Sincerely Yours

So we spent a lot of time this weekend looking at more kitchens. My cousin Billy told us about a Chinese hardware store called Sincere Hardware. What's really great about this place is that they have a lot of the same brands that we saw at Home Depot/Home Expo. The difference is that they charge about 30% less- literally. I was asking the salesperson about a pot filler faucet and he pulls out the catalog and then reduces that price by 30% right in front of me. I'm having them give me an estimate of how much cabinets would cost because we were able to find the exact cabinets that we liked from Home Expo there. We're going to have our general contractor install them, but we'll probably purchase the materials from Sincere.

We're still trying to decide if we should knock down the wall between the kitchen and dining room and replace it with a peninsula or keep the wall. Pros- a more open layout, more seating, more counterspace. Cons- less cabinet space, no more cool swinging door, no pot filler faucet (probably), less wall space in dining room, and no formal dining area. Decisions, decisions...

We're also trying to figure out what kind of sink to put in. I think a stainless steel sink should be fine, but Edwin really likes the farmhouse style porcelain sinks. I like them too, but the price is a little higher than I want to spend on a sink. If we can find one that isn't too expensive, maybe I can be convinced. Only 4 more days until we are officially homeowners!

Moving Sucks

I hate packing. It's making this place a mess. There are boxes everywhere. It makes things stressful because there's this impending deadline. We have 2 weeks until we move. We've been furiously studying cabinets and tiles. We went to Home Depot and Home Expo last weekend. It was good that we went to Home Expo first. They had a very large showroom that had a lot of full kitchens to explore and for renovation ideas vs. Home Depot which just has a cabinet door in one section and tiles in another. Home Depot doesn't really "put it together." You basically have to know what you're looking for and hope that it will match.

What I found is that we may like a light fixture or a set of cabinets, but the styles don't necessarily go together. Designers on HGTV make it look easy. It reminds me of when we were planning the wedding as well. You may like individual pieces, but if they don't work together, you can't use it. I guess you can say the same thing for furniture in general. You might have a chair that you like, but it doesn't match the couch or the wall paint color.

And of course, Edwin and I each have our favorite styles. Edwin likes oak with the wood grain that you find in older houses- very classic and goes well with Craftsman style homes like ours. I like things a little more modern with cherry cabinets and a smooth finish. The model kitchen we saw looked very nice, but I wonder if it will look "old." I mean, that is kind of the point, but I don't want to spend all this money on a renovation to have people think that it wasn't renovated when we sell it and not get our money back. We will probably end up with with the oak because I think that it goes better with style of the house. I'll have my cherry cabinets in our next house. LOL.

We have also been looking at refrigerators. We're considering buying a refrigerator using craislist. In my mind, I have always had a "used" refrigerator in any apartment that I have ever lived in. I have seen a lot of listings where people are renovating their houses and have to get rid of their appliances. Now, that being said, I don't want anyone's cruddy 10 year old refrigerator either. The one that I am interested in is a stainless steel counter depth refrigerator that has only been used for 6 months. They are selling it for half the price that they paid for it because they bought a new house and don't need it. For half price, I can deal with a slightly used refrigerator. It's probably a much nicer refrigerator than we would ever buy otherwise. We're going to try and look at it tomorrow. I bought my wedding dress on ebay. Why not a refrigerator? I think that you can get some pretty good deals that way.

We also signed our loan docs this week. It was pretty painless. I really like our mortgage broker Rosemary Gee. She's been very good at explaining things and being responsive. I got very frustrated with another broker because he kept giving me the run around. I would ask questions and not get very clear answers. I asked for example rates and loan options and I never got anything on paper. During our first and last meeting, I had to write everything down because he didn't give us examples on paper. I think it was because he didn't want to commit to anything. When I told him the loans that Rosemary got us, he said that it didn't exist and that we should go with him. I asked him on 3 separate occasions to email me with loan rates and options and he never did. I went to my bank and asked for rates and they never got back to me either. They just told me that mortgage brokers were blood suckers. The most ironic thing is that our first loan is with my bank. Dumb. The second loan is a line of credit. What's nice about the line of credit is that we can pay it off faster if we want to and we can also take any of the principal we pay back out if we need it. It means that we don't need to have our cash reserves sitting in a bank gaining less than 5% interest when we are going to have to pay more than 5% in interest. Therefore, we get to pay off our debt faster and have access to emergency money if we need it. It's nice flexibility that we did not expect. Have I bored you yet? We hand over the big check this week and we close escrow on August 30, so T minus 6 days until we are officially homeowners.

We're Movin' on Up... to the East Side (Bay)!

Sujay has started calling us the Jeffersons. Remember the theme song? It does seem to fit. I've started packing. We still have all the boxes from when we moved in. I think we moved in with about 65 boxes, so I'm thinking that we'll have about 80 boxes when we move out. I'm aiming to pack at least 2 boxes per day. I know that only means 60 boxes until moving day, but I figure Edwin should pack at least 20, right? :) So I've packed 4 boxes so far- only 56 more to go.

We went back to the house last night to measure all the rooms. We've been thinking a lot about all the renovations that need to get done and the first step is to figure out how much room we have to play with. It seems so hard to figure out what to do first and whether or not we should refinish the floors before we move in since we don't want them to get them all messed up with the kitchen renovations. What to do? We're headed to Home Depot for some ideas this weekend.

Has anyone been reading all of the news about how bad the mortgage industry is doing lately? We read this article about how hard it is now to get a loan. We're thankful that we locked in a loan 2 weeks ago. We're going to sign the papers on Tuesday. Yikes. I guess I'll be glad to have this part over with and being another step close to home ownership.

All By Myself

So this past weekend, Edwin was off on his annual surfing surfari and so I was left to my own devices. What does that mean? I got to leave my clothes out for a few days, not make the bed if I didn't want to, and get some girly stuff done like go to JoAnn Fabrics without being timed in the store.

On Friday, I worked from home. I was meeting Matilde, Sujay, Chris, Corinne, Greg, and Cary for dinner in East Bay, so I met up with Matilde a little earlier to do some Friday shopping at the Embarcadero Center. Then, we went to Coriya for some hot pot after sitting in traffic for like an hour. Good thing I had Chris and Matilde to keep me company. There was a big debate about where to go for dinner since there was a possibility of going to hot pot on Sat night as well with Show and Derek. Anyway, we stayed until closing and I ate until I could eat no more. I couldn't believe how much I ate though I like to think that most of it was liquid because I drank a lot of the soup!

On Saturday, I volunteered to help remove graffiti in SF through my church. Though it was publicized in the church bulletin, it was actually organized by another volunteer group. I get myself out of bed and arrive by 9AM in the Sunset as requested. I was a little grumpy because when I got there, I waited around for a few minutes before someone came up to me and told me that they had moved the meeting location. Then, they didn't have any designated parking and we were told that we would get light refreshments, so I didn't eat any breakfast. When you say light refreshment, I think of food. (The last time I volunteered for something like Habitat for Humanity, they gave us muffins and juice.) All we got that day was water.

There were about 3 people from church, about 5 more from different organizations, and then 8 more from SWAT. I thought it might be some kind of police force team. So I started talking to one of them. His name was Junior and he lives in Bayview/Hunters Point. He was really friendly and revealed that he had to do 90 days of community service. So I asked him why and he tells me that he was caught with 5 oz. 5 oz. of what? No idea and I didn't ask! I did ask him if it was for posession and his response to me was, "Hell no! I don't smoke that stuff!" Sorry- did not mean to offend! JK! Anyway, he told me that he had to do the community service on the weekends and pay $150 each day because he couldn't do it during the week since he had a job. I asked him what his job was and he told me that he was a security guard at a jewerly store. Interesting. Though it was a little scary to be working with these guys, they were all very nice. I guess that I never realize that people that are so different live so close. I usually feel the same way after I have been to the DMV or in traffic school. Actually, meeting this guy Junior was kind of the highlight of the day.

We started walking from 19th and Noriega and headed west towards the ocean. It was a total pain in the butt because we had to carry these buckets of paint and wear latex gloves. I was hoping to get some practice painting for the house, but we were mostly painting mailboxes, garbage cans, and utility boxes. Believe me, the city is very picky and they get quite upset if you confuse garbage can green with mailbox green. This definitely was not as fun as the last time when I helped to paint an elderly woman's house. I was told by one of the coordinators that they are out there repainting these mailboxes and garbage cans every week. Every week they get spray painted and every week, they repaint them. How senseless. I don't even understand why someone would pay for the spraypaint to do it. Such a waste. That's why I probably won't volunteer for them again. That, and I couldn't stand how disorganized they were. I really have no patience for that. When I volunteered last time, they were super organized in the list of tasks that needed to be done and had the supplies ready to go. We didn't even get started for like half an hour because they weren't prepared. At the end, I didn't have the patience for them to drive us back to our origination. Since we were at 47th and Noriega (that's right, I walked almost 30 blocks with a bucket of paint.) I decided to walk over to my Uncle Glenn's house which was another 5 blocks away on 47th and Irving. Good thing I did too, because when I arrived, they were having a BBQ and since I hadn't eaten anything that day, I was starving!

For dinner, we went to San Tung again and then over to Chris and Corinne's house to watch Hot Fuzz. I feel asleep within 20 minutes, but I am proud to say that I was not the first to fall asleep. Matilde beat me by 5 minutes.

On Sunday, we had dim sum and then I dropped off Show and Derek at the airport. On my way home, I did some window shopping and "research." I was thinking about what colors we might want for each of the rooms, maybe buying a new kitchen table, window treatments, and trying to decide if I should make or just purchase the cushions of the banquette that we are going to have in the kitchen. I think that it might be easier and maybe even cheaper just to buy cushions from Pier One. I'm looking forward to building it. I think it will be fun. We still have to think about what renovations will be done when and start planning the move. I guess we should start packing. We're planning on moving out on Saturday, September 8. Anyone want to help us move to the East Bay? :) We're very lucky that we have some good friends and family that have already said that they can help. I can't wait. It should be fun. I'm really looking forward to it. Part of me wishes that we could move in sooner, but part of me is relieved that we have some time to set things up.

2 Days Left

So we have 2 more days until the contingency period is over for the house. It basically means that we are locked in at that point. Until that point, we can still get out of it. So we spent 3.5 more hours at the house last night with our real estate agent. So now we are thinking that we may change our original plans. Instead of having a bathroom in the basement, we are thinking that maybe we will try to convert the current bathroom into a master bath and then convert the hallway and linen closet into a second bathroom off of the kitchen. According to Kian, he recommends doing remodeling before we move in or at least before we unpack. We're leaning towards this option as well. I like the idea of having it done earlier so that we can enjoy the changes longer. Why pay for changes for the next owner to enjoy? This plan requires that we do the kitchen remodel with the bathroom addition. That's just a lot of money up front. No problem, right? JK!

Our mortgage broker also told us that the appraiser said that we got a good deal on the house, so that makes me feel more confident that we are making a good decision. She also has been telling us that the lenders are definitely getting more stringent. She said that the day after they approved our loan, they stopped accepting applications. I didn't think that all the activity around sub-prime lending would affect us, but I guess that it could have even though we have great credit.

At this point, Edwin and I are pretty sure that we are going to go through with the offer. I feel like we know what the issues are and what we have to do and how much it will cost. It's more a question of when we can tackle each of these projects. We should be busy for years! JK! I think that it will be hard work, but it will be worth it. Given that it's one of the cheapest houses on the block, the value can only go up, right?

We also met one of our neighbors who is an elderly gentleman who has lived in his house for over 40 years and prior to that he lived across the street where his daughter lives now. I guess he must like the street. He did say that Christmas time is very busy because it is known as Christmas Tree Lane since Alameda decorates the entire street. I have never heard of it, but I am looking forward to it.

We also found a really great Hawaiian restaurant called Hawaiian Drive Inn. I had the saimin and a spam musubi while Edwin had the garlic shrimp. Each of the entrees was like $4 and the bill came to $12 without tip. The place is a family run establishment and we were served by the dad and his son who was probably around 12 years old. It was so tasty- we will definitely be back.

Happy Birthday to me!

Wow! What a busy weekend. I can't believe that it already over. On Friday, we went to a dinner/performance art event called Supper Club with Steve and Pablo. It has been compared to Cirque du Soleil, and I could see why they would say that, but I don't think that it was quite the same. They basically have all these beds that you can lounge on and eat your dinner. In the middle of the floor they have some random performances and a really great DJ so you can actually do a little clubbing as well. (They open the doors to the general public around 11:30 and it becomes a dance club.) Our favorites were the scallops and the tomato and crouton salad.

On Saturday, we went waterskiing, wake boarding, and inner tubing at Lake Berryessa. We rented a boat and also had a picnic area set up with a BBQ. It was a very warm day and it was nice to be in the water. This is my second time waterskiing and it was not much better than my first attempt at Corrine's bachelorette. Edwin, of course, was one of the better waterskiiers. (Naturally.) I heard that Jamie was probably the best. Matilde, Show, and Tom were able to try the wakeboard. I stuck to the inner tube. I'll post some pics soon.

We also went to the house today to inspect it with another general contractor and also our architect friend Bhavana. We didn't find any surprises, but we spent about 4 hours there looking around and talking about it. We're not quite done and will probably look at it again, but so far, I don't see anything that would make me think twice about buying it. It was more about trying to figure out what we want to do with it and the order of priority for all of the projects that we will inevitably have to tackle. (Where to begin when there is so much to do?) Part of me thinks that this may be fun. Part of it will be shear torture. It's hard to justify things like bolting down the foundation, adding insulation, doing a sewer later, or changing the furnace when nobody ever sees that stuff- especially when there is so much cosmetically that could be improved. We're still thinking that we will refinish the hardwood floors, buy a refrigerator, and paint. But now we are thinking that we may finish the basement sooner rather than later so that we have more living space and add a 3/4 bath. In order to do that, we will need to replace the furnace, move the sump pump (like I even know what that is!), put flooring down, and drywall up. Then maybe we could redo the upstairs bath because then we would have another bathroom to use. I'm still thinking about applying to HGTV so that they could redo our kitchen...

So today is my birthday. I told Edwin that I thought it might be fun to have some people over to the apartment because we haven't had people over in a while. I can't even remember the last time. So we sent out an evite last minute last weekend and I didn't think that many people would come since it was a Sunday and with less than a week's notice. But we ended up cramming 25 people into our apartment plus 3 babies and a toddler. I wonder if that is some kind of record for this place. I was afraid that we might run out of food, but I think that there was enough for everyone. We were able to use a lot of the leftovers from yesterday's BBQ. And then we started cleaning out our cupboards. (After all, we're probably moving in about a month, so the more people eat, the less we have to move, right?) We still have a lot of leftovers. It was a fun time and a good way to tell people that we were going to be moving (for the people who are not loyal blog readers like yourself! :) ) We broke out some of the platters and dishes that we had received as wedding gifts, so it was cool to be able to use it. I was dismayed to see one of my favorite platters got chipped when I pulled it out of the cupboard. I didn't chip it, but it had been chipped probably because we have a bunch of platters stacked on top of each other. We ended the evening playing Set and Cranium. Now I know why we are all friends- we are all geeks! All in all, it was a great way to celebrate my 32nd birthday. It was just great to be able to hang out with people.

Cramming for Finals

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes! It's so nice just to hear from you all. Sometimes I wonder if anyone reads this blog and now I know you do. The last few days have flown by in a haze. We're going to inspect the house on Sunday (my birthday!) with our realtor and our architect friend Bhavana. We are also hoping to have a general contractor take a look as well. Does anyone have a general contractor that they would like to recommend in the Bay Area? We have a lead, but we don't have anyone scheduled yet.

So I have spent the last few days trying to get smart and learn about mortgages. Remember in college how you had to cram for finals? That is kinda how I am feeling right now. Does anyone know what a LIBOR is? How about negative amortization? I don't know what that is, but I know I don't want it! Mortgage rates seem to be on the rise, so I think we were pretty lucky to lock in our first mortgage yesterday. We have been checking rates online and trying to decide if we should go to multiple brokers. I have heard of going to multiple lenders, but we are using a broker that was recommended to us by our friend Steve. We started with another mortgage broker who was also recommended by an old coworker, but I wasn't really as comfortable with him. I didn't like that he didn't give me any paperwork from our discussion. He kept telling me how things were going to change anyway. I don't care that it's going to change, I want something on a paper to look at, not just my scribbled notes.

If you went to school with me, you will know that I took horrible notes (even when I didn't fall asleep during lectures). I always had to borrow Santiney's notes to make any sense of my own notes. She had the nicest notes- she would even re-copy them if she thought that they were not up to her standard. But I digress...

Happy birthday to Joe. He came out for work this week, so we had a mini Ford reunion tonight at a Chinese Muslim restaurant called Old Mandarin. It was kind of funny because I think that we have been to this restaurant before, but we had a bad experience. This time, it was MUCH better- maybe because someone else ordered. The lamb stew was tasty and my fave was the tendon. I wasn't a big fan of the lamb dumplings. (This place is known for lamb dishes.) Nevertheless, we were all full when we left. I would definitely go back now that I know what to order.

This weekend is going to be busy, but fun. We're having dinner with Steve and Pablo tomorrow night. On Saturday, we are going to Lake Berryessa for some BBQing and some waterskiing. On Sunday, we are going to the house and then we're having friends over for my birthday. Lots to do and so little time! I need a vacation!