look at homes. Well, Brentwood and Discovery Bay. We went through 4 homes, and of that two were notable. A brief summary:

Beaver St.
Discovery Bay
$439k (overpriced)
3bdr 2bath
1692 sqft

Pluses

• The yard is pretty much finished
  
• Big living room
  
• Nice patio out the back door, covered
  
• Good neighborhood
  
• Backs up to park
  
• Large lot
  
• Attached 2 car garage
  

Minuses

• Galley Kitchen, would need to be redone eventually
  
• Overpriced, closer to $420k value
  
• Bathrooms are "70's style"
  
• No overhead lighting
  

Pippo St.
Brentwood
$420k
4bdr 2bath
1940 sqft

Pluses

• Large kitchen
  
• Odd layout is "easily" fixed by taking out 2 non-load-bearing walls, and covering a couple doorways
  
• After a bunch of mostly "cosmetic" fixes, it could be worth lots more (realtor says if the stuff I mention here were fixed, it would sell for $500k now)
  
• Large lot
  
• Attached 2 car garage
  
• Backs up to empty lot, curmudgeon owns it and has no plans to sell. Zoned for homes if he does sell
  
• Walking distance to elementary school and water park
  

Minuses

• Previous person did lots of work themself, and it shows (home depot cabinets, etc)
  
• Really odd layout
  
• Pool in backyard would need to be filled in (not a cement pool; fiberglass liner)
  
• Lots of backyard work to do other than the pool
  
• Fence is showing its age
  

So those are the two that we found the most attractive. Both would need work (one a kitchen, one everything but the kitchen). We're tending towards less work right now, so the Pippo house is rather unattractive in the amount of work that it needs done.

I like the yard and the layout of the Beaver house, other than the galley kitchen. Shannon doesn't like its bathrooms.

Of course, we're going to keep looking. But as a first day of looking, I think we did pretty good!

Purchase me a big house

So after polling half the population of California last night about loans, we've decided to go with an Interest Only loan.

Judging by the audible gasp that I just heard you make, you might think thats a crazy idea. Well, I did at first too. In fact, I've been running around for the past 2 years telling people what a crazy idea it is.

What made me change my mind? Well, I finally sat down and actually calculated the difference between an interest only (hereafter i/o) loan and a regular amortized loan. The difference? Not much in the short term (less than 5 years).

You probably already know this, but because of the way home loans are structured, for your first few years that you're paying it off on a regular amortized loan you're paying almost all interest anyway. The bank structures the payments so they get their money (the interest you pay) first, then you get your money (the principle, the equity in the home) later in the loan.

Hey, why run a bank if you don't get to do money tricks like that, eh?

So when I calculated it out for the length of time that we're planning to stay in the house we buy (less than 5 years) there isn't much difference in the amount of equity that we would have between the i/o and amortized loan.

As another bonus point for i/o loans, because you don't have to pay down the principle, the payments will be much lower, thus we can buy more house.

And the amount of house that we can afford with an i/o loan is just about the level of house that we've been wanting.

What to buy?

So lately we've been trying to figure out how much and what type of home to buy. I think it all comes down to how we feel when we see it, but we're trying to quantize it as much as possible at first.

In no particular order below, are some of what we're thinking about in regards to getting a home/condo:

• Bedrooms - 2 minimum, 3 would be great.
  
• Bathrooms - 2 minimum, the 1 bathroom at our current place is not enough...
  
• Kitchen with a dishwasher
  
• No carports, a covered garage is a must here. Attached would be great, but detached... we might be able to swing it. Depending on the house.
  
• How much yard? We're not really sure. We think we can make it work with a condo, if we are diligent about walking the dogs regularly. A small yard area would be nice though, we could set up a doggie door.
  
• Cost. Should we buy as much house as possible, or buy as cheap as possible so that we can have more money for emergencies. On one hand we want to have the most equity so when we decide to have kids we can afford a house on my salary alone. On the other we don't want to become "house poor."
  
• Independant of the above factors, should we get a home or a condo? If the market drops in the future, a home would probably keep its value better, but homes cost that much more. And condo's in Discovery Bay would probably hold value pretty well anyway...

  Also, condominiums might require less direct maintenance by us, which would probably be a good thing.
  

• Two stories or one? Teenie's back wouldn't like a big staircase, but if we were diligent we think we could probably keep her out of a back brace.
  

So thats just some of what we've been thinking about. Do you have any suggestions for future homes? Can you not live without ceiling fans? No sliding class doors? At least a 400 sqr foot kitchen?