We went house-hunting on Saturday. It was quite an experience. The realtor was super nice and really helpful. The first house we went to was listed at $194,900. They are never going to sell it for that much. The lady had died so it went to someone in her family and now they're trying to sell it. It was a dump. Big HUGE cracks in the walls, smelly carpet, really outdated kitchen, tiny bedrooms, and appliances from the 50s. It was a big fixer upper. Daniel and I immediately said no way. For as much money as we would have to put into it, it would have to be listed at $150,000. And I don't think we're prepared for that much work anyways. The second house was listed at $195. It was a short sale and they have been sitting on an offer that was put in in October. Still no deal. They weren't accepting any new offers. We mostly went for comparison purposes. It still needed a lot of work, but not nearly as much as the first house. It was definitely a possibility for us if it was still available. There was this horrible green shag carpeting and the kitchen cabinets looked like they belonged in the garage, but at least it had two good-sized bedrooms. The third house was luxurious compared to the first two, and it was cheaper! $189. The guy had listed it in November, so it's been on the market for a while. He's dropped the price three times. There was new carpeting in the entire house, nice tile in the kitchen and bathrooms, and fairly new appliances. The bedrooms were really tiny, and one of the bathrooms was, but it was beautiful compared to the other two. The one big downside was that there was no garage or driveway. The people that owned the house knocked out the wall to make the living room bigger and landscaped over the driveway. I thought that a garage wasn't that important and I would rather have a bigger living room, but Daniel wasn't thrilled. We will definitely keep our eyes on that house though. It's a real possibility.
All three houses were in a neighborhood that's really nice less than 10 minutes driving from campus. That's the neighborhood that Dainel and I really want to live in. After talking to the realtor, we learned a lot about the whole process. She said that short sales are really difficult. They take up to 6 months or more to go through, and at the last minute they could completely decline your offer and your back at square one. It's also hard to negotiate the price because all the banks are arguing over their share of the money. A regular house that's being sold by the owner usually closes in about 30 days. She told us that we'll get a better deal the sooner we buy because there will be less competition from other buyers. I'm really trying to convince Daniel and his parents to buy it sooner rather than later. I would really love to buy it a few weeks before school gets out so we can get it ready and then move in right after finals. Originally, Daniel's parents wanted to put in offer in in June or July and not have it ready until school starts again. But I think that once they realized that Hope and I would pay rent all summer, and they might get a better deal by buying earlier, they will consider moving the process up a little. We found two more houses we want to take a look at this weekend and we'll go from there. This is such a frustrating process. I'm terrified that we're going to end up living in a dump with no money to fix it up or even buy decent furniture. I don't even care if it's new furniture, I just want it to be clean and in good condition and maybe even match a little. So at this point we are going to try to spend as little money as possible in Europe and spend what's less on the house. We're starting from absolutely nothing, so we'll need a bed and kitchen table at the bare minimum.
Today I had quite an experience with my health insurance/doctor's office. I had a regular old checkup in October and since then I have been fighting with my insurance company and the doctor's office about the bill. It was considered "preventive medicine" so it should have been completely covered, but somehow I ended up with a bill for $250! I called the insurance company and they said it looks like two different doctors billed me for the same thing. The first one was covered, but the second one I was being billed for because I'm not allowed two annual checkups in one calendar year. I definitely had only one checkup. They told me to call the doctor's office to take off the second charge. Then I called the doctor's office and they said that their records only showed one bill. They had no record of the second doctor billing for the checkup. So finally I got both on the line at the same time, and they worked it out. I couldn't follow anything they were saying. At the end, they decided that the claim was filed wrong so they are going to re-process it. I swear, if I get a bill for the same amount I am going to scream. This is ridiculous. If I, an educated, intelligent person cannot figure out all this medical billing crap, how is anyone else supposed to. I mean someone who didn't speak english or doesn't know enough to call and question the charge would just end up paying $250 they didn't have to because of someone else's mistake. It's so stupid. Well I am NOT paying it. And that horrible thing is that at the end of the month, it would have been sent to collections. It's not my fault they can't get it right! But my credit would have been ruined because of it.
I finally got some letters from Aaron. Actually, they were sent to my parents and they scanned them into the computer and emailed them to me. I don't really know what to think. It sounds absolutely torturous to me. Being far away from home, being told every second of the day what to do, being yelled at and forced to do pushups and stuff.... it sounds awful. But Aaron said that he likes it and he's really proud to be serving the country. I'm proud of him too. I have never known anyone in the military and now I can say that my brother is serving our country. And I can't wait until he comes back from the defense language institute. When he's finished, he will be pretty high up and very important to the country. I wrote him a long letter and sent him an engagement announcement. I don't think he knew about it before he left. I also sent him some "Dunder-Mifflin" newsletters that I got off NBC's website. I know he doesn't get to watch the office, so I thought he would like reading that anyways.
I hope it doesn't snow again tomorrow. The forecast says snow tomorrow, and Thursday. It will never end.
1 comment:
i feel the same way about companies screwing over people. I feel like i am constantly on the phone telling people they are taking my money when they shouldnt. I dont understand how people just pay their bills with out looking at them.
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