Buying a new home

Agree that it's a tradeoff with how close the houses are, but one benefit is that the folks near us are unlikely to have young children or noisy pets (two downsides to where we are now in terms of noise). The HOA rules make it very clear, pet ownership is not a right. You have a noisy dog, you either do something about it or the dog won't be allowed. We've already met one couple at the Design Studio who are close in age to us, but still working.
 

Congratulations Bob! Sounds very exciting and you will have lots to do!

I am flying to Maine tomorrow to close on our retirement home in Maine. After dozens of phone calls, scanned financial statements, checking and re-checking the totals. It is finally happening. Cannot wait - although the temps there are forecast to be as warm as Tennessee this week! ...and we're trying to get away from the heat.

Anyway, we hope to put the Tennessee house on the market in another 2 weeks and move - sold or not - in November. In the meantime I need to have a tooth pulled and we need to drive to Charleston, SC to see the new grandbaby! We're still trying to find a listing agent - will interview 3 when I get home - find a mover, finish small repairs, pack what we can and sell off most of the furniture. Yikes! I hope to sleep for a week once we get there! We too, are looking forward to being part of a small village community and are just outside of Portland - with all the big (okay, small) city things to do as well. Best of luck!
 

Congrats to you as well, Myquest55. You'll love it up there. We'll probably be putting our house on the market in March next year. Portland is a great city and you have wonderful access to the Maine seacoast.
 
What a beautiful new home Bob and such a nice area. Love the idea of all hardwood floors. Just push a mop around and you're done. The fireplace with all that stone work must be beautiful. I wish you much happiness in your new home.
 
Ruth n Jersey said:
What a beautiful new home Bob and such a nice area. Love the idea of all hardwood floors. Just push a mop around and you're done. The fireplace with all that stone work must be beautiful. I wish you much happiness in your new home.
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Thanks Ruth. If we could have stayed in this home, I'd have been fine with it, but there were too many limitations. The fact that we'll be in a new area and meeting new people is very appealing to us. As a photographer, I'm looking forward to a new area to capture with my camera.

As things progress, I'll update this thread.
 
congrats.gif...one tip for you, check to see where they are putting the water heater!!! I caught my builder in time, they planned on putting it in the attic?!!!!!!!! I changed that fast!!!!
 
Ken N Tx said:
View attachment 42494...one tip for you, check to see where they are putting the water heater!!! I caught my builder in time, they planned on putting it in the attic?!!!!!!!! I changed that fast!!!!
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Good tip, but already had that discussion a few weeks ago. It goes in the basement!
This will the first time that my wife and I will be dealing with natural gas for heating, cooking, water heater, clothes dryer, etc. We've been an all electric home all these years, with high bills to boot! We also are building in an alarm that will alert us if we have a water issue in the basement say from a burst pipe or water heater.
 
Bobw235 said:
Good tip, but already had that discussion a few weeks ago. It goes in the basement!
This will the first time that my wife and I will be dealing with natural gas for heating, cooking, water heater, clothes dryer, etc. We've been an all electric home all these years, with high bills to boot! We also are building in an alarm that will alert us if we have a water issue in the basement say from a burst pipe or water heater.
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About having gas... I was without power for a few days earlier this month when the remnants of a hurricane passed through. We had nice weather so heating/ac wasn't an issue but having hot water and a stove that still worked was much appreciated. I had to light the burners on the stove with a lighter/long candle but my 20 year old gas hot water heater didn't skip a beat since it uses a pilot light.
 
dpwspringer said:
About having gas... I was without power for a few days earlier this month when the remnants of a hurricane passed through. We had nice weather so heating/ac wasn't an issue but having hot water and a stove that still worked was much appreciated. I had to light the burners on the stove with a lighter/long candle but my 20 year old gas hot water heater didn't skip a beat since it uses a pilot light.
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Having lost power a handful of times here in our home, a few times in the dead of winter, I can imagine I'll appreciate the convenience/safety that gas provides. Even though our house is well-insulated, the temperature drops pretty quickly when it's bitter cold outside.

When our current home was built back in the 80s, the gas company never ran the lines down to our street because they had no assurances that folks would become customers. Oil was sky high at the time, so our builder opted for electric.

I also think I'm going to appreciate the nuances of cooking with gas as opposed to electric heat. I do most of the cooking.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
How exciting! Congratulations.
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Thanks. It was a big decision and one my wife and I spent many hours discussing. We are fortunate that after many years of saving diligently that we're in a position to do this. Still months away, but it's more real by the week as we get updates from the builder. Can't wait to see it up close in a few weeks.
 
I've only had a gas stove for a fw years in my life and I loved it! You will, too.

As you said, if you lose power and it's winter with snow you can at least cook the food, eat some, seal it up and put it into a snow bank, to freeze- don't lose it. (Actually you can bury safely-packed frozen food in the snow, too)
 
We are living in our 9th home in 46 years. We are never attached to our material things no matter what the memories. Our memories are in our mind so they are portable. :) 8 years ago we decided to prepare for retirement so we sold our big 4 bedroom Colonial house and bought a small ranch house in a 55+ community where we are very happy. Plus no snow where we live and that is great. We feel like we are on vacation every day. We lived like gypsies moving every time we got bored of where we lived. It has been a lot of fun and we have friends all over the country. The funny part is that we still have unopened boxes that have moved from home to home and never opened yet.
 
Some years ago we bought a house that was being constructed. Before they started the drywall, I went through and took pictures that showed where the plumbing, HVAC and wiring ran. These photos were very useful a few years later when modifications were made. They helped my neighbor who had an identical house.

In my experience, we have owned 9 homes in 4 states, there is as much work with a new house as an old one, but the nature of the work is just different.

I have put ceiling fans in the last 5 places we have lived in. Other changes have been rocker type light switches, lever handle door locks and single handle water faucets.
 
We are living in our 9th home in 46 years. This one we both on the internet sight unseen. The first house we bought was when I got transferred to Houston, TX. I had never been there before and on my way from the Airport to my hotel, I stopped at a housing development to get an idea of housing costs and put a down payment on a house, called my wife and told her we will have a new house to move into after she moves down to join me. I was 21 at the time. I do not think we ever spent more than a half a day finding a new house. One house my wife bought without me. To us, houses are just places to store our stuff. We look for a good neighborhood, convenient to work and has the few things we require in a house. For us houses are just things to store our stuff.

We have lived in a house as long as 11 years and as short as a month. We are living in our second last house we will even buy. :) Enjoy your new house.
 

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