Wednesday, June 30, 2010

It's Ours

I got an text message from my Realtor at 12:16 and it's officially ours! We're now the owners of record.

Wow, I've been looking at houses for over a year now, how the hell am I going to fill my time now, hah

Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Plans - The Garden

Oh, there are so many things to be done in the garden, it's hard to know where to start. Once we close escrow (updated expectations are this Tuesday), we'll attack the weeds and overgrown... everything. As we'll need to get a cashier's check and go into title to sign the papers on Tuesday, I'm planning on taking the day off and going to the house straight after to finally attack the weeds that I've just had to look at each time I've visited the house in these past three and a half months. As for the new design, I've already drawn probably a dozen overhead views trying to figure out what to do and have a pretty good idea for it but we won't really know how plausible it is until we start the work. But whatever the end layout ends up being I know the elements I'll want to put in. So what I'll do is tell you those and that will give you a good idea of what we're hoping for in the end.

1. Lots of Trees - I want proper shade in the end for our hot midsummer days. I hate flat expanses, with no chance for cover. I want to have one tree that will become very large with age for the middle, slightly rear area of the garden, probably where the lemon is now. Yes, the lemon will go. I like it very much but the tree is a very strange shape because it's been badly pruned numerous times - I'll take pictures of it some time later. For that big tree, I'm thinking a black oak right now.


Beautiful leaves and branching structure, Great fall color and a good source of food for all the little animals I'd like to attract. After the oak, I'd like some fruit trees - a new lemon, a cherry and a nectarine for Patrick. Then one or two beech trees for near the house. (And I won't go into shrubs and things smaller than that just now)

Birch Trees
Nectarine Blossoms
Young Bing Cherry Trees - it's hard to find pictures!


2. Dry Creek Bed - Running through the whole backyard from the upper right to the lower left. It'll help with drainage during the rainy season and also help the soil retain more of the run off as it changes the direction of the flow and slows it down (at least this is what I've heard - and it will look cool! hehe).



3. Pergola - In the rear left corner of the yard for our instant shade, draped in wisteria. Although I'm not sure how well that will work now that I've discovered grape vines coming over from the neighbors yard in that corner. I guess if they grab onto the pergola and intertwine with the wisteria that won't be a problem, it's probably more likely that the wisteria will get out of control I guess. I'll try planting it next to the farthest post from the grapes. I'll also want to hang a swinging wooden bench from the pergola, I've always liked the idea of having a nice wide and deep bench swing. We could even put in cushions.



4. Sitting Area around a Fire Pit - Just in front of the pergola I'm thinking. With flagstones or decomposed granite and Adirondack chairs and a round cauldron like fire pit.


5. Stone Retaining Wall - This will be our first construction project probably. A proper retaining wall just in front of the dinky one already there. We'll build it with cinder blocks and eventually, if not immediately, face it with stone veneer. Proper veneer though - not the slabs that are made to look like six small pieces of stone but individual pieces with no grout showing between them. Since the cinder block wall will be cheap and effective, we can build that and then add on the cosmetic facing later if it turns out to be expensive. We'll dig a small trench to start the wall and then regrade the sloping bottom half, dumping the excess behind the wall to build up the higher level. To get rid of the old one foot wall made of various bricks and cement (...yeah, I don't know why), we will get a jackhammer from the Oakland Tool Lending library and then bury the bits behind the new wall! hehe (I like the wall part of the picture below, not the steps)


6. Lawn - Well, we've got to have a small bit of turf, Patrick wants to have it besides it's traditional. On the lower level, we'll have a brick patio extending along the right side to the stairs in the retaining wall, then next to that the dry creek, and on the left a small circle of turf accessible by a flat wooden bridge we'll make ourselves.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Prospect Mortgage 2

Sorry to bring another escrow post but I was looking through the last one all night, trying to find reason in what has happened. Of course, I still don't see it anywhere but I did think this morning to look back a bit farther and find out when exactly XXXX received my file again... Now, XXXX wasn't actually the first man from Prospect that I worked with, I originally got my pre-approval from ZZZZ but then ZZZZ quit, suddenly, after a week of very strange communications with my Realtor and me. We were certainly getting frustrated with him as he wasn't responding to calls or e-mails and was pretty much giving us a good idea of things to come, although at the time, we thought this was just him...

So XXXX first received my file, according to the e-mail pass-off I received from ZZZZ on or slightly before May 7th Chyeah! (excuse the abnormal English but there is no other way to express it.) He received what was supposed to be a complete file from ZZZZ, except for appraisal information because that hadn't taken place yet, on May 7th. On that day came the first documentation update:

May 7 - They request a new copy of my bank statement and our latest paystubs. That makes sense, I last submitted them over a month ago so new ones should be available. I forward them the same day.

May 12 - They request the final signed contract from our contractor, we thought this was finished earlier with documents we submitted in April but XXXX told us that those weren't the correct forms. We got this finished within the day, even though it involved going back and forth with our contractor, and in the meantime found another document that needed signing and forwarded that to XXXX.

May 14 - Our appraisal inspection is scheduled for May 17th! Celebrating all round (as it's finally been done - yes, there were plenty of delays on that front too)

May 17 - Over the weekend, we received a big bundle of papers from prospect and weren't sure if we needed to send them back with our signatures or not - we hadn't received any notice or explanation at all. So I write to him Monday saying I think that these must be our copies but I'm not sure.

No response for two days...

May 19 - XXXX emails us saying sign them and fax or email them back to him. Short email, just like that... Then I have to scramble to get those 50 pages signed and scanned. I'm able to get them to him on the next day.

By the way, at this point it's been a week since the appraisal took place and we've had no word about it, even though we specifically asked if it went well. Our emails were just ignored.

May 21 - Tom asks for a letter signed by Patrick and Me explaining our employment history for the past 2 years... Well, this wasn't a problem since I'd already made this for ZZZZ! I forward it to him, sadly, not until Monday (my one long response).

May 22 - Now here's a big one that may explain why I'm writing another entry about this. My Realtor had emailed XXXX asking about the timeline, if we'd be able to make it, etc. He wrote this back:

I expect this file will be out of underwriting by Friday of next week. Have a great weekend!

Best,
XXXX
Senior Loan Officer,


And OMG, I had a great weekend, planning my garden and all the gardening I would be doing on the weekend of May 29-30!!

Then as the weekend is approaching, we're not getting any emails....

May 28 - Then he responds to my email (again his words exactly):

Hi XXXX,
Just want to ask what the status of the loan is, will underwriting be finished today?

Thank you,
Jennifer

------------------------

Given end of month and holiday. Tuesday is the when expect to have your file back from underwriting.

Best,
XXXX


And after that, we were still cautiously optimistic, it's been nearly a month but hey, it's a house, and we do have difficult histories. However, as you know if you saw yesterday's post, our next communication is on June 1st and we were nowhere near finished. ::sigh::

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Prospect Mortgage

Yet again... I don't know how they can possibly find ways to delay our escrow more every day, but somehow they do. I want to make it clear right off that if you ever come across Prospect Mortgage, do not work with them! I began the process of pre-approval for an FHA 203k loan with one of their lending agents in early February this year... February... We were pre-approved fast enough to put an offer on the house this blog is about on March 9th.... March 9th and now we find ourselves here on my birthday, June 22nd, still not closed.

I will admit, we may have been closed by now if we were buying a different house - Our Fairfax house is owned by two feuding brothers, who won't talk to each other except through lawyers. Both brothers accepted our offer originally but when we came back after inspections with a significantly lower number (the highest we could offer with our loan! Not trying to swindle two old men here) the second brother no longer agreed. But we didn't know this until three weeks after we submitted our contingency papers... Because the second brother, probably to spite the other one, went on a two week cruise the day before our papers were due... without telling anyone. Oh god, this seems funny now, compared to this ordeal with Prospect Mortgage. So, at the last minute, when I was past heartbroken and completely giving up (about to try for another house I'd found in a worse neighborhood) the 2nd brother came back and signed the papers. Apparently, his son questioned his reasoning and convinced him not to waste this chance just to spite his brother.

Now, though, after overcoming all the problems with the brothers, I have had to deal with these guys. Luckily, being 3 weeks past contract day doesn't matter much to the brothers - this is the weirdest purchase ever... Anyway, our loan officer turned in our papers to underwriting on June 1st (I have e-mails confirming this too... so sad) and on June 2nd, they gave us a long list of conditions to complete and send in. I did that in 2 days flat! Was very proud of myself and thinking that finally we'll be able to close. But more was to come... I think I'll change formats now to a list.

June 7: Two more conditions for Underwriting. One, I needed to give them my landlord's contact information... for about the third time. Two, they needed Patrick's 2007 and 2008 US Tax Returns............ PATRICK IS NOT A US CITIZEN AND ONLY CAME HERE IN 2009!!!!! OMG that one really pissed us off. Regardless, we cleared that up by repeating the information we'd already given prospect 3 times.

June 7 - Same day, I needed to get them a copy of my 2008 returns because, they guessed, I had spelled something wrong in the transcript request form I gave them - easily managed, I sent them the original copies that I sent to the IRS.

No word for two days.

June 9 - They needed a copy of my contractor's builder's license and proof of insurance - within the same day, I got those papers to them.

June 10 - They send us a link to an absolutely asinine online quiz for new homeowners. They wanted us to pass it and send them the certification I received at the end. You should take a look. Of course, that was finished in 4 minutes.

June 10 - Late in the evening: They need contact information that they already have for my husband's previous employer in Japan - Easy, I copy and pasted the phone number. Next, they say they cannot get a copy of my 2008 Tax return, so ask me to call the IRS.... The IRS didn't have my 2008 on file....... Big freak-out here and so many questions. How did I get approved without my tax records? Are we going to lose the house because the IRS won't be able to process my return for a month or more? I called the lender and he told me I could turn in my return at a local office and received a stamp to prove it, so it's just a day's delay. Phew

June 11 - I went to the local IRS office and get my return stamped and turned in. Then, I forwarded the return to Prospect. All was finished...

June 11 - After my lunchtime trip - Prospect cannot dial international numbers so they need an e-mail for Patrick's previous employer... I gave them the e-mail but then pleaded with them to call via Skype or using the international dialing codes which I looked up for them... but then I realized that it was Saturday in Japan already... so we were delayed until Monday.

June 13 - I wasn't going to wait and see if the previous employer would reply to their email. I called her on Sunday - her Monday - and made sure she did. Sure enough, the email I had was her old one so she wouldn't have replied if I hadn't called.

June 14 - They needed our contractor to add an addendum to our contract for two more items... I do my best to get them to do it but it takes a whole day for me to get the addendum back to Prospect (due to their unclear instructions I may add).

Now this is getting hair pulling, lay down and cry frustrating for me but the loan officer wrote this to me on the 14th (his grammar mistakes):

Look good to me, I will ask u/w to clear your file for loan doc draw. I anticipate we should have docs to title by Friday.

No more word until the 17th when I write this to the loan officer:

Hi XXXX,

I haven't heard anything in the last two days - this is a good thing right? Have the docs been sent to title?

Thank you,
Jennifer


He replies and again, between my e-mail above and his above that, we didn't have any contact at all:

I expect final u/w sign off on Friday and docs by Tuesday next week.

Best,

XXXX
Senior Loan Officer

........As if the unexplained delay wasn't hard enough....

June 18 - They again request Patrick's 2008 US Tax Returns... This time Patrick calls them personally and writes a new explanation letter (we had written one before and sent it twice) and scans in his Alien Registration card and send both together. Oh BTW here's the e-mail we got announcing this new hiccup (And no, our last names are not stows):

I am learning with you on this. Please read chain below and get Payrick's stows 2008 returns. Seems as this is a Government loan we have to play it be the letter. Sorry.

June 21 - This is the vacation day I arranged a week and a half ago, so that I could have fun working in the garden of my new house.... We need further employment verification with the same company for Patrick because the manager they've corresponded with put the wrong dates in her responses. So I call her directly, make sure she responds to their e-mail, and she sends a copy to both of us, confirming the dates.

June 21 - One hour later - The underwriter only now! sends the manager and us a form to fill out to complete the verification (Is this intentional?? How can this be??) I call her again and apologize about ten times, asking her to respond to this new e-mail and she does.

June 22 - Today I am proactive. I send this e-mail and get these responses...

Hello XXXX,

Can you confirm for me that the underwriting is done on our file and that docs are being requested?

Thank you,
Jennifer

------------------------------

All I am waiting on is the VOE from Oakland Unified. Then I can take it to XXXX to sign off.

XXXX

------------------------------

Thanks for the answer. May I ask, when was the verification requested? This morning or last week? If it was last week I would just like to know who it was sent to because I don't mind doing some extra work to make them send it back faster. I also know that Oakland schools are now in summer recess so I worry about where this was sent.

Jennifer

------------------------------

They use a verification service I just found out….Patrick needs to call: Written/Verbal Employment Verification: (xxx) xxx-xxxx… they will provide him with a salary key that will allow me to verify his employment with them

Thanks,
XXXX

------------------------------

(BTW that number they sent was wrong. After an hours work figuring out what to do, Patrick gives them the information over the phone. Then, I wait half an hour...)

------------------------------

I believe that Patrick talked to the underwriter about half an hour ago, giving him the information needed to verify employment. As it is done through an automated system, I assume his employment has been verified now. Are docs now being requested on our file?

Thank you,
Jennifer

------------------------------

Underwriting confirmed that he was good and he moved the file to in line for docs.

Best,
XXXX

Senior Loan Officer


Now we wait and see...

Sunday, June 20, 2010

The Plans - The House

Sometime in college, I went to visit family in the mid-west and was bored to death by programs they were watching on TLC about fixing up homes and gardens and redecorating. But while I remember disliking the programs during that whole trip, they did somehow grow on me and there began my interest in buying a fixer-upper. Also, I already knew that I have very strong opinions on style and quickly realized that a fixer would always be my only real chance of having the right design throughout my home. Besides, I love the idea of getting what I love at a better price by doing it myself.

My interest in gardening didn't begin until I came back home after university. I had nothing to do for nearly three months before I went to my teaching job in Japan so I explored the bookstores and found out that you actually have to know a lot to garden well. I already knew my dad's garden was just hanging in there and decided to use the time to help it out. I was able to prune trees that had turned into bushes in the front yard and encourage a bit of redesign before I left. Now, almost four years later, it's quite a different sight (still could use a bit of work though).

So, luckily, Patrick doesn't think these two strong interests of mine are too crazy and agrees that this house we're buying now should end up quite a good investment. Right now, it's just about the worst house on a pretty nice block and in the end, when we grow out of the two bedroom house, we figure we can sell it for quite a profit.

So, onto the plans. First, we're buying this house using a FHA 203k loan which provides us with extra money up front for repairs - in our case, just under 60k. And, believe me, it needs every penny and a bit more actually. The pest report alone came back at 30k hehe. That interesting front porch is completely unsound... YAY! I can't stand that porch - with it's ugly columns, concrete flooring and side entrance. We're going to have our contractor, Abel, and his crew knock that down to the ground and rebuild it as a more classic front-entrance one. The front of our house will look something like this drawing I made up (except I just threw in plants - I don't have a final design for the front garden yet)


But as for the color, I'm quite sure that we've decided on this or something slightly more teal. Other changes to the front that we'll have to handle ourselves (no money for Abel to do this much) include: opening up the street planting bed in front of the house and far in the future redoing the driveway, probably with pavers but definitely with a green strip down the middle. They're not in this picture but we'd like to have a tall tree on each side of the street planter or front garden. I want to be able to look out the window and see through the leaves.

Next, to the inside of the house, here is a scale diagram of the floorplan as we eventually want it.


In the front room, you can see the sofa set and coffee table that we already have, I just wanted to see if they would fit or not. We'll probably put them this way at first and then replace the small sofa with two chairs eventually - one near the fireplace and one in the back corner. The colors are all undecided except perhaps the front room, we both like the idea of green. One of the first things we'll be doing ourselves inside are the built-ins and baseboards - we'll be refinishing it all and painting most of it white except possibly for the china-cabinet and the fireplace. We'll have to see if it's all in good quality under the current finish.

The kitchen is shown more like it will be when we're finished - it's much smaller currently with two small rooms at the back. We'll have Abel tear down the T-shaped wall at the back and open the room up to what will be 15' x 15 1/2'. Once open, I'd like to have large diamond patterned dark gray and nearly white tiles with white kitchen cabinets. I don't have a picture before but there are also built-in cabinets on the right side of the kitchen that we'll refinish and paint white.

The bathroom will have white wainscoting and the classic white and black hexagonal tile. We were going to do this ourselves but as Abel will be gutting the room (termite/dry rot damage) and we would have to do the tile before having the clawfoot tub we're buying installed, we probably wouldn't be able to arrange it in a timely manner. And of course, we won't be able to move in until the bathroom is done and we want to move in as soon as possible. Here are some good illustrations of the style we're planning on. The numerous differences, I'll go over later as it's happening.




Saturday, June 19, 2010

The "Garden"

It's a real pity that I can't show you pictures of the worst condition the garden has been in this year. Apparently, I hear from my realtor, Patty Hyun (Highly highly recommended!), that the neighbors complained to the city of Oakland to get them out to the house and fine the two brothers who own it as they'd let everything go far too much to seed. The grass was four feet high throughout the back and mercifully the front was only two and a half feet tall. There were huge thorny towers of weeds just as tall. I'm not terribly familiar with weed types although I'm sure I will be soon enough. Some of these giants I'm sure are the type you usually step on in the lawn, curse, then rip out at only an inch tall - but they were as high as my chest. After the city got onto them, one of the brothers apparently went out and used a strimmer on the majority of the grass and I'd, of course, forgotten to take pictures when I visited the week before. But I got ones of the aftermath which looks almost worse for being able to see more of the plants behind the grass.

So let's start the tour at the back of the house going toward the back of the yard.



Here you see our lovely red cement patio with it's decorative grass growing between the slabs. Also, you can see a small example of our patio furniture - it does seem that the debris there and much more will be coming with the house as it still hasn't been cleared out. Among the weeds, there is a rose bush, some kind of bulbous plant showing its broad leaves and two big Oleanders (only one having nearly pretty flowers).



A step further along and you can see the rest of our left-side neighbor's garage and quite a few more weeds. Strangely enough, though, there are quite a few interesting plants as well. The lemon is pretty obvious with some of its fruit hanging at the top - delicious, by the way, we've already absconded with about 10 lemons and made one batch of lemonade with more to come. There are at least four different rose bushes, all of them far overgrown but in great condition. When I was out this time, I had my clippers with me so I cut a bunch of long stem reddish orange roses for Patty and took a bunch of reddish pink ones for myself. There's also a hidden red pelargonium somewhere in the corner, I've seen its leaves poking through the rose bushes. Then, in the very middle is a Sea Lavender or Statice - not really my style plant. There's also a small clump of Aeonium or some such succulent behind it. I was thinking I'd just have to throw them out but found yesterday that a co-worker of mine would gladly take them both off my hands. Lastly, if you want to see those huge weeds, take a slightly closer look around those roses.

Now a small look back before continuing:




Also, as a small side note, you may be able to see that our garage is a bit lacking in, let's say, structural rigidity... but that's okay! We'll be knocking it down and getting a new one built. But more on that later.

Moving on, behind the garage, I don't have picture of it but there's a nice green and yellow mat of Oxalis pes-caprae! It should be a fun adventure trying to root out all those tiny little pests. One good thing is that the area where they seem to be most prevalent is just behind the garage and we plan on pushing back the earth behind a retaining wall there.

In this picture, you can see our sprawling overgrown blackberry bushes. Silly me, I didn't know what these were until the other day, thinking they were some kind of weedy single white roses or something. But despite not being cared for at all for at least a couple years, these vines are setting fruit right now. I could see the half berries half flowers yesterday when I went by the house to steal lemons.


Notice the large number of plants in that small corner too. There are tons of blackberry vines now flowering and numerous little blackberry sprouts, as well as nasturtiums, oxalis, grass (of course), and two very deformed pear trees. One in the front obviously, though again very badly pruned, and one swallowed up by the vines in the corner (I just discovered it as I was uploading the picture actually!). And somewhere deep in there, one more rose with deep pink flowers.

Now, only two more turns and we're through. Next is the other back corner - a mass of tall weeds and grape vines coming over the fence from our rear neighbor.


But wait, when I went in the tangle yesterday to see if there was any fruit developing on the vines, I found that they were clinging to something growing on my side of the fence. Not sure yet what it is with all the vines and weeds in the way but I think it might be some new fruit to be identified.



Lastly, our pretty but battered looking Magnolia tree. I'm not sure yet what type of Magnolia it is but at least I know it's not the type I hate - I can't stand the ones with dark green and copper colored leaves. It had quite large saucer-type blossoms when we first went into escrow and now has very nicely soft light green leaves. Hopefully, I'll be able to prune, feed and water it and the other desirable plants in the garden to health.

Beginning

To begin.... I guess I'll introduce the family. There's me, Jennifer, who will be making this blog; also, author of most of the plans that will be unfolding here, amateur photographer, gardener and landscape designer. Gardening is only a recent interest of mine but once I found it, the interest became somewhat of an obsession. I love gardening and would like to be doing it everyday... I would like to be gardening right now in fact... but the reason why I can't be doing that will come later!

Then, there's my husband, Patrick - Teacher, British expat, and all in all not very interested in the whole gardening thing (at least he hasn't shown me any sign of being so yet). We found each other while in Japan teaching English or rather, mostly performing English to people who very rarely got within speaking distance of a real live white person. Since then, we married and moved to America, near where I grew up in the bay area, California. It's now been just over three and a half years since we first went out.

Then there are the two little ones - Kiwi and the Stig - One old cat that used to be fat and isn't anymore, and one young cat that is steadily getting fatter. I think living in a condo isn't doing our Stiggy well because she's very energetic and as she has no outlet, she does tend to bully poor Kiwi. But Kiwi isn't loosing weight from depression! She just finally has a proper diet whereas at my parents house, she used to be able to eat dry food and wet food until she would be sick.

Then, there's our newest addition and the reason for this blog in the first place - Our Project Fairfax.


No... I didn't see my dream house when I first saw this place but I was won over eventually. Now it seems my dreams are full of nothing but this house and it's "garden" excepting all the stuff that doesn't ever make any sense.

Our new little home, where we will hopefully be moving mid-July is quite the fixer-upper as I'm sure you can imagine from the picture above alone. But I'll further prove it to you by giving you pictures that show the inside of the house to finish out this entry. More on the outside later - because I'll need a lot of entries to get through all the things we need to do, not to mention to tell you about how horrid this whole process has ended up being (as long as, we do actually close escrow this next week....)



Above is our front room, the major flaw here isn't apparent from the picture though: The floor, or rather the whole room is tilting just a smidgen towards the right corner of this picture. From that corner to the opposite one behind the camera there is probably about an inch difference in elevation. Seems like a small number, but it's noticeable walking around the room.



As we walk through the house, you next see the dining room and its nice bare splintering spot just behind the table in this picture. Potentially beautiful built-in cabinet there - it's currently covered very sloppily in an almost shellac finish and the drawers mostly have no bottoms. BUT not wanting to be too negative, we have wonderful plans for all of this, I'm just giving you the starting point now.



Behind the Dining room, you have the kitchen with funky 70s or 60s linoleum chuck full of asbestos. Here you can see the nice oven/stove we're getting though, and then what you can't see is the brand new washer dryer behind me. You should be able to see though the strange markings on the wall behind the stove - we believe those are glue marks from wood paneling that used to be there. I can't imagine how brown and ugly this kitchen must have been in it's heyday.



Last for today, here is the back bedroom. Yeah, the people before us really had no sense for paint colors. There's also a front bedroom, slightly bigger and a small bathroom - 7' x 7 1/2' - but I don't have pictures of those just now.

I hope this has been interesting, next I'll endeavor to explain what we'll be doing to all this or maybe I'll explain the garden - we'll see.