so far, so good, so tired

I've never had such an uneventful international plane trip. Last June we went to Spain out of JFK and spent 5 hours just waiting to take off. We actually arrived early to Moscow. Customs was a breeze and we quickly located our driver. He dropped us off at the hotel. Jim is sleeping, but I refuse. It's 2 in the afternoon! I have to hold off until at least 6 or I'll be up and ready at 2am.

Tomorrow we venture out to see a bit of city (if we don't get lost) and then fly out to Siberia at 11:30PM. It's like 67 in Siberia, be jealous.

ready? I was ready in may!!!

It's finally time to go to Russia. No really! Time like I need to be at the airport in an hour. Time like I'm going to shut my phone off so you can't call me and tell me no. Time like Jim saying "Trisha pack the computer we need to go"

For the past few weeks our minds have been consumed with a mash of houses and house related drama. However it is finally time to forget that, for now, and go meet our son. On this trip our mission is to learn more about our referral, fill out some paperwork, give him a name, and officially decide yes or no.

Russian travel plans. Friday June 30 - Friday August 6
Day one -Leave Kansas City
Day two -Arrive in Moscow, take a free shuttle to the hotel, and sleep.
Day three -Venture from the hotel to the Moscow metro, explore the city a little, take the Aeroexpress train to the other airport, and fly out to Kemerovo
Day four -Arrive in Kemerovo, do some paperwork, and drive to Novokuznetsk
Day five & six -Visit the orphanage!!!
Day seven -Fly back to Moscow and explore some more
Day eight -Fly back to Kansas

Rumor has it the Russian metro is beautiful! Crowded but beautiful. Okay, not all the stations are that beautiful but still awesome. We turned down our agency's driver and opted for the adventure. More fun. Less money. Less chance of me getting car sick.

got paint?

I met our home inspection guy, our pest control dude, and the radon testing man over at the new house today. The inspection guy found a hand full of minor things. Some wood rot on a few windows, a broken sensor on the garage door, a loose toilet, some downspouts that need to be extended, and most windows are painted shut minus one that is painted open. Ha! However, all the major really important things(heating, cooling, roof, electrical)are in good working order. The sellers will be given the list of items to repair. Oh how I love being a buyer!
The pest control dude says No bugs! Excellent because I'm not a huge fan. He recommends we pull some of the mulch away from the house because, termites are not living there now but they would love to.
The radon testing man said he would get back to me in 48 hours with the results of the test. Lets hope for a low score because radon terrifies me. If the score is above a four the sellers have agreed to install a radon mitigation system (stuff to get rid of the toxic lung cancer causing gas)


So great we are bug free and structurally stable on to the cosmetic aspect of the house. Let's just say the owners loved to paint...everything. They painted the cabinets, the trim, the doors, the fireplace, the walls, the deck, everything. Everything in the house is either white, brown, or red with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Some trim is white some is super glossy white and some is brown. Upstairs all the walls, trim, windows, and doors are an interesting shade of brown. The dining room is RED really really red. Our solution. Hire the pros to fix all the trim and doors. Unify the house with nice white trim, doors, and stair railings. When they are done I'll paint the walls. None will be red and not so many will be brown. If you don't like painting don't plan on visiting me over the next few months. If you do like painting and homemade treats well come on by. Closing is at the end of August.

If you live in the Kansas City area and have a recommendation for a painter to use or a warning about someone to not use, that would be great.

maybe the third time?

So far we have offered to purchase two homes and have gotten no where. This afternoon we went out with our agent again and saw some more potential homes. We put an offer in on one of them and will hopefully hear tomorrow morning.










The best part is the back yard. It has two big trees that are just screaming to have a hammock put between them.

it's no fun when you don't play by the rules

I've played this 'buy a house' game twice before. Here is how it goes.

1. Find a house you like
2. Research comparable houses and make an educated and reasonable offer
3. Receive a counter offer (somewhere between list price and offer price)
4. Accept the counter offer or counter back
5. Decide on a final price and both players get to celebrate once the house is under contract

As you read in the previous post we did steps 1 & 2. Today we waited for the counter offer. It was the SAME as the asking price. Lame. We offered a bit more and they said no thanks. Okay, there house has only been on the market for 6 days, but the research says...It's priced to high. Forget you hidden house #4. I will shake the dust off my sandals and move on.

Back to house #3. Sure it's not for sale any more but hey we can try right? Our agent contacted his agent and we are writing up the offer this evening. His house has been on the market for 98 days and received 0 offers and had 0 changes in price. I'm not feeling that it will work out, but you never know.

Who knew buying a house could be almost as drama filled as adopting a Russian?

and the offer goes to...

None of the houses on the list. Ha. That does not happen on the TV show, but hey this is reality. Here is the scoop...

When we sell a house it has to be inspected by our relocation agency (Jim's company) and we have to fix everything before they sign on to help us sell it. No issue can be grandfathered in due to the age of the home. So, houses 1 & 2 were cut. It's the norm in that area to have a damp basement which we are fine with, but it will show up on a home inspection and then we would have to fix it. Since this is probably not our final move we didn't want to deal with that drama.

That left house #3. Jim was really excited about it. However, we got a call from our agent that said the house went off the market. We thought wow someone snatched it right from us. Wrong! The guy selling it decided he didn't want to sell it anymore. Just like that. It's on the market for 98 days and the day before we decide to make an offer BAM the guy changes his mind.

Well lucky for us we had a hidden #4 on the list. We went back to #4 this afternoon and decided to make an offer. We looked at neighborhood list and sale prices and our agent decided that the house was listed high. We made a lower offer and are waiting to see what they say.

We prefer the offer process in Boston. As soon as you know what you are offering you call up the agent and offer over the phone. After a few offer and counter offers it's all taken care of. Just like that! Not here. It is much more formal and annoying. They have until 1:00pm to accept, decline, or counter offer.

Waiting to hear...

4 bedroom, 2 full bath, 2 half bath, a cute playroom with wood floor in the basement, and a kitchen that needs painted or stained cabinets (only because I am particular about things like that)

house hunters -kansas city

You know the show 'House Hunters' on HGTV? Well that's were I am at right now. Basically the show introduces you to a person, couple or family that is looking to buy a home. They see three homes that they could make work. You are held in suspense until then end when they revile the one they have chosen.

First off picking a house in the Kansas City area is harder than I thought it would be simply because there are too many houses and too many places to pick from. Boston, live were you can afford to. Lincoln, small so pick a nice neighborhood with a good school. Kansas, overload.

In my mind we have narrowed it down to three houses. Our real estate agent says we should see a few more houses on Wednesday. Jim agrees with her, but I'm all set. If you like something why would you keep looking it just makes the final choice even harder.

So here are our current top three, in no particular order.

1. Cape Cod style home in lovely Prairie Village. Prairie Village has good schools and is close to the Plaza area of Kansas City. It's an older neighborhood with huge trees and tons of character. The people that live in this area rave about how wonderful it is. We couldn't find anyone who would say anything negative. It's a nice house, but may have some basement issues. 3 bedroom 2 bath






2. This house is also located in Prairie Village. I love love the kitchen. Jim does not like the outside but I think paint, new shutters, and some plants could help. We both like the two car garage. 3 bedroom 2 bath and an extra room upstairs that could be an office.





3. This is a much newer house located in a newer development in Shawnee. Feels very suburban (like Lincoln) and that always scares me. I think it's too big but Jim is smitten. It has a nice kitchen and a gas stove. Cooking with fire is the best! Also, there is a small pond off to the side which kind of guarantees no other houses being built next to it. 4 bedroom and too many bathrooms







Comments welcome! We'll take all the help we can get.