Walkthrough Today

Well, today was the final walk through with the Realtor, and everything is set to close tomorrow. We also discovered we have some sort of critters in the attic ... yuck. Time to call the exterminator. I will also want them to remove the bodies. I have dealt with corpses before and its beyond disgusting.
I started the phone calls today to track down the new commode for the bathroom. Strange as it sounds, there is a specific model I want from Crane Plumbing - I bought the one for our Long Beach house at Lowes five years ago, and just love the vintage look. Unfortunately, Lowes no longer carries the the thing, so I have to track it down elsewhere. I ended up calling a place in El Cajon and was transfered to a women named Velma, who bless her heart is going to get me a price later this week. And yes, she sounded like a Velma.
I also discovered that the neighborhood has a very well organized community development organization that is working to attract more business to the little business district and to spruce up Golden Hill Park. In the past few years, they have worked with the San Diego Police department to address crime, an have help orchestrate the addition on new street trees and putting power lines underground. They have also added these really cool signs as you enter the area. The more I learn about the area, the more I love my new neighborhood.
We made a trip to Lowes to get a few more preparation supplies, and I found some perfect house numbers for 2.50 each. Its so exciting to actually buy the numbers for the new house - it makes it feel more real. Lowes was also having a amazing sale on light fixtures, an we ended up with five for $5 each. These were originally $48 - $90 so we stocked up.
Well, my next update will be as a Homeowner.....

Meet the Neighbors...

So first off we have an "official" closing date of Wednesday, and I went over to the Loan office today to sign all of the myriad of paperwork. Being as California is so sue happy, there are a lot of disclosures and acknowledgments that make your head spin. One of my past jobs was at a mortgage company, so I actually was familiar with most of the stuff.
After we finished up there, we went up to the house to check out a few things I had forgotten to look at prior. The electrical service was upgraded at some point recently, so I wanted to see if it is big enough to handle a 220 circuit for our dryer, or if I was going to need to buy a gas one. Luckily, its fine. We also did a little digging in the back yard and found what appears to be the remains of a detached wash house. there is a bent water pipe sticking out of the ground and a sewer line, and some bricks an concrete chunks. I will have to go down to the Historical Society an see if there are any insurance maps from the teen and twenties to determine what was where, as those maps would show the locations of outbuildings. it will also answer the question of when the original garage was built - it is now a crumbling foundation thats ready to fall over.
As we were finishing up, we ran into the neighbors in the house behind, and they were so nice and welcoming, and thrilled to hear we were going to be fixing up the house. We chatted for almost and hour, and I am really looking forward to having them next door. It makes me want to get the exterior fixed up quickly, as there house is so nicely kept. They also gave us the background of the previous occupants, who in their words, were a little odd - an older couple who had been there for many years who towards the end had their adult children move in with them, and the house was filled to the rafters with papers and trash. It also turns out the broken windows had been missing for quite some time. After the bank took over, they had to clear out the house with shovels - and I thought it was bad empty! After we talked to them, we snagged a piece of glass putty to take to Home Depot to get a paint match. I am pre-painting all of the replacement window trim ahead of time, so the glass replacement will go faster.

Insurance...

Wow, its the little things that make it feel like its really happening. I called to arrange for Hazard Insurance and after the phone call, It hit me that I am actually going be in the house soon. This has been a crazy roller coaster that started back in March when I first saw the house. I can't wait to get over there with my tools and get to work. The word now is Wednesday or Thursday, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. I brought all of my Window Glazing tools and pneumatic nailer's to get the windows fixed right away, an several weeks ago I had bought some new deadbolt locks for the doors. Why a nail gun for window repair? It will use it to nail the wood glazing strips, which are used in place of #$%@ glass putty. In my past lives I worked as a carpenter and have repaired lots of wood windows and have come to despise glass putty. Its a royal pain to both install and remove, and I think the wood looks much nicer. I will replace any of the broken sash cords at the same time so the windows will open and close properly. Wednesday, here we come!

Why do I answer my Phone?

Today I get out of a meeting at work and there is a message on my desk phone, cell phone, and an email from my loan guy... Not good considering Escrow is supposed to close shortly. I call him and find out that the bank will not count my Escrow deposit towards the amount of available cash reserves needed to approve the loan. So I need to come up with some mega cash quickly... Fun Fun Fun...
Today was also supposed to be the walk through of the house to make sure that everything was still in the mouldering disorder it was when I fell in love with the place... I don't want to be shortchanged any filth I agreed too. We get there an my agent gets the key out of the lock box, an low and low and behold, the key does not work. The lock has been changed, and the new key was not put into the lock box. We tried the back door, the key worked but their is a security chain across it, so needless to say, no walk though today. The other little gift was nice gang graffiti on the front porch to welcome me.. My agent was very nice and took me to a nice dinner and drinks, I had a couple of Gin martinis an suddenly, things don't seem so bad, there are also a little wobbly, but thats a different story.
In any case, I know everything will work out and I am working with my Loan Guy and Agent to get past this hurdle. I have been waiting since March, what is a few more days in the grand scheme of things? The other reminder of today was that being at the house and in the neighborhood makes me so happy. I just Love Love Love that house and neighborhood, and soon, I will call it HOME.

We have errrr progress...

Well, here it is Sunday night and we did a drive by of the new house. (Fortunately, since we no longer live in LA we left our guns at home.) Low and behold, they FINALLY boarded up the shattered front picture window that was broken out in mid April. I had asked them repeatedly to secure the property, and they had continually refused. maybe the city finally got after them or it is a nice open of escrow gift. (in any case, I will take it) I also did some shopping in my bargain dives in LA, and found a perfect bathroom faucet for $90.00. I so thrilled because after exhaustive research online, Ebay, Home Depot and Lowes, I had not found anything forless than 150.00 plus shipping. I also did some shopping in my junk boxes in the attic of the LB house, and dug out some light fixtures and an Entry Door set that matches the ones in the new house. I picked it up over four years ago and put it away for a later project. I posted some pictures of my attic finds. See, it does pay to keep certain things around. My agent also called me today to let me know that the escrow company has all my paperwork ready to go and they will overnight it so we get it on Tuesday. Onward and Upward!

Are we having fun yet?

I get a frantic call from my Realtor today telling me that the Escrow company has not received by deposit check yet - In most real estate transactions, this is no big deal, because the Escrow company is in the same town, an I can drop off a new check. Well, in THIS transaction the bank that owns the house is in LA, and so is the escrow company. We also find out they won't accept my personal check, but need a cashiers check. Fortunately, I am headed up to LA to work on our Long Beach house, so I will drop off the check in their drop box. Since it is Friday night, its time to go swig few beers and relax, as the excitement will continue next week.

Before Pics .

The living room, complete with the fantastic beamed ceiling and built in bookcases an columns separating the entry. Also note the glamorous 60's ish crystal light fixture and electric blue carpet






Here is a view into the dinning room with a pocket door currently partially stuck into the wall, but with a 1920's curtain rod attached to the trim which indicates someone had portiers draped to separate the rooms. How swanky is that? Also note the elegant plywood and 2X4 screen on the windows, and another view of the carpet and contrasting linoleum in the dinning room.



The soon to be elegant dinning room, looking through the pocket door from the living room. As you can see, the room has a beautiful plate rail, picture molding and matching beam ceiling. It also has a very peculiar partition separating the room in half, built of scraps of wood paneling, 2x4 framing and large amounts of alcohol or controlled substance, as nothing is remotely level or even. It also bisects the original built in buffet which as been covered over. The floor has also been "repaired" in the most liberal sense of the word, as it is made up of different thickness plywood covered in linoleum replacing the original oak flooring. At least the 1X6 sub floor is still there and sound.

Here is the other side of the room, original detail intact with extraneous gas lines for a missing gas heater, and phone cord to nowhere.










The front bedroom, Intact with all the original moldings, floors and doors (not necessarily attached to door frame however). The highlight of this room is the closet door that has a full length bevel glass mirror on the inside of the door ( visible in the hallway picture below)









The back bedroom, with lots of doors. The door to the far right is new, and this wall be reconfigured to a larger double door to access the narrow closet. Already Hunting for a pair of 5 panel doors to match the rest of the house. The rest of the room is the same as the front, with all the original trim and flooring, although there is some termite damage to the maple floor in one corner, luckily, they didn't care for the pine sub floor which is solid.


Looking down the hall from the back bedroom to the front, the dinning room door on the left and the bath on the right. Note the beveled glass closet door mentioned above in the front bedroom an the intact trim and the original wall sconce next to the bathroom door on the right.








The kitchen. Got ya huh? Its actually not too bad, very late 1980's minus the almond appliances, actually minus all appliances, which considering how filthy the rest of the house is, a real blessing. A thorough cleaning, new counter tops and new floor, it will suffice until I can add on to the house and have my dream kitchen..








The bath, redone about the same time as the kitchen with about as much charm. a one piece fiberglass tub enclosure and a mildewed press board vanity complete the picture. There are big long terms plans for this room, subway tile walls, hexagonal tile floor, clawfoot tub and marble vanity. I managed to get my hands on the marble vanity on sale at Home Depot Expo, but the other elements will have to be put on hold for now. As a comparison, check out the picture of the bathroom in our Long Beach house below.




This room was completely redone,we moved the tub across the room and changed the locations of the doors. I did all the tilework, built the medicine cabinet and replicated all the woodwork to match the originals in the rest of the house. The tub enclosure design was copied from a 1928 penthouse apartment of a friend of ours, but we substituted glass block for the original tile mural. The new bath will be more Edwardian, which is more appropriate for the 1910 vintage of the new house. I can't do it the same way, now can I?