We’ve been tying up loose ends all week, getting ready to sell our current house and buy our new home.  Our closing is set for Friday morning, and then the closing on the new house is on Monday.  It feels like we’re never going to get everything packed up and moved out of her by Saturday, but I suppose we will.

We’ve got our final numbers on both sales now.   We’ll net just over $42,000 from the sale of our house, and we need to show up at closing for the new house with about $45,000.   So that works out just about perfectly.  We decided to go with a 15 year mortgage on the new house, and we got a rate of 4.625%.  The shorter loan term means that our monthly payments will be about $300 higher than our current mortgage payment.  We debated for a while on that decision, but in the end the lower interest rate won us over.  The HOA dues at the new house are only $50/year, as opposed to the $80/month that we pay now.  So that reduces the difference in mortgage payments down to about $225/month.  And for the last several years, we’ve made additional payments on our mortgage, ranging from $100 to $1000.  So we feel comfortable with the slightly higher payment, given the lower interest rate and the shorter loan term that we’re getting in trade.  We don’t have any debt other than the mortgage, which helped make the decision a little easier.

We’re going to focus on our emergency savings account for a while, just in case.  But given the relatively small difference in mortgage payments, it was worth it to us to go with the 15 year loan.  Our goal is to pay off the mortgage in about seven years, so for now we intend to pay quite a bit more than the required payment each month.  But we feel confident that even if our job situation were to change, we could handle the new payments without too much stress.

I don’t know many people with 15 year mortgages.  Have any of you opted for higher monthly payments in trade for a lower interest rate and shorter term?  Are you glad you did, or do you wish you had taken out a 30 year loan?

We have been using the same garden trowel ever since we moved into our house in 2003.  Somewhere around 2007, the handle broke.  It’s a metal handle with a soft plastic grip around it, and the metal inside snapped in half.  All that was holding the handle to the trowel was the plastic sheathing on the handle.  And yet we continued to use it.  I don’t know why we didn’t just get another trowel.  I guess we always forgot when we’re out and about.

Last night, we were at Marshalls, and my husband found a garden trowel and fork set - with a ten year warranty! - for $12.  Sold.  They’re stainless steel with handles made of oak, and they seem much more solid than our old one (I suppose that doesn’t take much, considering the state of the old one).  We had actually gone to Marshalls to look for a new cutting board to replace one that was so old that it had finally cracked in half.  I found a beautiful bamboo cutting board for seven bucks.  I also needed a cloth shower curtain liner, since our new house has tubs instead of shower stalls.  I don’t like vinyl shower curtain liners, and the cloth ones I had seen in regular retail stores were $25.  I found one at Marshalls for six dollars.  I love finding exactly what I need and feeling like I got a bargain at the same time.  But I wasn’t expecting was to find a perfect replacement for our garden trowel at Marshalls.  Since the vast majority of our free time is going to be spent gardening after we move, I think finding a beautiful trowel set  is a good omen…

We think we’re finally past most of the speed bumps on the road to selling one house and buying another.  The appraisal was the last hurdle for selling our house, and unfortunately it came in $5000 lower than our asking price.  We knew this was going to be an issue even before we listed our house.  We discussed it at length with our realtor, and she even took us around the neighborhood to check out other houses that we for sale before we set our price.  We knew that the highest price any house in our neighborhood had sold for recently was $205k.  And the lowest was $135k.  So we knew that finding comps in our neighborhood was going to be tough when it came time for an appraisal.  There were a couple houses for sale for more than we listed ours, but they haven’t sold yet, so they don’t count.

The appraiser tried his best.  He was aware of the offer price, and how few days the house was on the market.  He even went to a fancier neighborhood and looked at comps there, to give us the benefit of the doubt as far as locations (we are in one of the best possible locations within our neighborhood).  He gave us a value of $210k, which is higher than anything else has sold for here this year.  But that meant that our net from the sale was going to be reduced by five grand.  We really had no option but to reduce our price.  More than 80% of the loans in this area right now are FHA, and this FHA appraisal would stick with our house for the next six months.  Considering the comps, there is really no reason to think that a conventional loan appraisal would put it any higher.  So our only chance of selling the house for more than $210k was to find a cash buyer.  And that doesn’t sound like fun at all.  So we agreed to lower our price.  But we wanted to check out the closing costs situation with our buyer, to see if we had any negotiating room there.

Our realtor requested to see the schedule of fees for the buyer’s closing costs, and the buyer’s agent agreed to let us look at them.  I noticed that our buyer had a good rate (4.85% on a 30 year loan), and was impressed with that.  But her closing costs were huge… nearly $8000.  We had originally agreed to pay up to $7500 in closing costs for her, with her paying full price for the house.  But with the lowered house price, we were hoping to pay less in closing costs.  It was our realtor who figured out that the reason our buyer’s interest rate is so good is because she bought the rate!  I don’t know a whole lot about creative financing, but apparently you can pay an additional fee at closing and secure a lower interest rate - lower than you would otherwise qualify for.  And in this case, with the sellers (that would be us) paying her closing costs, that’s exactly what this buyer did.

Our realtor discussed this with us, and suggested that we play hardball.  She contacted the buyer’s realtor and said that we were willing to pay all necessary closing costs, but that a fee (four thousand dollars in this case!) to lower the buyer’s interest rate did not count as a necessary cost, and that we would not be paying it.  The next day she called back to say that the buyer had agreed to pay her own rate buy-down charge.  Whew!

My husband and I had discussed this before we talked with our realtor, and had decided that even if we couldn’t get the buyer to budge on closing costs, we wanted to go ahead with the deal.  We have money in savings that would could have used to make up the difference when it was time to close on our new house, and we didn’t want to start over with finding a new buyer.  But that said, we’re really glad that our realtor did such a good job with this transaction.

Once it’s all said and done, the lower appraisal value is only going to impact our net proceeds by a couple hundred dollars, since we’re now only paying about $3500 in closing costs, and not paying commissions and fees on the $5000 that got knocked off the price of the house.

So now we’ve started packing.   And I remember why I really don’t like moving.

Our new house doesn’t have a washer and dryer.  Well, it does now, but they aren’t included with the house.  I knew that I wanted to get a front loading washing machine once we moved.  I love that they use far less water, and the ones I’ve used (at friends’ houses) seem to spin things out much better than my top loader, so that clothes don’t take as long to dry.

I had been checking out Craigs List, but the few front loaders that I found were usually at least $500.  New, they typically start at $800, although I sometimes see sales where they get down around $600.  Still a lot to pay, but I was considering it.

A couple days ago, my parents were in their local Habitat for Humanity thrift store, and called me to say that they had found a front loading washing machine for $250.  The manufacture date on it was September 2003, and it came with a pedestal that raises it up off the floor.  The washer is now in my parents’ garage, and they have tested it to make sure that it works.

Just on a whim, I went to the appliance section at Home Depot yesterday to see what the pedestals that go under washing machines cost.  $219.  I couldn’t believe it - I actually went and asked an associate if I was understanding the sign correctly, and he assured me that I was.  That makes our $250 washer even more of a steal, since it came with the pedestal.

There was a matching dryer at the thrift store, also for $250.  But we’re going to try not having a dryer, and see how it goes.  I can’t remember the last time I used our dryer, and I think that we’ll be just fine without one.  We’ll be installing a clothesline right away, and we have our drying racks to use indoors if the weather is bad.  I stopped using our dryer about two years ago, and have made it through two winters without using it (summers are easy).  And that’s in a 1300 square food home where I have to set the drying racks in the dining room and bedrooms.  In our new house, I can set them in the basement where they’re out of the way.  So overall, I’m thinking we can get by just fine without a dryer.

Have any of you given up your dryer to the point of not having one?

Our home appraisal is tomorrow.  My husband and I are both on pins and needles about the appraisal.  Our house was listed for $214,900, and got two offers for the asking price, one after three days on the market, and the other after five days.  We had tons of showings in the few days before it was under contract, and lots of interest even after we stopped showing it.  So we know that it was priced correctly for the market.  But the appraiser has to agree.  And the problem is that the comps in our neighborhood aren’t really all that comparable.  Our house backs to open space, and beyond that is a park and an elementary school.  There are only two other houses in the whole neighborhood that have the same feature, and they are our neighbors on either side (neither of which has sold recently).  We know from our own experience and from the showing feedback that the open space behind our home is a major selling point.  But the appraiser will be comparing our home with other homes in the 400-house neighborhood to determine a value, and none of them back to open space.

There are lot of other features that make our home stand out - mostly stuff that we’ve done to it over the years since we’ve been here.  Our realtor said that the appraiser will take all of that into consideration, and will be able to add value based on the proximity to the open space and park.  We just aren’t sure if it will be enough to balance out the low-ish prices that some houses in our neighborhood have sold for recently.

We’ve agreed to pay $7500 in closing costs for the buyer, which essentially leaves us with a selling price of $207,400.  Once we subtract all the fees we’ll have to pay, this will leave us with enough to make our 20% down payment on the new house and pay our own closing costs on that transaction.  But if the appraisal comes in lower than $214,900, we won’t have much choice but to lower our asking price accordingly (it’s an FHA appraisal, which sticks with the house for six months.  And most loans in this area right now are FHA).  We have some money in savings, but we don’t want to use it to buy our new house.  We’re keeping our fingers tightly crossed that everything goes ok with the appraisal, but it’s a little worrisome.

The appraisal objection deadline is next Tuesday, so we’ll know by then if we have to lower our price or if things are good to go.  Could be a long five days!

Thanks for all the feedback on my last post about children and food.  We’ll see how things go as our son gets older, but for now we’ll just assume that he’ll be somewhat like his parents.  My husband and I will eat anything that is put in front of us (trust me - I ate pig intestines when I lived in Africa).  I don’t buy or cook meat anymore for ethical reasons, but if I’m at someone else’s house and they serve it, I will eat it.  Not liking something and not eating it are two different things.  Obviously when I go to the store I purchase foods I like (but that involves one of just about everything from the produce department), and our meals tend to be things that we prefer.  But if we’re at someone else’s house or at an ethnic restaurant, we’ll eat whatever we’re served.  That’s what we’re trying to instill in our son.  I assume that he’ll grow up with various food preferences.  And I assume that once he’s cooking for himself and his own family, he’ll prepare the foods he likes.  But my goals are to make sure that he’s exposed to a very wide range of foods, and to make sure that he knows it is absolutely unacceptable to make his own food preferences known if someone else is preparing the food.

Since learning begins in the home, we feel that it’s important that he learn that when his parents are doing the cooking, he needs to eat what’s put in front of him.  My mother encouraged all of her children to help her in the kitchen, and would let us prepare meals, from choosing the menu to shopping and cooking (none of my three siblings are picky eaters either).  We will start doing that with our son as soon as he’s old enough.  Since we’re planning to start growing most of our own food once we move, we’ll involve him in that as soon as he’s able.  If he’s grown the food in his own garden, he’ll probably be much more likely to appreciate it on the plate.

I read studies before I was pregnant that indicated that what a mother eats while she’s pregnant can have an influence on a child’s tastes.  I gave up sugar before I got pregnant (and we still don’t eat it now), and boosted my already high veggie intake.  I started making green smoothies while I was pregnant, and our son pretty much always finishes his whole bowl of green smoothie.  We don’t eat processed food or conventional dessert in our house, so our son hasn’t been exposed to sweets, and he’s never had fast food (I do serve plenty of fruit, and make desserts out of things like dates and nuts blended together).  All of this makes it easier for us to feed him a wide range of foods, including lots of veggies.

This is obviously a personal preference issue.  For some parents, it might not be as big a deal.  It’s very important to us that our son grow up willing to try new foods and able to eat anywhere with anyone without being a fussy eater.  So we’re working towards that goal.  We’ll see how it goes, but so far so good!

When our son was born, I knew that I wanted to raise a child who would eat whatever was put in front of him. For nearly six months, he was just breast fed. When we first introduced “solids” we started with pureed veggies and water, which I froze in ice cube containers and defrosted as we needed them. I think carrots and green beans were his first non-milk foods. We started gradually, introducing single foods and watching to make sure that he didn’t have any strange reactions. Everything looked good, and within a month we had made the switch to using a little food grinder and just giving him whatever we were eating.

After a few more months we were able to just cut or mash our food into tiny pieces rather than using the grinder. These days we just cut his food into pieces and let him feed it to himself. I still spoon feed him things like oatmeal and green smoothies every day, but he’s able to feed most food to himself now with his fingers.  This evening we had a salad with avocado, tomato, spinach, arugula, onion, and fennel in balsamic vinegar.  He ate every bite that we put on his highchair tray.

People have started to notice what a good eater our son is.  They comment on how he eats so many vegetables without putting up a fuss.   There’s really no secret here, but since we do get so many comments about it, and since I hear so many parents talking about how they wish their kids would eat more vegetables, I figured I’d share what we’ve learned.

First, we took the frugal route when it came to baby food.  We’ve never purchased formula or any sort of prepackaged baby food.  Our son still nurses about three times a day, and everything else he eats is just whatever we’re eating.  This has a few advantages:  it’s a lot cheaper than buying individual jars or boxes of baby food, there’s no packaging waste to deal with, and we’ve automatically exposed our son to a wide variety of foods.  He loves things like curry, which we probably wouldn’t have found if we had gone the jarred foods route.  I’ve heard a lot of people saying that they want to make baby food rather than buying jarred food, but that they don’t have time.  I think these people are over-thinking the whole situation.  You don’t have to go all out baby-gourmet here!  There’s no need for special baby food cook books or anything like that.  A simple baby food grinder will turn just about anything into instant baby food.  (Of couse all of this is assuming that the parents eat reasonably well themselves.  If they’re surviving on Big Macs and Ho Hos, the jarred baby food is a much better bet!)

As far as getting our son to eat vegetables (and whatever else we put in front of him), we just decided early on that there would be no substitute meals.  Either he would eat what we served for a meal, or he wouldn’t eat.  And the uneaten meal would go in the fridge and reappear a few hours later.  Children are pretty smart critters.  If they refuse to eat what you serve, and you offer an alternate meal, they will develop a pretty good strategy for eating whatever they like.

I think that a lot of parents start out assuming that their child won’t like vegetables, and assuming that they have to prepare or buy special meals for their child.  I say that we should all start with the assumption that our children will LOVE vegetables (and whatever else we feed them), and then make it happen.  It’s easier than you think, and actually a lot easier than the alternative (which in some families involves separate meals for the kids for years… no thanks!)

Our son is 13 months old, and so far he’s a great eater.  I can’t predict the future as far as his preferences go, but I do know that there will never be alternative meals in our house.  And I’ve noticed that children raised in that sort of environment don’t tend to become picky eaters.  We’ll help our son start gardening as soon as he’s able, and encourage him to be involved in grocery shopping and cooking from an early age.  Hopefully the eating habits we’re instilling now will stick with him as time goes by.

We had our inspection today on our house today, and the results are pretty sweet. The only things the buyer is asking us to do is add GFCIs to the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room (the new section of the kitchen that we remodeled last year has GFCIs, but the rest of the house was wired in the 80s), and fix a leak that was found under our kitchen sink. We had never noticed a leak under the sink, and there’s no evidence of one when we look under there. But our realtor said that inspectors will sometimes fill the sink with water and then let it all out at once to check for leaks. So we’ll do that ourselves to find it, and it should be an easy fix. The GFICs are easy too, and cheap. One for each circuit should be about $60 total, and the whole project can be done in an afternoon (with a little supervision from my parents, who were planning to visit next week anyway).
So things are moving along very well this time around. Now that the inspection objection deadline has passed, the buyer would lose her earnest money if she backs out, unless it’s due to an appraisal or financing issue. If the house doesn’t appraise for at least the current sale price, we’d probably just have to drop our price. Our buyer is getting an FHA loan, so it will be an FHA appraisal. Our realtor said that those stick with a house for six months, and that the vast majority of loans that are being done in this region right now are FHA. So we’re somewhat at the mercy of the appraiser. But we’re hopeful that it will work out. As far as financing, our buyer is supposedly pretty far along in the mortgage approval process, and everything looks good.
We’re thrilled that the inspection turned up such small things, and things that will be easy and cheap to fix. Now if we could just figure out when to lock in an interest rate on our new mortgage…

When we bought our current home, we got a 30 year loan with 6% interest for the bulk of the mortgage, plus a HELOC with a variable interest rate (which has ranged between 4.25% and 8.75% over the last six and a half years). The total amount that we borrowed was $180,000.

On our new house (fingers still crossed that everything goes through as planned and that it does indeed become our new house), we’ll be taking out a loan of about $172,000. It will be just a single loan, with no second needed this time, as we’re putting 20% down on the house. And we’re getting a 15 year mortgage this time. Interest rates are driving me nuts - as I’m sure is the case for everyone else who is trying to buy or refinance right now. We had applied for our loan while our house was under contract the first time, but then we put things on hold once that contract fell through. By the time we got the house back under contract last week, the rates were rising at an alarming pace. We haven’t locked in a rate yet - we’re waiting to see what happens over the next few days. If only I had a crystal ball…

Whatever happens with interest rates over the next week or so, I imagine we’ll end up with a rate that is lower than what we have now. And we know that we’re getting a smaller mortgage this time around than we got when we bought our first house. The payments will be a few hundred dollars more per month, because we’re doing a 15 year loan, but the interest savings over the life of the loan are huge if we go the 15 year route. Our goal is to pay off the mortgage in six or seven years. This will mean substantial mortgage payments, but hey - we might as well aim high, right?

Lots of anticipation right now… Our buyer’s inspection is scheduled for tomorrow, and the appraisal will follow sometime soon. We haven’t heard yet whether the sellers on the house we’re buying are willing to move the closing date up for us or not, so July is a bit up in the air. Now if only we could get all of our ducks in a nice row… good interest rate, early July closing date, full price appraisal on our current house… it can’t hurt to ask for the moon, right?

This house selling process is quite the roller coaster.  Last Wednesday, our buyer backed out, and the house went back on the active MLS.  We had a few showings, but nowhere near as many as we had in the first few days it was on the market.  Then on Monday, we had three showings and got an offer.  By Tuesday morning, we had the house under contract again.  This time, the closing date is June 26th.  The buyer has already been through the mortgage approval process, and all that remains is for her to get an inspection done (which we hope will not turn up any issues, since we’ve already been through one), and for her lender to have an appraisal done.

The sellers on the house we’re buying had pushed our closing date out to the end of July in order to give us time to find a buyer, but now we’re hoping they’ll agree to close sooner than that so that we aren’t homeless for a month.  So much is up in the air right now - I’m trying to figure out whether we should rent a truck or a portable storage container, but until we have more concrete dates it’s hard to accurately compare prices.

The new contract isn’t quite as good as the first one.  It’s still for full asking price, but calls for us to pay the buyer’s closing costs.  This is closer to what we had originally expected, and will still allow us to put 20% down on the house we’re buying without dipping into our cash savings.  Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed that everything goes through this time…