Tree hugger!

Normally I don't mind trees, I even like them most of the time. These days I hate them. There are two very large trees on our property. One of which already had a branch break off and fall through the roof.  Hence the large green tarp on the roof and the hole in the  dining room ceiling. Neither of these trees have been maintained for a very long time. We have had several people come out and look at these trees. The first one told us that the tree in the rear of the house is diseased and dying and they would recommend taking it out. They said the one in the front isn't as bad but they would probably end up taking it out in a few years anyway. The second person said the one in the back is fine, it just needs to be trimmed, but the one in the front had been struck by lightning and needs to come out. I even had one guy come out and say They're both fine but he'd take them both out for $7000.00! I'm not sure how my husband managed to not laugh in that guy's face. We still haven't made a definite decision but we're leaning towards taking out the tree in the back and trimming up the one in the front. The tree in the back hands over three different sets of power lines and well over the roof. Frankly, with summer and storm season coming It scares the sh!t out of me! Home owners insurance will look for any reason not to cover a falling tree!

The rear tree

Power lines to the left

power lines to the right

The tree in the front.

What is a U&O?

Well Kids, Your house, whether you know it or not, needs a U&O in order for it to be sold.
U&O stands for Use and Occupancy Certification. My Ugly Little House does not have one. That's why we can't move in yet...even if we actually wanted to. Normally, when a house is sold the seller would be responsible for obtaining a U&O. Because our house was bank owned the bank gets away scot free and we have to get the U&O ourselves. Its not that obtaining a U&O is all that difficult, it simply means for us, that the house may not meet some codes, and we will have to rectify that.
Not all townships Require U&Os but most in my area do. Some of the things they look for are:

• grounded electrical outlets
• smoke detectors
• proper electrical
• a heater/chimney in good working condition
• proper plumbing and sewage
• well maintained concrete and driveways

The township came out today to document the condition of the property



. Basically they come out and document what my house has in it so that when the final inspection is done, after all the work is done they know what changes I've made and  if I've pulled the proper permits, ect. Now that the township has seen our starting point we can move on with renovations! YAY!

ALSO!

Look what we discovered popped up on the side of the house on Easter!

These babies absolutely made my day! I hope we can save them from all the construction traffic! I'm going to try to dig them up and pot them until the chaos is over!

We got one!

After months and months of searching we found it! Its perfect! Its beautiful! I love it!

Thats a lie. all of them. lies.


Its awful! I hate it! Its really, really, REALLY ugly! But thats ok, because in my head I see a different house. I see a house thats renovated, and beautiful with lots of our hardwork put into it. Something that we built together and that I can love.

Thats it! Mint green, with black shutters, gutters, and doors. A roof that needs A LOT of help and its fair share of other issues. 

Like this awful wall texture.

Awful.

I like to call it 'thousand smashed spiders plastered on a wall.'

Don't forget the lovely texture on the ceiling. 

Or the random hole in the ceiling!

Then theres this room. This used to be a car port. Not too shabby right? 

Extra living space, 

A fire place,

lots of natural light, 

Except, no. That fire place is fake, it has a gas line that comes from God knows where, and vents to nowhere. Its not even attached to the wall!!!

Most of those windows don't have a either a screen, or a flat glass panel, or both! 

and the whole room is on a slope, because they never leveled it out to make it a reasonable part of the home. The fact of the matter is that the front of the room is actually 6 inches lower the the ground outside. Which means there is a lot of moister in the front of the room and it isn't really useable. 

Some times I shake my head and wonder why we bought this house but then I remember the house I see in my head and know that soon that house will be mine. 

What's next?

Now that we're home and we've decided to buy vs. rent what do we do next?

Sir House and I have decided to make the most of the time we spend in whatever house we purchase by building equity. We don't plan on just letting the house sit and grow money, though that would be cool...No. We're gonna buy a fixer upper, a real crapper! Then we're gonna fix it up, make it real pretty!

I know this might seem like a huge task, and really expensive, but I promise it will all be worth it! The right improvements can dramatically change the value of a home. The bottom line is: not a whole lot of people want to spend the time or money to fix a home. We're willing to spend the time fixing a home and because of that we'll be able to buy one for much less than many others on the market!

How you ask? We plan on using a 203K loan. This type of loan allows you to mortgage the cost of repairs to the home as well as the purchase price. Its a great loan for exactly what we're looking to do.  
As we move forward with the blog I'll explain little by little what I know about the process.