Simply Norma

We have rescinded the offer we have on the house in Lake Elmo as it has been almost 2.5 weeks and we do not yet have a signed contract by the relocation company.

We have looked at this next house twice already – once at an open house yesterday and then this evening.

The good thing about it is that it’s new and it is vacant.  The bad news is that it’s on a semi-busy street and you can hear some noise.  We’re asking if the builder would consider putting up a tall fence to help with the noise.  If so, this house moves to the top of our list.

In addition, it’s very close to my husband’s work.

While driving through Arden Hills, we passed this interesting lake house and I had our Realtor, Bridget Crepeau, take me inside to view it.

The windows all face Lake Karth. The view is very pretty. The house has what appears to be handmade Mexican floor tiles throughout the first floor. Not quite my style but I understand that a lot of people like them.

It needed updating. No master bathroom.

The house is sold pending an inspection.

We made our offer on the Lake Elmo house on March 31st.  To date, we have yet to receive a signed Purchase Agreement from the relocation company.  Time is ticking. We need to be out of our apartment by April 30th at the latest.

We had the inspection on the house this past Friday afternoon. That did not go well. The inspector arrived at 2 pm and we arrived at 3 pm. When we rang the doorbell, a young man, aged 17 or 18, opened the door. I was surprised and asked him if he was the inspector. He said no. The inspector came down the stairs and greeted us.

At that time, the inspector told us that he had completed the first floor already. However, he told us that there was a sick child in a room and that we could not enter one room. The young man who had opened the door told us that the room was quarantined as his brother had a bacterial infection.

Oh great! I have bronchitis and we’re not advised that someone in the house has a bacterial infection. I called our agent right away to let her know. We continued following the inspector around until he completed the inspection.

Overall, the inspector said the house is in great shape although there were places he could not see very well into as the house is very cluttered.

The inspector left the radon testing kit in the basement and said he’d come back for it on Monday.

When our real estate agent contacted the other agent regarding the inaccessibility of one bedroom and some places where the inspector could not see very well, the agent responded that we should have been able to go into all rooms and that he was not aware of the radon testing.

Every offer we have made seems to have had some problems. This one beats them all. We probably shouldn’t have had the inspection done until we received agreement on the Purchase Agreement but the seller’s agent said we needed to get this done asap.

Today we met with our real estate agent to determine what remedies we’d like them to make. We can’t send anything to them though until we have a signed agreement.

So – off we went to open houses looking for our next house to make an offer on if the relocation company does not send us a signed contract soon.

We visited a beautiful brand new house that sits on a corner lot that is really nice. The lot is not very large and it’s next to a semi-busy street but we figure we can plant large evergreens and put a fence up to help with noise.

Tomorrow — another day, another decision. The relocation company still has to have a septic, well and chimney test done. And, we’re going to close on April 29th? I really don’t have much hope of that happening.

Still reeling from a bad cough, 2 days ago I started developing asthma problems. Nothing helped.

So this morning I headed into the doctor and found out I have asthmatic bronchitis and an infection. I am now on an antibiotic and prednisone (a steroid).

The doctor told me that she’s glad I came in. The virus started 10 days or so ago and this past Monday I thought I was getting better until Tuesday morning when I got hit again.

Prednisone helps “cure” inflammation problems and is used for many maladies including but not limited to asthma, migraine headaches, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. There are people who get side effects from taking it such as insomnia, weight gain, depression, etc.  I have never experienced any side effects from taking it.  It is normally only given for very short durations of time.

Hopefully, within the next couple of days I’ll get back to my usual self.

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Last evening we faxed the paperwork to our real estate agent so that she can turn them in to the relocation company and we can get the relocation package that is signed by them.

I’ll be scheduling the inspection on the house now.

My husband and I are still not 100% sure on this house. We could build a brand new house in Western Wisconsin for $70K less than what we’re buying this one for. In order for that to happen, we’d have to rent for 5 months and then go through the process of looking for land. The building process itself is about 4 months and 4 months passed real quick while we’ve been here.

We do have someone who is going to show us a few pieces of land this evening just in case this does not go through for whatever reason AND we decide we prefer to build.

Day 8 of a cold/flu that started with deep chest coughing and has headed into my sinuses causing bloody noses. Originally I was so confident that this was only going to last a couple days.  What’s a little tickle in the throat?

A month earlier I had joined a gym called Snap. I had gone to the doctor to get clearance since my blood pressure has been a little higher than normal since moving to Minnesota (probably from all the winter hibernation and lack of movement). The doctor said “that sounds good just go slow.”

So after I left her office I dropped into this small gym. The owner, Bob, was really nice and the following day I went through “basic training” on the equipment. I started nice and slow like my doctor said.

Week one – I did the equipment cycle 3 times a week and walked on the treadmill. One 20 minute mile each day.

Week two – Equipment cycle and the treadmill for 1.5 miles a day.

Week three – Equipment cycle 3 times a week and the treadmill for  1.75 miles a day.

Week four – days 1 and 2, Equipment cycle 1x and the treadmill for 2 miles

Then — everything stopped. This cold/flu/virus – whatever one wants to call it — had me so tired that I spent 3 days at home in bed without going out.

I have to say, that when I returned to the doctor for my blood pressure follow-up after 3 weeks of going to the gym, my blood pressure had lowered.  The numbers were staggering. 20 points less on the systolic and my diastolic was in the 70’s. It had been in the 90’s for quite a few years.

And — I had lost 3 pounds.

I so much want to get back to my training but have to wait until my body fully recuperates until I do.  I feel like this week I’ve regressed and I haven’t done anything different.

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Yesterday we finally received the paperwork from the relocation company that we’re supposed to sign off on.  Well, hmmm, let’s see — we had agreed that the washer and dryer would stay but it’s missing from the paperwork.  Oh wait — the water heater is missing too.

The selling agent’s response is “the original Purchase & Sale agreement supercede this agreement.” Oh really? That’s interesting because we don’t have a signed P&S agreement.

So — do we believe the seller’s agent and take him at his word?

I think not.  We just experienced a situation with our apartment complex where they said something and the lease said something different.  Guess what the law would follow?  The signed written document.

Now we’re trying to see if we can get an addendum added to all this paperwork so that they sign something saying that we indeed have 3 items that have been deleted.

It wouldn’t look so suspicious except that originally the sellers wanted to keep the washer and dryer, verbally agreed to leave it and now the paperwork we have to sign shows it deleted.

I think I need to go back to law school to sign the paperwork to buy a house.