Buying the duplex

Well...before we got the apt. we were looking at homes to buy and found a duplex that we liked. It was newly remodeled and in a great neighborhood. Our house in MO was still not sold or rented so we got cold feet and passed on the duplex. The other half of the duplex was in foreclosure but was not available yet. After we got moved in the apt. and our renters got moved in I was surfing homes for sale, which I do often and love to do, and I found that the foreclosure was now on the market. I called my friend Staci who is our realtor and she got me in to see it. Larry was in meeting and couldn't go with me but I gave him the 411 on it. I told him I thought it would be a great investment and he wanted to buy site unseen. We did put in an offer without him seeing it but I insisted that he see it for himself. OK, the condition of the duplex...needed updates! The carpet was ikie, the walls were dirty, the wall had dings everywhere...etc etc etc.


SO, our offer was countered with an amount slightly over ours. We got a home inspection which gave the bank the things they would need to fix prior to closing and what was our responsibility. Of course the majority was on us.


Fast forward...closing...We closed on a Friday afternoon. Larry went back to work and I went to the house. I started removing light and socket covers and minor things like that. Saturday morning, bright and early, Larry started scraping the popcorn ceiling and I starting pulling up carpet. Larry had to be at work by 2pm on Sunday (I'll get to that later). From Sat. am to Sun. at noon we had scraped ALL the ceilings, pulled up ALL of the carpet and padding, hauled out the carpet/padding and started working on the dinged walls. Wheeeew...if you've never done remodleing...let me just say, that's a lot of work in a little time.


So, the ceilings are scraped and time for me to paint the ceilings. We took the worst of the ceiling off to leave a bit of a texture to cover imperfections. I started painting but there was a slight problem. It started to peal! Oh my goodness, what a pain! I tried to putty and prime it but it still pealed. I had a guy come in to quote replacing some exterior doors and he quoted finishing the ceilings. We jumped on it and left that up to them. They scrapped down to the sheetrock, primed and painted it. I was painting the entire house and I was just not up to doing any more.

The rest of the story tomorrow...goodnight!

Still Catching Up!

...So we prepared to move into the apartment. We went through the house and packed according to what we would 'need' and what would fit in the apartment. Going from 4,000 sq ft plus a 3 car detached garage, a storage bldg and a large barn to a 1,100 sq ft apt was a bit more than down sizing! We rented a Uhaul that Larry drove and pulled our car on a trailor. We loaded up the Mountaineer too which Molly and I drove. Well, she slept. Just east of Topeka we stopped for a potty break and when we pulled back on 70, we had a flat on the trailor! UGH! We called the Uhaul people and they sent someone with another tire...2 HOURS later! I went ahead hoping to do the walk through and be a step ahead once he got there. NOT! Our NEW apt. had mold and we had to change units. Which meant...redoing paperwork and calling the power, phone and water companies to change the address. Oh, and our mail had already been forwarded to the molded unit!!! What a pain! THEN, we were told that the apt. was under new management so some things had changed. I rented the apt. on Friday, it changed on Wed and we moved Thurs. Great timing! The new "management" and I had some words and he was just butt head. We finally unloaded the truck and guess what...our AC was not working. It was the first of July in the midwest...it was slightly hot! You know it's hot when you shower and within 5 minutes you need another shower!!! It made for a miserable nights sleep...or I should say a miserable night of tossing and turnig.

Once settled, we liked the apt. It was new and clean. Our building was quiet as there were only 4 units occupied in our building at that time. That all changed which I will talk about later.

About the time we were moving I got a call from someone interested in our house in MO. They wanted to lease it for 2 years and then purchase it. They have someone in their home doing the same thing so they need to sell before buying our house and property.

For you folks who are just joining my blog, Aunt Carol is Larry's aunt who has taken me in as her own. So aunt Carol met us at the house in MO for clean up day, well dayS. We cleaned top to bottom getting it ready for the renters. There is NO way we could have done it without her!

Then the movers came. They packed up our household goods and headed to KS. We now have a 10X30 storage bldg here FULL.

Next chapter...how we went from our apt to our house in 3 months. Moving twice in 3 months...we are nuts!!!

Trying to catch up!

I know, I know, I know...I'm Waaay behind! My husband, my mother, my Aunt Jean and my sister-in-law Pat...and many more have reminded me that I have not updated my blog in quiet sometime. SO much has happened and changed...I'll 'try' to catch you up.....

We have a family in our house in MO who are doing a lease/purchase. It's not want we wanted... but better than what we had. The plan is that they will purchase the house within 2 years. (pros and cons...the sooner the better)

For a while, Larry was at Ft. Riley and I was at the house in Warrensburg. He came home on weekends, I went to Riley or we were simply apart. We were SO tired of being in hotel after hotel...sometimes for a few days at the time and sometimes a week (plus) at a time. A friend of his had an apartment and offered him a place to sleep...on an air mattress. Funny, yet sad. Larry had an air mattress in the living room and his friend had an air mattress in a bedroom. Nothing else... I sent a frying pan and a glass dish...his friend had a rice cooker and they called it "home". For Army guys...that's more than enough.

We did this from November to June and we both said...ENOUGH! We were sick of driving back and forth, sick of hotels, sick of being apart and sick of paying rent for a space for an air mattress and sick of...well, did I say being apart??? Yeah, being apart!

We decided to get an apartment and call it done! I went out on a search and decided on Quinton Point, a new apartment complex in JC. First floor and Molly friendly. They had a "Move in Special" and boom...it was ours!

To be continued..........