A BIG STEP... wise or not (Part 113b)
Unfortunately,
the weekend didn’t lend itself to panty play. As I’d been doing for a
few weeks, I went to Ferd’s house to work on the race car. On this day I
managed to get my right hand burned and, after a trip to the ER, I went
home to listen to Elle tell me I was stupid to continue to work on the
car. However, the time at home allowed me to meet some people who were
interested in buying our mobile home. They were very interested but
wanted to negotiate the price. I’d set it knowing exactly what I needed
for the purchase of the house so didn’t have much, if any, “wiggle
room”. They wanted to wait until the first of the year to take ownership
which was a slight problem what with the projected settlement on the
house projected as the very end of November. But it was the price that
was at issue.
Elle and I already knew we would have to furnish
the house and my parents had indicated that they would help us out. With
the passing of my grandfather my father was saddled with disposing of
his house and all the contents. My mother, wisely, had told my father
that Elle and I would not be interested in turn of the century (and
older) antiques. Also to be disposed of was all their own furniture from
their apartment in the city that was stored in the carriage house. My
mother had promised us that we’d get to look at it before the auction.
We both liked the living room furniture we had in the mobile home and Elle had
expressed a desire to keep it, especially the sofa bed for the den area
of the house. So... taking a chance I offered to lower the price to take
into consideration of our keeping the furniture. Initially, it was
rejected. The lady took her husband aside and when they came back we had
a “handshake deal” even if I couldn’t actually use mine.
I
thought I was home free what with a mortgage commitment and a contract
on the sale of the mobile home. Man, was I in for a rude awakening! I’d
bought two mobile homes and it had been as easy as buying a car. I had
NO idea of just how complicated buying and “settling” on a house was.
Over the next few weeks I was educated on the process. My naive notion
was that with the $20,000 from the bank for the mortgage and the $5,000
from the sale of our unit I was “in business”. If it hadn’t been for an
off hand comment from J J, I would’ve really been in trouble. He asked if
I knew what my “closing costs” were going to be. I’m sure the blank
stare he got in response made him laugh, at least internally. Fully
embarrassed, he “schooled" me after work that night. When I left to go
home my head was reeling. I had to come up with more money and it was
money that I didn’t have. As I remember it the amount was almost $1,500
to cover PMI (private mortgage insurance that the bank required),
homeowners insurance, fuel oil in the tank, property taxes, title search
and on and on. When I saw Elle I didn’t know what to tell her.
I
won’t bore you with all the machinations between then and the actual
closing where we walked away as homeowners. The month of November was a
blur. Almost everything we did was about the house. I really don’t
remember much about work (... did I really go?) except that Judy was
making no friends upstairs in the mortgage department. I even heard the
bank appraiser make an off hand comment that she had the personality of a
rock. In my area, it came out (literally and figuratively) that Mala
was pregnant which explained the sudden marriage. There also was a rumor
that the president was going to host a Christmas party which had all
the ”old timers“ all abuzz. From what I’d heard Christmas had been
almost a non event in the past so if it were true it would be a
”first“.
The previous owners had left some furniture behind that
we gladly accepted. The most important was the furniture for the
master bedroom. Of all the other furniture we’d lined up there was
nothing for us in that vein. My father hired a friend with a flatbed
truck to haul the furniture my parents were lending/giving to us from my
grandfather’s carriage house. I’d lined up J J and Bret to help us move
the furniture into the house. An old friend, Jay from when I worked for
the County in the data processing department, also volunteered. He
still had his four wheel drive pick up and said he’d bring the furniture
that we were taking from the mobile home. We walked out of the
attorney’s office around 2pm, or so, officially homeowners. By 7pm we
had all the furniture in place. J J, who was still waiting for his house
to be finished, was presently living in the rented house less than a quarter mile away so
he’d been the last to leave. As I was thanking him for his help he made
the comment that I’d ”stolen” my house. I didn’t know what he meant and
when he explained it I was somewhat shocked. My house was actually
bigger than his was going to be and the cost to buy his property and
build the house was over $6,000 more than I’d paid. It made me feel
better but, in my mind, I was still worried about being having enough
money to pay for everything on a month to month basis.
We’d taken the kids to Elle’s
parents so they were not a worry. Running on adrenalin, Elle and I
worked past midnight unpacking boxes and putting things in their place.
When we finally decided to ”crash“ we realized we still had to make our
bed. Once there I was out cold. It wasn’t the same for Elle who just rolled and tossed. I don’t
remember how long it was before she grabbed me and, obviously
frightened, told me she’d heard some moaning from one of the front
bedrooms (we were in the back of the house). She wanted me to go find
out if someone was in the house. I’m not the bravest person in the world
but I’m also not a coward. I hadn’t heard the sound so I turned on the
light and headed down the hall. I hadn’t gotten very far when I heard it
too. Long story short... the house wasn’t haunted as she’d thought. It
was a sick cow in the pasture across the road. However, it made for an
unforgettable first night in out new home.
To be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment