A Bench and a Birthday

Weekends are always nice.  I must admit that it's weird not working during the day.  Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying my summer, but I just don't know what to do with myself some days.  On the weekend Mike is off of work, and we get to enjoy each other's company.  Lately, it has also meant that we can work all day on the house together.  I'm trying to to treasure this time.  Even though we both really want to see the house finished, there's something about doing the work ourselves that makes us all the more appreciative of every little detail.  Our friend Mitchell came over on Friday to help Mike chip up more concrete in the down stairs bathroom.  That evening as we sat outside by the pool and ate dinner; we joked that one day we'll laugh when we think of all the silly things we had to put up with during renovations:  

• Walking through the temporary walls to get to the kitchen
• Going to the bathroom with no door (or walls)
• Stepping over the beast beam in the main room
• Dodging the giant holes in the concrete

BENCH:  On another subject...I wanted to showcase my latest project.  It really has nothing to do with getting the house move-in ready, but I thought it would be fun.  Out of all the "projects," this is the one I've enjoyed the most to date--my DIY Bench make-over.  Here's my before and after and pictures with a step by step breakdown:

BEFORE: frame in decent shape

AFTER: see below

Most of the bolts looked like this.  

Time to choose a router bit :)

I decided to go with the quarter inch beveled edge.

After I used the router to shape the boards, I sanded them.

Staining is the fun part!  I chose dark walnut Rust-Oleum and exterior satin varnish to help protect against UV rays.  And of course, you can't forget the Coke Zero!  The spray paint was for the frame.

After staining and wiping they had to dry for a bit.
I achieved my desired color in only one coat of stain.

While the stain soaked in, I sanded down the old frame.

Then I painted it.  The bolts were a pain to removed,
but Mike helped me with his angle grinder.

I also painted all the bolts, nuts and washers.

Here it is... all put back together!

I still have to tighten the bolts down, but I'm happy with the outcome.

What do you think?

Nice color, huh?

Anyway, let's move on from that project.  Mike is always working on something.  His projects are usually just NOT as exciting as my projects, hehe.  He was chipping... need I say more?  Here is what he and Mitchell have accomplished so far.  The new plumbing should be reset soon.

My husband LOVES buying new tools :)

Ta...Da...

I know from a brief experience that handling the chipping gun
is a FULL BODY workout :)

BIRTHDAY:  Our friend, Bain, celebrated his 31st birthday on Friday, so we had a pool party BBQ at the house and took a break from work on Sunday.  After all, it is the day of rest :)  Happy Birthday, Bain!!

Some delicious Bratwurst... 

Madden taking a snack break :)

Matea, posing for the camera :)

Jo Jo in action.  The kids had lots of fun!

Then again, so did the adults!  Mike's bank shot.

Things got a little intense.  Nice face, Matt!

No rebound necessary...

I have a much greater respect for people who play water polo.

The boys getting crazy on the goal.

Another action shot.

Overall, it was another great weekend in Makakilo.  Until next time...

God's Hand on Our Home, part 3

Through this entire process, there always seemed to be clear markers.  If the door was closed, we tried another.  If it was cracked, we slowly pushed our way through to see what was on the other side.  Mike and I were curious if we’d qualify for a conventional loan at Navy Federal, the place that denied us not less than a year ago.  We talked about the possibility and went for it.  Why not?  Against Linda’s better judgment, we decided to apply for a parallel loan with Navy Federal while still trying to meet the FHA loan requirements.  Our loan officer at Navy Federal was on top of her game.  Soon, with Mike’s efficiency and persistence, we surpassed the point where we had been with the FHA loan.  This conventional loan, if we were approved, would be a much better route.  We would have to put zero down (compared to 3.5% with FHA), we would have a better interest rate, more flexibility to do the work ourselves after closing, and it just seemed better all the way around. 

The last step for approval involved getting the house appraised.  We didn’t know when the appraiser would do the inspection, but we REALLY wanted to get in there and clean.  Our hope was to make it look decent and presentable so that it would get appraised higher than our offering price.  We pestered Linda to ask the seller if we could get permission to clean before the appraisal.  The seller was worried about liability, so he was very hesitant to allow us on the property without Linda present.  We told Linda we’d sign any papers necessary if we could just get in there and clean.

On April 1, 2013 we got two emails.  One said that an appraiser was set to come out the next morning.  The other said that if we signed a form, we could have access to the house and start cleaning.  I was on a three day field trip with the 7th graders at Kualoa Ranch.  It was Monday afternoon, and I was hiking up the Hakipu’u Ahupua’a, so I literally had to sprint back to camp.  

A view of Chinaman's Hat from the hike

In the valley

At the waterfront, relaxing

Sunrise... this is what I had to leave to go and clean...

I borrowed my friend’s car (bless her), got a speeding ticket coming down from H-3, and had to be back at the Regional Park by 8:00pm when they locked the gate.  On the way to the house I had to stop by American Title and Escrow to sign a notarized paper that gave us permission to clean.  After that, I went to Walmart and purchased cleaning supplies.  Thankfully, we had some help from some friends of ours that night.  Although we weren’t supposed to have anyone else there, they were such a blessing.  The girls went to town on the kitchen and moldy bathrooms while the boys cleared the jungle from the pool!  We worked on making it look presentable for the next day's inspection/appraisal.  All in a day's work!

God's Hand on Our Home, part 2

When we found out we got denied for a home loan last year, we stopped looking altogether.  No more internet searches, no more open houses.  A few months later, since we knew we wouldn’t be buying, we decided to rent a new place in Makakilo that was more comfortable.  We moved up the hill from Kapolei in September of 2012 to Kai Nani. 

Now fast forward six months to March 2013.  It had been ten months since we had thought of that house in Makakilo, and six months since we moved to a new townhouse.  The realtor who showed us the “distressed” property back in May 2012 left Mike a random voicemail that said something to the effect of:  “Just wanted to let you know that the house you looked at last year is coming out of Escrow and will be back on the market on Monday.  Thought you might still be interested, and wanted to give you a head start if you were.”  What?   Did this realtor really still have Mike’s number saved in her phone?  Did the people who were in Escrow, really back out after nine months of waiting?  What went wrong?  Did we really want to get involved with this place?  Where we even looking at buying a house still?  Could we afford it now?  Should we go for it? 

 

I remember praying about the decision to go look at it again after all of those months.  It still looked the same to me.  They apparently fixed the leak, but the walls were still moldy.  I just wanted to get in there and CLEAN, but that wasn’t possible.

The price had dropped by almost $20,000.  With these numbers, the projected mortgage would be doable for us.  We got a pre-approval letter with no problem this time, and we decided to make an offer.  Because the realtor had been back and forth with the bank so many times with the other potential buyers, she knew that the price it was listed at was approved already.  If we were to offer lower, we ran the risk of “losing our chance” so to speak.  I remember it was a Saturday, not sure of the exact date, early March I think.  We had gone to look at the house one last time the previous week.  Linda had a loan officer that she wanted us to meet, a guy named Pat.  We were at Linda’s Coldwell Banker office in town just to hear our options about the FHA 203K loan.  The idea with the FHA loan was to get money for repairs rolled into the loan and do the bulk of the work ourselves.  From talking with Pat and Linda that day, it seemed like the type of loan we needed for this property.  There was already a cash offer on the table for the house, but we decided that day to go ahead and make the formal offer anyway.  We filled out a ton of paper work, and asked Pat a multitude of questions about the loan, its payouts and disbursements and what the process might look like for us.  Although he didn’t seem to fully answer our questions, apparently we were satisfied enough to make an offer.  All of this was under the assumption that we could work on the house ourselves. 

Plans started running through our minds in streams of conscientiousness.  Demo, dumpsters, cleaning supplies, friends to help, living arrangements, new appliances, kitchen cabinets, flooring, paint colors, opening up the walls, mold, plumbing, jammed sliding door, jungle in pool, garage door, jalousies, yard work, new bathrooms, and the list went on and on…  Mike, being the thorough and industrious husband that he is sat down with me the week prior and hashed out a rough projected budget.  Of course Jordan looked over it and had us add some things that he and Kim remembered costing more than expected with their own house.  What a blessing to have the Garretts in our lives.  Not only are they wonderful friends, but they had just bought a house in Waikele the year before and knew the process all too well.  They were excellent resources in terms of estimated cost, the time it would take to demo everything, and the amount of time it might take to finish certain projects.

        

Now rewind back to the Coldwell Banker office with Linda and Pat.  After the mountain of paperwork Linda had us fill out, Pat was able to get ahold of a HUD inspector that he uses.  That same day, the inspector met us out at the property to do a walk through and write up a report of his findings.  Kim and Jordan also met us there as well as Linda.  We were officially the back-up offer on the house.  God’s hand was already at work.  In the office, Linda was very candid with us.  She said that the offer before ours was a cash offer; however, the buyer needed to submit paperwork by midnight or ask for an extension to continue in the process.  The longer we waited, the more money we could save.  We were actually in no hurry at all!   Another tid-bit I forgot to mention is that we decided to go with Linda as our realtor.  She was now handling both ends of the transaction, buyer and seller.  Because of that, she was willing to give us a half percent off at closing.  We tried for 2%, but decided that half is better than nothing. 

            

At the property that day, Cory took all kinds of pictures and inspected many things.  When he was finished, we all had a conversation in the front of the house about the FHA 203k loan and the possibilities of getting reimbursed for materials if we did the work.  Again, he (as Pat did) assured us that we could do the work ourselves.  We needed to have a contractor bid on the job as a safety net in case we got hurt, but that absolutely we’d get reimbursed for materials.  It was tough getting a straight answer from Pat on how the disbursements got paid out, and we never felt he truly understood our end goal.  FHA was looking more and more like a 3-ring circus with fiery hoops to jump through, but we thought we had no other option.

            

In all of this, God’s hand was at work.  It wasn’t until we got a contract from Pat that we looked for alternatives.  In the stack of papers, and endless numbers, there was a clause that said:  “The work will be completed by the contractor(s) that bid on the job.”  This made us feel uncomfortable about the whole process.  The point of the FHA 203k loan was to get the money rolled into the loan so we could do the work ourselves.  At this point, FHA and our chances for getting the house were looking grim.  Mike did his homework and talked to a few other loan officers around town.  All of them said the same thing—NO, you can’t do the work yourself with that type of loan.  What?  Did we hear them correctly?  We weren’t allowed to buy our own materials and paint our own house or lay our own tile?  Contractors had to do every bit of the work?  That would cost a fortune!  Again we went to God and laid our concerns on the table.  Was this our closed door?  We were supposed to do something different?  Was this an exercise in trust and obedience?  

More to come...

God's Hand on our Home, Part 1

It’s neat to see God’s hand at work.  I thought I’d record some of the ways God has allowed us to purchase our first home in Hawaii.  The process has been remarkable and almost unbelievable at times; through it all, my husband continues to astound me with his diligence, urgency and work ethic. 

I do understand, however, that everything we have is God’s.  Every penny to our name, our good health, family and friends who are loving and supportive—it’s all from God Almighty.  I pray that Mike and I would never take our blessings for granted, and remember to bless his name in all seasons of life.

To start things out, I need to go back a year or so.  It was May of 2012, and we decided to start looking for houses in Hawaii.  There was a month or two where we went to open houses every Sunday afternoon scoping out the market.  We didn’t know if we were in a place to buy since we had just paid off our student loans, our wedding, and our honeymoon from the previous year.  We decided to apply for a pre-approval from Navy Federal just to see our chances.  When we were denied, we were pretty frustrated.  We felt entitled.  How was it that so many people around us, people who made much less than we did combined, own a home?  We wrestled with the “whys” for a few weeks, but considered this closed door God’s answer to our prayers.  

During the time we were going to all these open houses and checking OahuRe.com four times a day, Mike came across a property in Makakilo that had a lot of square footage.  The pictures looked ok, but we wanted to check it out for ourselves.  It came up so often in our searches that we went to look at it twice.  The house was in pretty bad shape.  The hot water heater had been leaking for some time and mold had started cultivating on the walls in the closet, creeping across the laundry room through the stairs and into the kitchen.  Rat droppings littered the countertops and fungus dressed the kitchen floor.  Three to four years-worth of hair, dust, and buildup was pasted in a thick layer across every surface of the house.  The upstairs in particular hadn’t been vacuumed in years; the kitchen appliances untouched for this same amount of time.  The backyard seemed big, but the jungle growing in the pool and on the side of the house didn’t look very welcoming.  My first reaction was disgust.  The smell was dank, and if I’m honest, I was pretty uninterested.  Here are some pics.  More of the story to come…