Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Home Phone Canceled
FYI, we've canceled our home phone. You can reach us by our cell #'s from now on.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The situation
This blog is not just a current day update for our out of town family and friends - it's also going to be a time capsule for us to look back at one day. After reading the article below, it's no wonder our house hasn't sold.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- With home sales plunging to their lowest level in 15 years, economists warn that a double-dip in housing prices is just around the corner, threatening to further slow the overall recovery.
Existing home sales sank 27.2% in July, twice as much as analysts expected, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million units. Much of that drop is attributed to the end of the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit.
That credit brought buyers out in droves, as they tried to sign home contracts before the April 30 deadline. Now, two months later, sales are 34% below April's tax incentive-induced peak.
"Home sales were eye-wateringly weak in July," said economist Paul Dales of Capital Economics. "It is becoming abundantly clear that the housing market is undermining the already faltering wider economic recovery. With an increasingly inevitable double-dip in housing prices yet to come, things could get a lot worse."
The sales pace of all homes -- single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops -- is at the lowest since NAR began tracking the figure in 1999. Sales of single-family homes, which account for a bulk of the transactions, are at the lowest level since May 1995.
Inventory has also continued to climb, rising 2.5% to 3.98 million existing homes for sale. That represents a 12.5-month supply at the current sales pace, the highest since October 1982 when it stood at 13.8 months. A six-month of supply is considered normal.
The combination of weak demand and glut of homes has put downward pressure on prices.
And as the recession proved, the housing market and the broader economy are closely intertwined. When housing prices collapse, so does the overall wealth and confidence of Americans.
"Falling housing prices strain the overall confidence in the economy and discourage Americans from spending," Dales said. "They also mean that banks lose money on their investments and curtail lending, meaning there is less money out there to invest and boost the economy.
The NAR report showed that the median price of homes sold in July was $182,600, up 0.7% from a year ago. Just under a third of homes sold during the month were distressed properties.
Though prices have yet to fall back, Dales expects they will decline about 5% from current levels over the next six months. On the bright side, Dales said while a drop prices will put a dent in the economy recovery, it won't lead to another recession. "The bulk of the downward adjustment in housing prices has been achieved over the last several years, so we're not headed for a complete disaster," said Dales. "We're going to see a double-dip in housing prices, but not a double-dip in the overall economy."
Sales by property and region: Sales of single-family homes sank 27.1% in July compared to the prior month, while condominium and co-op sales tanked 28.1%.
The Midwest fared the worst last month, with sales dropping 35% to an annual pace of 800,000 units in July. that's 33.3% lower than a year earlier. Resales in the Northwest dropped 29.5% from the previous month to an annual pace of 620,000 units. They fell by 25% in the West and 22.6% in the South.
As the boys and I are packing up and planning to move this Saturday, Brian plans to stay here to finish out his contract. He knew as early as last week (from an unofficial source) that a new GM would be approved at the board meeting today, but until two hours prior to the meeting, no one official had given him the courtesy of notifying him. He will stay on as a "consultant" through the transition, until Nov. 20 when his contract ends. The good news is that we will maintain our current medical coverage through that time as well. We were worried about having to enroll in the SMG insurance plan, resulting in all new deductibles. That also gives him time to job search, make more connections with his industry cohorts and for us to settle the matter of the house.
We are having an open house this coming Sunday. We always thought if the house were going to sell, it would be in August. That leaves us just a few days to see that become a reality. Our next step is to move forward with a short sale request. That means we will ask our mortgage lender to approve an offer for less than we owe them. It also means a major ding to our credit. It's discouraging because we've worked hard to maintain our excellent credit rating and we're about to see it flushed down the toilet. We won't be able to get another mortgage for two to three years. On one hand, it's pretty discouraging; on the other hand, it's a way to avoid a possible foreclosure if we are not employed in the near future and able to maintain our mortgage payments. It's not our first choice, it's not a great choice, but for now it seems like the only way to go.
There are other worries of course. Primary in my mind is finding a job with health care benefits before our current coverage ends. That also means I probably won't be able to take Dylan to and from preschool as long as I'm working full-time. He's had so much anxiety and fear about moving and starting a new school, and now I'm facing tremendous guilt and anxiety myself about switching schools on him yet again. Up until this morning, I wasn't sure if I should even start him at Easter Preschool, for fear of having to pull him out within a few weeks. For now, at least, this morning's news makes me think he will at least be able to stay through the fall semester. After that...we'll have to see what happens.
Brian and I both believe in a few years we will be so glad we made this move. Though it's incredibly stressful and emotional, I believe it will work out for the best. It's just so hard getting through to that time when we are settled again in our own home with secure jobs and benefits.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- With home sales plunging to their lowest level in 15 years, economists warn that a double-dip in housing prices is just around the corner, threatening to further slow the overall recovery.
Existing home sales sank 27.2% in July, twice as much as analysts expected, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million units. Much of that drop is attributed to the end of the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit.
That credit brought buyers out in droves, as they tried to sign home contracts before the April 30 deadline. Now, two months later, sales are 34% below April's tax incentive-induced peak.
"Home sales were eye-wateringly weak in July," said economist Paul Dales of Capital Economics. "It is becoming abundantly clear that the housing market is undermining the already faltering wider economic recovery. With an increasingly inevitable double-dip in housing prices yet to come, things could get a lot worse."
The sales pace of all homes -- single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops -- is at the lowest since NAR began tracking the figure in 1999. Sales of single-family homes, which account for a bulk of the transactions, are at the lowest level since May 1995.
Inventory has also continued to climb, rising 2.5% to 3.98 million existing homes for sale. That represents a 12.5-month supply at the current sales pace, the highest since October 1982 when it stood at 13.8 months. A six-month of supply is considered normal.
The combination of weak demand and glut of homes has put downward pressure on prices.
And as the recession proved, the housing market and the broader economy are closely intertwined. When housing prices collapse, so does the overall wealth and confidence of Americans.
"Falling housing prices strain the overall confidence in the economy and discourage Americans from spending," Dales said. "They also mean that banks lose money on their investments and curtail lending, meaning there is less money out there to invest and boost the economy.
The NAR report showed that the median price of homes sold in July was $182,600, up 0.7% from a year ago. Just under a third of homes sold during the month were distressed properties.
Though prices have yet to fall back, Dales expects they will decline about 5% from current levels over the next six months. On the bright side, Dales said while a drop prices will put a dent in the economy recovery, it won't lead to another recession. "The bulk of the downward adjustment in housing prices has been achieved over the last several years, so we're not headed for a complete disaster," said Dales. "We're going to see a double-dip in housing prices, but not a double-dip in the overall economy."
Sales by property and region: Sales of single-family homes sank 27.1% in July compared to the prior month, while condominium and co-op sales tanked 28.1%.
The Midwest fared the worst last month, with sales dropping 35% to an annual pace of 800,000 units in July. that's 33.3% lower than a year earlier. Resales in the Northwest dropped 29.5% from the previous month to an annual pace of 620,000 units. They fell by 25% in the West and 22.6% in the South.
As the boys and I are packing up and planning to move this Saturday, Brian plans to stay here to finish out his contract. He knew as early as last week (from an unofficial source) that a new GM would be approved at the board meeting today, but until two hours prior to the meeting, no one official had given him the courtesy of notifying him. He will stay on as a "consultant" through the transition, until Nov. 20 when his contract ends. The good news is that we will maintain our current medical coverage through that time as well. We were worried about having to enroll in the SMG insurance plan, resulting in all new deductibles. That also gives him time to job search, make more connections with his industry cohorts and for us to settle the matter of the house.
We are having an open house this coming Sunday. We always thought if the house were going to sell, it would be in August. That leaves us just a few days to see that become a reality. Our next step is to move forward with a short sale request. That means we will ask our mortgage lender to approve an offer for less than we owe them. It also means a major ding to our credit. It's discouraging because we've worked hard to maintain our excellent credit rating and we're about to see it flushed down the toilet. We won't be able to get another mortgage for two to three years. On one hand, it's pretty discouraging; on the other hand, it's a way to avoid a possible foreclosure if we are not employed in the near future and able to maintain our mortgage payments. It's not our first choice, it's not a great choice, but for now it seems like the only way to go.
There are other worries of course. Primary in my mind is finding a job with health care benefits before our current coverage ends. That also means I probably won't be able to take Dylan to and from preschool as long as I'm working full-time. He's had so much anxiety and fear about moving and starting a new school, and now I'm facing tremendous guilt and anxiety myself about switching schools on him yet again. Up until this morning, I wasn't sure if I should even start him at Easter Preschool, for fear of having to pull him out within a few weeks. For now, at least, this morning's news makes me think he will at least be able to stay through the fall semester. After that...we'll have to see what happens.
Brian and I both believe in a few years we will be so glad we made this move. Though it's incredibly stressful and emotional, I believe it will work out for the best. It's just so hard getting through to that time when we are settled again in our own home with secure jobs and benefits.
You know you have good friends when...
Sunday evening we had an impromptu dinner with the Idstein's. Janine and I have often said that is one of the best things about our friendship. We often just get together for meals or to hang out. The husbands get along, the kids get along and the women get along.
We had a lot of laughs during the evening, recalling memories of our friendship over the last 5 years. We met when I interviewed and immediately hired Janine for a job at Wesley Willows. I was so thankful for someone around my age and was hopeful we'd become friends! I was pregnant with Dylan at the time, and Brian and I were living in a temporary apartment for the summer while the construction on our Longfellow house was completed. The day we were invited to their house for dinner was a comedy of errors. Brian accidentally locked himself out of the apartment, where he was supposed to have baked a cake for us to take. When I arrived home from a baby shower in Milwaukee, he not only hadn't baked, but also was in desperate need of a shower after spending the afternoon dozing in a lawn chair on the front porch!
We laughed over their dog Steve stealing Janine's mom's entire dinner plate at Joey's first birthday party. We recalled Joey's two-year old tantrum at Dylan's first birthday party. We amazed that the boys are now five and four and Joey is going to kindergarten.
We really laughed at the idea that the entire staff at the funeral home thinks the four of us are swingers, all because we shared a hotel room in Lake Geneva after the company outing. Rooms were hard to come by and resultingly expensive, so we split one. Boy, did we throw everyone for a loop.
And then, in the midst of all the memories, we created a few more. Or should I say, Brody created a few more. He locked himself in the bathroom and wasn't able to get out. The guys ended up taking the door knob off to free Brody, then the stubborn door knob wouldn't go back on. Later, Brody peed his pants. I should have known the first time I travled without a spare pair it would happen, especially when he was so busy playing and got distracted. No big deal; I put his undies in a ziploc in my purse, put his shorts back on him and away he went. Shortly thereafter, I sent Brian upstairs to check out the thumping coming from the bathroom. Brian discovered that Brody's Mira-Lax had taken full force, while he wasn't wearing underwear, while he was standing on the carpet in the hallway. He must have gotten scared because he proceeded to step in it and tracked the poop a few steps toward the bathroom. I used a wad of paper towel to pick up as much of the poop as I could, then threw the wad in the toilet. Janine came up behind me, saw poop in the toilet and flushed the whole wad down. Yep, you guessed it, plugged the toilet. Imagine me, using my hands and a bar of soap to wash all the poop off of Brody's butt and legs in the bath tub while Janine is next to me plunging the toilet and Brian is out in the hallway spraying carpet cleaner on the spots. Joe was manning the burgers that were pan frying because he ran out of propane for the grill.
You know you have good friends when they just laugh and say their dog has done worse. Then, when you realize your other child has his brother's poop on his leg and your friend picks him up and washes his leg off in the sink, you know you have a really good friend!
When we left that night the door know was broken and the carpet needed a good scrubbing.
We had a lot of laughs during the evening, recalling memories of our friendship over the last 5 years. We met when I interviewed and immediately hired Janine for a job at Wesley Willows. I was so thankful for someone around my age and was hopeful we'd become friends! I was pregnant with Dylan at the time, and Brian and I were living in a temporary apartment for the summer while the construction on our Longfellow house was completed. The day we were invited to their house for dinner was a comedy of errors. Brian accidentally locked himself out of the apartment, where he was supposed to have baked a cake for us to take. When I arrived home from a baby shower in Milwaukee, he not only hadn't baked, but also was in desperate need of a shower after spending the afternoon dozing in a lawn chair on the front porch!
We laughed over their dog Steve stealing Janine's mom's entire dinner plate at Joey's first birthday party. We recalled Joey's two-year old tantrum at Dylan's first birthday party. We amazed that the boys are now five and four and Joey is going to kindergarten.
We really laughed at the idea that the entire staff at the funeral home thinks the four of us are swingers, all because we shared a hotel room in Lake Geneva after the company outing. Rooms were hard to come by and resultingly expensive, so we split one. Boy, did we throw everyone for a loop.
And then, in the midst of all the memories, we created a few more. Or should I say, Brody created a few more. He locked himself in the bathroom and wasn't able to get out. The guys ended up taking the door knob off to free Brody, then the stubborn door knob wouldn't go back on. Later, Brody peed his pants. I should have known the first time I travled without a spare pair it would happen, especially when he was so busy playing and got distracted. No big deal; I put his undies in a ziploc in my purse, put his shorts back on him and away he went. Shortly thereafter, I sent Brian upstairs to check out the thumping coming from the bathroom. Brian discovered that Brody's Mira-Lax had taken full force, while he wasn't wearing underwear, while he was standing on the carpet in the hallway. He must have gotten scared because he proceeded to step in it and tracked the poop a few steps toward the bathroom. I used a wad of paper towel to pick up as much of the poop as I could, then threw the wad in the toilet. Janine came up behind me, saw poop in the toilet and flushed the whole wad down. Yep, you guessed it, plugged the toilet. Imagine me, using my hands and a bar of soap to wash all the poop off of Brody's butt and legs in the bath tub while Janine is next to me plunging the toilet and Brian is out in the hallway spraying carpet cleaner on the spots. Joe was manning the burgers that were pan frying because he ran out of propane for the grill.
You know you have good friends when they just laugh and say their dog has done worse. Then, when you realize your other child has his brother's poop on his leg and your friend picks him up and washes his leg off in the sink, you know you have a really good friend!
When we left that night the door know was broken and the carpet needed a good scrubbing.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Going Away Party
On Saturday evening, our dear friends Janine and Joe hosted a going away party for us at Olive Kitchen & Cocktails, our favorite bar.
Janine had coordinated with Raun, our bartender, who set everything up before we arrived. I even had a special martini glass to drink from that night!
The Saturday special was the "M-tini", my favorite martini. It involved raspberry puree, some sort of vodka and is topped off with champagne. Mmmm. Raun developed it just for me and made it the special for the evening to help the budget! :)
That's Raun. Pouring the champagne topper into my special glass.
Here's the whole group, with the exception of a few people who arrived early and had already left, or a few who came later. It was a great evening and we definitely felt the love. It's hard to believe that we won't be seeing these people on a daily basis soon. The true friendships will last and I'll remember the others with a smile on my face and warm memories in my heart.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
T-Ball Team Photo
Here is the team photo, with coach Daddy. Dylan is in the front row, second from the left.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Boone County Fair
Likely for the last time, we enjoyed visiting the Boone County Fair with our friend's Nate and Erin Berry. This was our fifth year together! They have a new addition, five month old Lucy, who is just a pleasure to be around.
It was HOT day, but we visited the animal barns while the sun was at it's peak, and as the sun set, it was a relatively pleasant evening.
Brody has no sense of fear, or at least it seems that way. He gets right up to the cage, pen or glass case and peers inside. Here, he was watching the newly hatched chicks.
Dylan has never been a big fan of the petting zoo, but Brody doesn't seem to mind animals who are just his height. This night however, the animals were super aggressive and even chased Brody around the pen as he tried to run away!
We played our favorite carnival game, the Rat game. A rat is under a collander in the middle of a big round table that spins. When the carnie lifts up the strainer, the rat runs into a hole in the color of his choosing (or more likely, just the first hole it can escape in!). They are not cruel to the rat, and even let the boys pet it this year.
After that, the kids ate ice cream for dinner. They refused the corn on the cob (imagine that!) because they wanted ice cream. This is the one time a year I let them eat ice cream for dinner. This is Dylan, hopped up on ice cream and cotton candy:
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Our little model
The result of Dylan's "modeling shoot" is part of a slideshow on this website:
http://www.catchthewaveswim.com/
What a handsome little man!
http://www.catchthewaveswim.com/
What a handsome little man!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Super Herio's
Yes, that's right, Super Herio's. That's the way Dylan pronounces "hero." He doesn't mis-pronounce many things any more, but he insists the word is "herio."
I found a tutorial online for the set of masks/capes. Diane and I made the masks together weekend before last, and she gave me some good tips for sewing the capes. This afternoon I was able to finish both capes.
Dylan, I mean Superman, was more than willing to let me take pictures of him all dressed up.
Here are both of my Super Herio's
Ready to fly away!
Super Brody didn't want me to take any more pictures.
Super Brody is on his sixth day of wearing big boy undies. He has been doing pretty well. He has little accidents each day, mostly when he's too busy doing something to take a break. The accidents are easy enough to deal with generally. This morning I took the boys to Sapora, the indoor playworld, and Brody pooped his undies...twice. Ugh. The most dreaded part of potty training. He'll get there eventually!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)