Canoeing

I met Carrie and Kevin at the University of Washington Water Activities Center, just south of Husky Stadium, where we rented a canoe and paddled around the 520 bridge and Arboretum area. In all the time I lived in Seattle I never did this, so they offered to take me along with them.

We picked up our canoe, lifejackets, and oars, and rowed across to the bridge. The water traffic in the area is high, as the WAC lets out right before the Montlake Cut, which connects Lake Washington to Lake Union. Lots of motorboats use this to get to the Ballard Locks and then out into Puget Sound. Today was a sunny, warm day so it was crowded.

It was pretty tough to paddle in a straight line, we certainly could use more practice. We zig-zagged our way into some small channels where we looked for birds. One group of ducks literally came chasing after us, hoping for food! We had some preztels we crumbled and fed them for a few minutes.

Hungry Ducks


We also saw some turtles napping on a log, warming in the sun. I wished I had a zoom lens because we couldn't get any closer without spooking them.

Turtles



After circling around a small island, we pushed east along 520 towards a sculpture I've seen hundreds of times from the bridge: the Nellie Cornish Sculptures (this article mentions them in the last paragraph).

Sculpture


We had to row through a dense field of lily pads to get there - they made an interesting scraping sound as our metal canoe slid over them.

Lily Pads



I tried to get a nice macro close up of a lily flower, but it was challenging. First there was the gentle movement of the boat from drift and waves. Then, my leaning over to get the camera close to the flower would unbalance the canoe. I had to hurry to take this photo as the boat was rotating slightly and the flower would be in shadow soon. At the same time, I didn't want to rip it from its stem to take the picture at my leisure in the canoe.

Lily



After this we crossed back to the north side of 520 to gawk at the homes along Sand Point, and then made our way back in after a nice two hour canoe trip.

House Cooling

Today I threw myself a going-away party, and invited my closest friends. Most were able to make it and the proverbial good time was had by all. At least, I think so. ;)

At my house-warming, I grilled shish kebabs. I was lazier this time around and just bought party platter from Subway. I made homemade ice cream which seemed to be a hit all around. I tried to take pictures of everybody who attended, but I missed a few. Looks like I'll have to visit later to get those missing pictures!

I received some fun going away presents: SPF 30 sunscreen, a "Life is Good" triathlon shirt and Ironman socks, and a gorgeous picture of Mount Rainier. I'll frame that and display it along with the Seattle cityscape I bought! Another cute gift was a volleyball signed by the members of my league team, Reeking Havoc.

In an unrelated note, today is the one year anniversary of this blog. Hard to imagine... I started this up for fun, not really expecting to keep it going for very long. It's been enjoyable and not too difficult to find something to write about. Of course, that is because I'm not exactly producting high-minded commentary on society - this is pretty much just what I'm up to. After IMCdA is over, I will merge my training blog back into this one, but only report training on a weekly basis. Daily reports would be mind numbing for most people, and it was getting to me as well. ;)

Home Offer

I decided to meet the seller's sale price. The home is very close to what I am looking for, so rather than wait and keep looking, I'll just get it. So the home purchase effort is moving forward, into the loan approval phase. This means I have a bunch of documents to gather and fax to the mortgage broker in Florida.

Since the seller didn't budge on the asking price, I'll be a stickler on the home inspection - if something non-cosmetic needs fixing, I will insist it be taken care of before I move in.

There isn't much I don't like about the home (yeah yeah, double negative). My current home has a separated den area, good for home theater, TV, and exercise gear. The Florida house has a more open architecture. My bedrooms in my current home are on the highest floor and are a bit insulated from noise. In the Florida house, the master bedroom leads off of the breakfast nook. Overall, without custom designing a floor plan, this one was good enough for me.

Another Home Scenario

I met with my realtor, and we looked at some comps in the neighborhood. She had a methodology where we calculated the price per square foot of comparable homes, and arrived at the conclusion that $315K was a reasonable bid. Of course, the expectation is getting a counter-offer of something in between - $320K for instance.

However, the seller didn't budge at all and refused to move from $325K. The difference between my expected mortgage payments on $325K and $315K are roughly $50 a month, and the difference between $325K and $320K is only $25 a month. The difference isn't huge, and the impact on a monthly payment is minor, but I find it irritating the seller refuses to budge at all.

When I looked at the house again, the seller mentioned he and his wife found new jobs near Miami, and are eager to move and get settled before their kids start school in the fall. He said he could pack and clear out in as little as two weeks, which is plenty early given the closing process takes longer than that. The home has been on the market for a month, received one offer but the financing fell through. It gets quite a bit of foot traffic from realtors, but no other offers as of yet.

Now I do like the home and am not really planning to use this information against them, but again, the refusal to budge is a bit much. Mostly because it makes me think, what if something comes up on the home inspection report? Will the seller also refuse to fix a minor problem? The home did appraise for $325K, so perhaps the seller is confident he can get a full-price offer.

Fortunately, I haven't become so attached to the property that I must have it. I am equally confident I can find a home equally desirable to me. I may decide to accept the terms anyway, because I do like many things about the house, but I am considering another scenario with my second choice. This is the home with the cute colorful garden I took a picture of two days ago.

This home is a little farther away from work, and the entrance to the subdivision crosses a railroad line, which raises the potential of waiting for a train to pass while coming or going. But, it is $50K cheaper and has a reasonable floor plan. It has no pool...

... but that open up another interesting possibility. My realtor says a pool costs about $40K to add to a home, but only adds about $25K in value. Thus, buying a home with a pool is more cost effective than adding one. However, the kind of pool I could add is a little cheaper - an Endless Pool. Triathletes and swimmers everywhere are already familiar with this, but for others, this is basically a pool with a circulation system, which creates a current. I could do useful swimming in this kind of pool, training at home so to speak. I thought this kind of pool was expensive ($20K+) but apparently it is cheaper than a regular pool! I could install it above ground in my second choice's Florida Room, and even disassemble it to take with me should I move. To be honest, I evaluated every home I looked at for Endless Pool space. ;) Several had screened patios that were easily large enough!

My second choice has been on the market for nearly two months, and is already vacant. Thus, the sellers would be so-called "motivated" and I could likely shave a little bit off the asking price. Of course, the calculating logical part of me is already noting that if they had a tough time selling, I likely would as well should the need arise. Overall, my second choice home does have a few drawbacks.

My options are to 1) accept $325K for my first choice, 2) move to offering on my second choice, or 3) just waiting for later. I'll continue thinking this over, and might as some coworkers if they have any input on either subdivision. The fact is I'm leaning towards #1. The home has been shown to appraise for the asking price, which isn't really that bad.

What I'll do is sleep on it, and do some property searches to get another picture of what is selling.

Banking Issues

I've banked with Wells Fargo for a few months now, and am a satisfied customer. Because my current mortgage is with them, I automatically qualify for the fancy checking account and free online bill pay. The only snag in what otherwise is a great experience banking with them is... there are no branches of Wells Fargo in Florida. Since I will be relocating to Florida soon, this presents a problem.

I'm currently out of town, and earlier today I was filling out paperwork from a title insurance company in Washington. The form requests various account numbers, and since I didn't have a chance to fill it out before leaving, I brought along copies of recent statements. As I was filling out the form, I noticed my mortgage account numbers were requested. Unfortunately, I didn't notice this and didn't dig up those statements to bring along.

I thought, no big deal, I can check online! I logged in and looked at my account, and discovered the online statements don't contain the full account numbers - the last three digits were X'd out.

So I called up Wells Fargo mortgage, explaining that I was out of town and needed my account numbers for a form. The polite lady told me it was against policy to give out account numbers over the phone. She suggested I go to a branch office and request in person. I responded that I was currently in Florida, where there are no branches of Wells Fargo. Silence... and she apologized for not being able to help.

Now I can understand this policy, but in a larger sense, it highlights a problem I will have unless I switch banks: if I cannot transact all business with my bank over the phone or website, then I cannot continue banking with Wells Fargo, as I can't very well enter a local branch when there are none.

So, I'm looking into switching banks. I'm in the middle of getting pre-approved for a mortgage in FL while selling a house in WA, so now isn't the time for switching banks. But perhaps I can open another account but not switch over until later. I will ask tomorrow when I meet with a mortgage consultant if opening another account is OK.

Ironically, the bank I am considering is Washington Mutual, a bank founded in Seattle, which also has branches in Florida. Thus I might conveniently open an account in my remaining days in Washington and be able to continue banking after I move.

As for my mortgage account info, I talked to the mortgage consultant I am meeting tomorrow, and explained the issue. He cheerfully offered to read me the account numbers off the credit report he ran on me! He did caution that sometimes these reports contain partial account numbers, but it didn't seem likely as each account number was 12+ digits, and a superset of what I could get online. I decided I could use those account numbers until I get home and verify them.

House Hunting

House hunting is going well. Today I revisited my top two choices from yesterday, and drove to Winter Park, FL to look at a townhome.

My top choice is this home:




A brief description of the floor plan: left and right of the open entryway are the dining room and living room. Behind the entry hallway, the kitchen, breakfast nook, and den are open to each other. The master bedroom is off the breakfast nook, while the two bedrooms are off a hallway leading past the dining room and utility room, which leads to the garage. The master bedroom and den open onto the screened patio where the pool is. The home has a few ceiling fans, and a combination of tile and carpet floors.

I've noticed several themes in the newer (1995 and more recent) construction here: high ceilings (10 or 12 feet tall), and shelves above closets. The shelves are formed by the gap between the height of the closet and the ceiling. This particular home had a row of stuffed animals sitting on such a shelf, in the kid's room! Also, it is common to see walls that don't reach the ceiling, creating an air gap, but only between common rooms (dining room to living room and/or den to kitchen). I surmise this is to promote air circulation and help cool things down.

This home matches what I want the best of all the homes I've seen: close to work, new/recent construction, screened pool area, right price range, plus many intangibles in real estate such as decent floor plan and general appearance. It is also in a gated community, Woodbridge Lakes.

Pool


The rage here in central Florida is gated communities. Half of the subdivisions, especially newer ones, are gated, for whatever reason. This of course means belonging to a homeowner's association and paying dues for shared maintenance items. For example, since the road isn't publically accessible, the HOA is responsible for upkeep. In addition it means having some rules and covenenants to follow, but they don't look too onerous.

I called up a local mortgage broker to start that process up. Even if I decide not to put an offer on this home I'll need to have my loan paperwork in order.

Pools and Lawns

I spent the afternoon with a realtor, driving around and looking at a few properties in Lake Mary and Heathrow. We saw a total of eight homes, and if it weren't for the simple floorplan sketches I made, they all would have blended together.

Before my trip, I was set against getting a home with a pool, because I thought pools would be maintenance time sinks. However, many properties here have pools and they do enhance the resale value of the home, so I would be limiting my choices by avoiding pool homes. As for maintenance time, several co-workers insisted taking care of a pool isn't that much work at all. After talking to several, I learned:

• Everybody recommended a pool, as a way to beat the heat. Even one coworker that didn't use his much thought it was a good idea, because it is easier to care for than the mowing the yard space it takes up.
  
• Having a screened enclosure keeps bugs and debris away. An open-air pool is a lot more work.
  
• Buying a robot pool cleaner is also highly recommended. I had no idea there were such things!
  
• Do not fall behind on pool cleaning. If you do, and the water turns cloudy and green, it will take a huge amount of work to restore the pool water to be safe again.
  
• Finally, you can always get a pool service.
  

Pool maintenance boils down to this: run the robot all day Friday, for general pool cleaning. Sunday evening or Monday, dump in the chemicals to clean the water and keep the pH balance. You can bring in water samples to pool stores and they'll measure it and tell you how many scoops of whatever to dump in. Once a month, clean the filter. That doesn't sound too bad...

... compared to mowing the lawn. The grass here (St. Augustine) is apparently a genetic mutant hardened to survive tropical conditions. When it rains, the grass soaks up as much as possible and grows noticeably overnight. The blades are thick and sharp and dense. Everybody laughed when I said I had a push reel mower - apparently I'd need to mow every other day to combat the grass. One coworker specifically mentioned getting a 5 horsepower mower - I'm not sure how powerful that is in the lawn mower scheme of things, but since he went through the trouble of specifying mower power, I'm thinking that is a beefy mower.

An interesting fact is palm trees are monocotyledons, making them a closer relative of grass than other trees. Grass and palm trees are in class Liliopsida, but are in different orders (poales versus arecales). Obviously, you don't mow palm trees. ;)

Garden

A cute little garden outside one home I looked at.