We finally closed on Friday, 20.Nov.2020.

It was not a straightforward thing. We were supposed to get the clear to close on Wednesday 18.Nov.2020, so our realtor set up the meeting at the title company for Friday, 20.Nov. Nothing but crickets from the lenders, so I asked my loan officer what’s up. He had no clue until later that day.

Apparently the appraiser put “outbuildings” while the FHA Consultant put “outbuilding.” The underwriters were having a conniption fit over an S, so they held it up for 3 days.

We didn’t get the clear to close until 1002 on Friday, but we didn’t get the amount to wire (if over $10k) or get the certified bank cheque (if under $10k).

We met back up at the flat just after noon for a quick lunch, but we still didn’t have the numbers for the cash to close. We had to leave at 1300 to make it to our meeting, and we had to get petrol and either get the cheque or wire before we left.

We took a gamble, leaving at 1300 to get petrol. We figure if we left then, we might get to Greenfield early and in enough time to hit up the bank if they finally got us the numbers.

As we pulled into the gas station and turned off engine, the loan officer called and the realtor sent a flurry of texts ─ both with the information we needed.

It was a rush to make it to the bank, get the wire transfer, then make the 40 minute drive to title office. We pulled into the parking lot exactly on time.

First Trip Out

We made our first trip out two days later on Sunday because work and food prepping for the week had us tied up Saturday. After a hearty breakfast, we packed the car up as much as we could with things we didn’t mind if they got moist or a mouse broke into the box, some cleaning supplies, tools, and a new lock for the garage where we’ll store a few things while renovations are going on.

While Travis changed the lock on the garage, I unloaded the car, matched the doors to 24 new keys we were given, and ran in circles trying to get my bearings around the house.

Eventually, we discovered all the keys that had matching doors, several that didn’t have any doors they went to, and that the skeleton key they gave us didn’t actually work for dining room door.

Travis ran around counting windows that will be replaced (22 out of 37), seeing what new things happen when it rains for a week (oh, the basement floods ─ because it seeps through the cement wall), and shut off the water and turned on the baseboard heating just enough to not freeze the pipes till renovations take place.

Me? I started on my first project:

These will get moved to the barn, which will be the lab.

My first task is to remove the cabinets from the kitchen. There are more above, so it’s going to be an interesting task. I removed all the doors and took out the drawers. I noticed a lot of mouse droppings, some old dog food, a crock pot lid, a random wrench (yes, it’s the infamous 10mm) and a screwdriver. I also noticed that they ran the Romex wire from floor, through the cabinets, then up to the wall outlets─ on the outside of the wall. Oh, and the plumbing wasn’t even aligned with the drain.

I’m soooo glad we are ripping out the drywall to change out the insulation and a vapour barrier. I fully expect to find more mouse droppings along that wall on the inside.

That’s all we managed to get done in a 4 hour afternoon.

On the next trip it will be much colder, but I hope that I can finish this cabinet project while Travis rips out the old vents. We’re updating those — and it’s a good thing too. Whatever trash lived there before us didn’t let their dogs out often, and there is currently dried piss in the vents. How the hell they lived like that I’ll never know. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know anyone that can mistreat and abuse animals like that lest I kill them.

Regardless of previous tenants, we’ll take this place and turn it into the old gem it is.