Thursday, April 15, 2010

Farm Weekend

Thought I would finally get around to writing about the weekend. We have been so busy this week with the contract for our house sale. It is finally all set. Everything is signed & initialed, earnest money is in our lawyer's hands. We have been going back & forth all week. Yesterday, their realtor came over and said that they were worried about the appraisal. What if it didn't appraise for what they were buying it for. So I got out our appraisal from the re-finance in March and showed her. She said it probably wouldn't be a problem (condsidering they are getting it for well below appraised value) but she wanted to know if we would go down lower in price if there was a problem. I told her we had it for sale by owner so we wouldn't have to pay a realtor fee & it was her fee that was making it impossible for us to go any lower. Just a note here...if you see a "For Sale By Owner" sign and you are in the market for a house, don't use a realtor to look at it. It will give you a chance to get a much better price. Anyway, she left with the contract, said she would talk to them, came back a little later & said it was fine the way it was. The guy really really likes our townhome. So if for some reason it doesn't appraise for what they are buying it for, the deal is off and it just wasn't meant to be. Next Friday is the home inspection & hopefully soon after that is the appraisal. Really don't want to think about it any more :-)
So Saturday at the farm...I was up at sunrise. Would have rather slept in a little, but tell my mind that. LOL. Went out & took a couple pictures of the sun coming up behind Eli's property.
After breakfast, we started drywalling. I wanted to mud in the bathroom and Steve hung some smaller pieces in the foyer. Did you know that mudding drywall is not like cake decorating? I used to decorate cakes when the kids were little to make money while staying home. Drywall mud is kind of like frosting consistancy. The first seam started out kind of easy but it went downhill from there. The screw hole mudding looks great. The seams, well we might be covering the ceiling with texture paint. It was just the first coat but I am not looking forward to doing any more. Our plans are to have wainscotting on the walls so only half the wall will show and that's a good thing :-). Yes,  we have the whole rest of the house to do, but the walls will be all pine. I see no reason to do any mudding on the walls if they will be covered up anyway. Steve was talking about mudding them. He might be doing that alone then :-).
Mark Shepard called in the early afternoon to let us know we could pick up our apple tree scions. We made the trip out to the New Forest Farm and had a good time catching up. We also got to see his wind turbine that is just awesome. He gave us a taste of an apple beer he's been brewing. It was better than my favorite beer, Woodchuck.
                    On the way to Mark's we saw this male pheasant trying to chase down a female.
Neighbor Jim tilling the garden.

After dinner, we went to a concert at Green Man Music Hall in town. A lone guitarist named Josh. He was really good and drew a fair crowd. Usually when we go to a concert there, there are only a few people in the audience. It is a shame, cause we've seen a lot of good performers. Make you feel sorry for them, playing to only a few people. When we got home, we toasted the sale of the townhome and went to bed.
Sunday, I was awake again at dawn. We were out grafting the apple trees by 10. We did nineteen trees. I put up fencing around the three I didn't have time to finish in the fall. Now they are all protected from birds landing on the new grafts and breaking them off. That's what we think happened last year.
After we were done, I started to mow. Can't believe we are already starting that. It is early in the season for us. It was a beautiful, warm day. Steve finished up more drywall and we packed up and got on the road.
This weekend is my niece's bridal shower on Sunday and then I drive down to see Kristin, Tim & Jaelyn. I am staying until Tuesday night and get to watch Jaelyn all day Monday and Krisitn is off on Tuesday. Very excited about that. Then home Wednesday for some intensive packing. The closing is now set for June 10th.Time is flying...

6 comments:

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

I think that realtor behaved strange to be honest! I think that just was a way to see how desperate You are in selling the house. If they are worried about the price they should have thought of that before signing the contract!

I´m glad I never have been forced to dry wal or put on dry wall mud :-) :-) It sounds a bit boring to be honest :-)

I hold my thumbs (as we do in Sweden for luck) that the grafting works good this time! It´s not easy.

I hope we have several weeks left till I have to mowe the lawn :-9
Have a great day now!
Christer.

the wild magnolia said...

My goodness you all have be very busy. You've accomplished a lot and taken time for fun.

Wishing you the best on the appraisal.

Kritter Keeper at Farm Tails said...

love your pics! the pheasant is awesome! i never have seen one in person.

regarding the appraisal, the banks are getting strict and everyone in the biz is nervous. appraisers are getting serious flack. most are now very conservative since they represent the bank, not the buyer and could be sued.

the terms of the offer should specify what happens should the home not appraise and this should have been outlined since it is quite common now due to all of the foreclosures. the agent perhaps should have addressed the issue prior to signing. but don't worry. the industry is tense and nobody wants to make any mistakes. the buyer does not want to overpay and end up like all the foreclosures we are seeing...the bank wants to be sure the loan is secure and the house is worth it...the appraiser wants to be sure the comps (comparitives sold in the area) will support the contract price and you the seller want to be properly compensated for your home. nowadays, comps can only be only 3 months old due to the extreme price fluctuations...

good luck, i am sure it will be fine and sorry i was so windy...

♥ Pacy said...

You go Girl, I can't believe you did all that in so little time. After we drywalled and muded the back porch I couldn't move for a week, let alone go on and do the other things you went and did.
Luck with the appraisal.
♥Pacy

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your contract! I hope we get one soon on our daughters house. Lots of work going on at the farm! Hopefully your grafting works this year. I wish you would do a post on grafting. What are the main trees and why are you grafting on another type? or is it the same type? ...debbie

PatQ said...

Good for you for sticking to your guns with that realtor. It will work out just fine.