Just as Stressful in Reverse

Front of house. Things are much greener now.

Selling a house is stressful. Buying a house is just as stressful, even if you have enough funds to make a cash purchase. Everyone is asking for photos of the place, but I won't have possession until the 18th, so I haven't had a chance to take my own photos of the place, so I am borrowing the photos from the MLS listing to give you an idea of the place.

Old mail on left of door, round-top
front door, interior arches.

One of the things you have to ignore is the snow in the photos. Now everything is coming up green, including the big trees.That stick in the righthand photo above (blocking the view of the front door) is a pink tulip tree now in full bloom. Actually, we've had warm days the last half week, with mild evenings. A breeze blows in at night, sometimes the clouds pass by, drop a little precipitation but nothing that can be called real rain.

Dining room with built-ins and ugly carpet.

So I went into La Crosse, on Wednesday, opened by bank accounts, signed the acceptance papers and touched bases with Realtor Michael. Then I scheduled the home inspection (and radon test, just to be sure) which will take place this Tuesday. The seller needs to have a termite inspection done, and my purchase payment for the house is due this Wednesday (the day my accounts are released from the hold the bank puts on new deposits over $5,000). If there are no problems found in either of the inspections, that's that. And I think any mitigation of any problems found can be taken care of in the week in between.

Looking from dining room into living room.

Thursday I went back into La Crosse, since I had a coffee date scheduled with Jackson, the executive director of the local LGBT resource center. We met at the center and had a good, long chat about La Crosse, the community in general and our views on where the politics of civil rights were headed.

On Friday I scheduled the move of my furniture from storage in Monrovia back in California to here. At first the carrier gives you a 7-day window for the arrival of the stuff. In the week before it arrives, they give you an actual day when they will be here. I hope they do that soon, as I also have to coordinate the arrival of the appliances I need to get for the place. (The appliances were not included in the sale price, but the seller would negotiate selling them: screw that; if I'm going to buy appliances they might as well be new.) In the evening, I went out to Pam and Steve's for pizza night. While there, I prepped and signed the document necessary to get the move rolling and sent PDF versions via e-mail to Pink Transfer. I was going to bring out a load of laundry to do there, but I forgot it in Winona when I left the house.

Only about half of the kitchen shown. Lots of period details in this room.

Today (Saturday) Amanda and I went out (she being my guide in the field) to check out the local appliance and furniture stores. Wettstein's is the place to go for appliances, and they had a really good selection. We found a nice suite of appliances from GE and a washer and dryer set. Then we headed out to International Furniture and checked out what is the top-end store in the area, I'm assuming. Afterwards, we stopped as Fayze's downtown for lunch and headed out to Ettrick to pick up Natalie, who had been in the care of her grandparents while Amanda and I shopped.

I think the strategy is going to be splurging on one or two items, then picking up the final pieces over the next couple months. There are auction houses and consignment shops and secondhand and thrift stores to be checked out before purchasing everything new.

Balcony off office upstairs; garage with large workshop area and nice yard.

There are still unknowns before I actually order any of the stuff for the house, but I think those will all become knowns on Tuesday, after the inspection. (Like does the kitchen have a proper venting system for the oven, or do we need to install that?)

So I've got 16 days between now and taking possession of the house. It is going to be very difficult to remain calm, but I'll be in much better shape once the inspections are over and done with. Once again, I'm sure everything will work out fine. I just worry because there's something so exciting and fabulous to worry about.

Tomorrow (Sunday) Amanda and I are going to take Natalie to see Disney's life-action "Cinderella" at the Rivoli Theaters. I understand you can order food and eat it right at your seat. This should be interesting.