Cottage inspection and pulltabs at the VFW

Well, this was quite a day for us here just east of the equator. Deirdre and I dropped Samson off at Whiskers a little after 7AM and he was howling with excitement when pulled into the parking lot. We handed him off to the able and capable Amber and Samson never looked back at us. We went back home to get clean, dress and then we hit the road for Oscoda at 8:30AM.

The drive east from Grand Rapids was a little sporty. We were hammered with over a foot of snot the past 24 hours and then the temperature dropped to the mid-teens. So we were driving over packed snow and ice until we were just west of Lansing. The I-69 was pretty clear and by the time we got to I-75 there was hardly any snow on the ground.

We arrived in Oscoda at 1:30PM, checked into our hotel and met with our realtor at 2:30PM. We left her office a little while later and arrived at the cottage at 3PM. Our home inspector, Dave, showed up a few minutes later and he went right to work. This cottage was a lot older than the first one we tried to buy but after his inspection Dave was happy to report that he had no major findings of problems. There are a few little things we will need to do once the weather gets warmer, but this cottage is in great shape and we will now order an appraisal so we can move forward with purchasing the property.

We got back to our hotel around 6PM and relaxed for a while and then we headed to Tait's Bill of Fare for dinner. We enjoyed a meal at a truly local place and then headed over to the VFW for a pint of Killian's Red and some pull tabs.

For those who are not familiar with pull tabs, they are sort of like an instant lottery ticket issued by the Michigan Lottery Commission that is sold by private clubs as a fund raiser. They are called pull tabs because in order to see if you won, you pull tabs off of the back of the ticket. I bought $10 of pull tabs, and we promptly won $10. I took the $10 we won to buy ten dollars worth of more pull tabs. Here is where things got interesting. From the $10 of "new" pull tabs we bought, there was a $100 winning pull tab! We also won an additional $3, so I bought more pull tabs. I regret to report that those last $3 of pull tabs did not have a winner. I am, however, happy to report that at the end of the evening we are $90 in the plus because of my $100 winner. An image of my winning ticket can be seen to the right of this text.

We are thrilled with the possibilities of this cottage. The home inspection found no issues with the property, so now all we need is for the appraisal of the value of the cottage to be at least as much as the purchase price. I am optimistic that this will be the case and that we will be able to close on the cottage sometime in January.

We have a sales contract

I am happy to report that we have a signed sales agreement for the cottage we put an offer on at the end of last month. Details to follow, soon, but it looks like we will soon close on a cottage on Lake Huron.

22 November, 1985

Hard to believe, but it was 24 years ago today I was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy. At the time, I thought that I would serve for 4 or 5 years and then get a "real job." Well, that truth sort of changed and 17 PCS moves, 6 ships and 22 years later I retired from the Navy. I was reflecting on the passing of time since my "retirement" from the Navy as it has been two years this month. It is finally sinking the Navy part of my life is over and my second career with General Electric is well underway.

Cottage Redux

Yesterday, Deirdre and I dropped Samson off at Whiskers for a few days of R&R while we headed to Oscoda to look at another cottage. We saw the cottage at 3PM on Thursday afternoon, and we asked Missy to schedule another viewing for us today at 1oAM. The viewing today was to confirm whether or not we wanted to make an offer on the property. We spent about 30 minutes at the property and we decided to make an offer. We went back to Heritage House Realty and with Missy's help we made a formal offer to the sellers. Now, all we can do is wait for their response. Updates to follow as this develops.

GOTCHA DAY

Today is what we call "Gotcha Day." Two years ago today, we brought home a frightened and skittish dog named Danson. He was a German Shepherd Dog, who had been abandoned by his first family, and found living in a park just south of Grand Rapids. We brought him home and the first few days were quite a challenge. He was fearful, food aggressive and afraid of pretty much anything we did. Deirdre and I did not like his name, so we started to call him Samson and within a few weeks he was responding to that name. Thankfully, I was taking some time off between my Navy career and my next career with GE Aviation, so I had time to work with and train Samson. After about 4 months, something clicked with Samson and he became a sweet and lovable companion dog who is nothing but 95lbs of fur and love. Samson likes nothing more than to curl up on the couch for a canoodle with whomever will rub his belly for a while.

Our sweet and gentle Allie, who left us soon after I got home from the Navy, allowed us to be able to adopt Samson and work with him to bring out the good dog that was hidden inside. As I type this, Samson is chewing on a Nyl-a-bone at my side on the sofa. Yes, Samson is a good dog.

Veterans Day

Today marks my third Veterans Day since I became one. I am amazed at how many thoughtful notes I received from civilian friends thanking me for my service. As the days have gone by since I retired from the Navy, the sacrifices I made fade from my memory, but I do know I made a lot of them in my career. Looking back, I would not have done it any other way. I appreciate all the kind thoughts and words to me this Veterans Day.

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS ABOUT THE COTTAGE

As previously mentioned, we had the cottage inspected by a licensed home inspector last Friday. He found a few minor problems, as well as two major ones. The two major ones were that the electrical system was not properly grounded and that there was an issue with the water pressure from the well. We told the listing agent that all items discovered in the course of the home inspection needed to be addressed and corrected before closing. We communicated the results of the inspection to the listing agent on Monday morning.

Apparently, the listing agent did not understand what I meant when I told him last Friday, twice, "All items identified during the inspection must be addressed and corrected before closing." On Tuesday, the listing agent gave us a counter offer, that we would amend the purchase contract such that we would accept the property "as is" and the sellers would take $2,000 off the price. We communicated, again, that was unacceptable as we could not secure financing unless everything in the inspection report was fixed before closing. The sellers seemed to understand that this was non-negotiable, and on Friday they had an electrical contractor and a well digging company come out and give them estimates to fix the electrical system and the well. The electrical contractor gave the sellers and estimate of $1,200 to bring the electrical system up to code. A little pricey, I thought, but still not outrageous. The real issue became the well. Tait's Well Service inspected the well and on Friday afternoon I received a phone call from Mr. Tait himself and he told me the following:

1) The well is a 1 1/4" hand dug well and it is only 20 feet deep.
2) The current well is not deep enough to be up to code and cannot be brought up to code because of the geology of the property.
3) Drilling a new well would require someone from the county health department to locate a suitable place to drill because at best the water would be labeled as non-potable (not drinkable).

Mr. Tait told me that because of the geology of that area, all wells would be between 11-20 feet deep, which is too shallow for code and tends to have a lot of mineral and ferrous salts. Wells cannot be dug deeper because the water at the required code depth is brackish and not fit for drinking.

Bottom line: The well is not up to code and cannot be brought up to code. Because of this finding, we have rescinded our offer to purchase this property as allowed under the "Home Inspection" paragraph of the sales contract.

During the inspection, I wondered why there was so much iron staining in the tub in the bathroom and the kitchen sink and now I know. The water coming up from their well had ferrous salts in it because the water from the well was so close to the surface. Also, their shallow well explains why they had a reverse osmosis unit under their kitchen sink. They most likely did not drink the water out of the tap, rather they used the water that had been put through the reverse osmosis unit to purify it. When I was in the Navy, one of my ships used a large scale reserve osmosis (RO) unit to turn salt water into fresh water. It never occurred to me that the RO unit the sellers had installed was needed to purify the water from their well.

While we are disappointed that this deal did not happen, but there is another place out there for us. We just have to find it.

Cottage Update

In the course of the inspection on Friday last, there were a few issues identified by our home inspector. There are about 10 items that need to be addressed and corrected before we can close on the property, per our lender's requirements.

When we were at the cottage, the listing agent (call him "Ed" to protect the innocent and the guilty) was present and to be frank, he was depriving a village of an idiot. He argued with our inspector, until he hit the last nerve of the inspector who told him, "Ed, back off. Let me do my job and stay out of my way." After that comment from our inspector, Ed then started talking to us. He said to me, "So, what will need to be repaired after the inspection? This cottage is in perfect shape!" I said to him, "Ed, everything identified in the inspection will need to be addressed and corrected. My mortgage company will not fund the loan unless all items identified in this inspection are addressed and corrected." Ed bantered on for a while about the fishing in Lake Huron, asking me, "So, are you a fisherman?" I said "No, Ed I am not." He responded, "Well, the fish were down for a while, but they are coming back!" After that, I pretty much I ignored him for a while, but after 15 minutes or so he asked me again "What will need to be fixed?" I stated again, "Everything identified in the inspection, Ed."

Well, after we received the inspection report, on Monday we provided it to the sellers, along with our requirement that everything listed in the report had to be addressed and corrected. On Tuesday afternoon, the sellers countered with a reduction in the price of the cottage and to amend the purchase contract to "As is Condition." This clearly does not work for us. We communicated our lender's requirements, again, to Ed who clearly did not understand what I meant when I said that every discrepancy called out in the inspection report needed to be fixed before we could close on the property. We just heard rom our agent that the sellers are bringing in contractors to give them estimates to repair the issues identified in the inspection report.

We remain hopeful that this real estate transaction happens. I just hope that the sellers are not depending on Ed for sound real estate advice.

Cottage Update

Since my last posting about the cottage, we have accomplished the following:

1) Secured financing
2) Drove to Oscoda/Greenbush for the home inspection
3) Had the cottage inspected by a licensed home inspector
4) Communicated the findings of the inspection to the sellers

Now, Dee and I have to wait and see if the sellers will address the items discovered in the inspection. Updates to follow as things develop.

My mother did not raise a thief...

Today I needed to get a few things at the hardware store for the house. I went to Lowe's, which is closer to our home than Home Depot. I sort of like Home Depot better, but I was all about finishing my errands quickly this afternoon. I needed to get a fitting for our hot water heater and some cleaning supplies. I quickly located what I needed and went to the check-out line. I showed the clerk my retired military ID and received a 10% discount (Home Depot offers the same discount). The clerk put my things into a plastic bag, I took the bag and headed to my car.

I opened the trunk and put the bag therein. I stopped D&W (local grocery store) on the way home to get some stuff for dinner and arrived back home. I pulled my trusty BMW into the garage, popped the trunk, took the bags out of the trunk and placed them on our kitchen counter. I placed the perishable items recently procured from D&W away and then I started to go through the plastic bag from Lowe's. Much to my surprise, there were more things in there than I had purchased. Specifically, there was weather stripping, a trowel, a tape measurer and some sanding blocks. I realized that these items were potentially purchased by somebody else and not taken away. The clerk simply added my items to the bag with these four items and off I went.

I could keep the items and nobody would be the wiser. However, as the subject line of this post states, my mother did not raise a thief. While I could use the weather stripping, sanding block and the tape measurer, I did not pay for these items. They are not mine and I need to return all the items back to the rightful owner. In the next day or two, perhaps when I am driving home from work, I will stop at Lowe's and return these items. Doing the right thing is not always easy, but it is always the best thing to do.