Um, Seriously?

So here is some news...

• the dumpster is STILL here. Yes. Supposed to be gone Saturday "early Saturday, Mrs. Martin."
• Austin noticed that our grass is SO effed up. He figured it out - the roofer's left that crap (black roofing material) in piles in the grass BAKING all day. There are at least 12 3'x4' areas of charred grass... he's pissed.
• There's SO MANY nails in the yard. We haven't been able to mow yet.
• We haven't even broached the AC subject with them - trying to get the dumpster gone and the grass fixed first.
• We heard back from their painter. He quoted us $1,000. Yes, $1,000 for the dining room and hallway. Fuck OFF.

That is all. Contractors make me want to slit my wrists. I do have a little mini funny though... this morning Austin was leaving for work and heard someone yelling, "hey - hey man." He didn't see a person/didn't think it was for him. He started to get in his car, and heard "no - you sorry you sir - hey!" haha This guy comes running up from behind the poolhouse in painter's clothes asking Austin for a "huge favor." Can he put his mattress/box springs in our dumpster? Uh... Austin pokes his head over - it's not full at all. Sure, dude. The guy thanks him profusely and when Austin comes by for lunch it's full. I'm like HELLO Austin, it's a sign! Get his name- HE can paint our dining room/hallway! haha

We Got Punked

Austin came home at lunch to check on the roof progress. No progresss had been made. He called and they said they had gotten behind at another house, but would come over tomorrow. Um, no. When we set up the appointment we said the ONLY time we COULDN'T have them over was Thursday because I work. Sigh. So they're like we'll come next week then. Fine. Then take your dumpster and all of the shingles that were delievered that are taking up space in our driveway. They didn't like that idea. We told them Friday. The resisted - said they had another job. We told them to bump Friday's job like we were bumped or do Friday's job early on Thursday. Figure it out. They did. They'll be here Friday. Sigh.

I love West Elm.... Hate Ikea

The correct lamp from West Elm is already here... Ikea called and said the chair cover would be here within "5 to 7 days" after promising it would be here on Friday.

Honestly - we're thinking of exchanging the Harry chairs for the next level up. We've just been sitting on them and they're not that comfortable. Another $30 per chair and it's more comfortable and come on - $120 for FOUR more comfortable chairs doesn't seem that high a price to pay - thoughts?

If this is the case.... I want to know if I can take them back assembled and then get the others. Hmmmmm.

P.S. While i'm very proud of West Elm for already having the lamp here... they still haven't picked up the other one yet. It's been on our front porch since Tuesday morning...

P.S.S. "Superior" Granite and Stone finally sent a check today. Thanks assholes.

Nope...

Still haven't gotten a check or confirmation that one was sent. Supposedly it was "maybe" going to be sent Friday and he (company owner) would "double-check." This was Thursday... I never heard, never got a check so I emailed yesterday. No response. Sigh. Why are people so bad at customer relations?

On another note - I have lots more to do at home but regardless I am taking pictures today! Promises!!!

I Hate Being Dodged

We agreed to $500 with the granite people. I emailed Monday to confirm when it would be sent... i heard nothing. Emailed back Tuesday.... nothing. Note - I got GREAT responses before they installed my granite (i.e. had my $). Wednesday morning I got an email from the person who messed it all up saying it "was out of her hands" and to reach out to David (the guy who has YET to call us - owner of company) or Adriana. I emailed them both Wednesday around lunch. Thursday I had heard nothing. I waited until after lunch and emailed AGAIN asking for a response. I got one, saying it "might" have been sent but "usually" they don't send checks until Friday so they'd double-check... Um. What? You couldn't check that BEFORE writing? Argh.

Ikea Failed Me

Long story short:

• I got to Ikea at 8 p.m. to get box 2 of 2 of my bookcase that I didn't get Friday.
• I had already paid for it. I even called ahead to ensure they had it and to figure out how best to go about it.
• I left 1.5 hours later without it, but with a $30 giftcard and a waived next-day delivery and will have it between "4 and 8 p.m." tomorrow.
• I hate having to be a bitch but it was one of the most frustrating, unorganized, inefficient, situations i've ever been in. Not cool.

We Close Today!

Now if we can just get everyone on the same page... the closing documents were sent last night and they were very incorrect - BLAH. Do your jobs, people! Anyway.... i'm SO FREAKING READY for this mini nightmare to be over. Who wants to promise me things will calm down soon. Anyone? I need it to... I really do! Have I mentioned that we're SO behind packing. Like SO behind? I'm getting nervous and slightly worked up. Being behind at work AND in my personal life is just NOT working for me - eeek!

So.... we figured it out...

And we sent the amendment to address concerns with the property amendment. Basically:

We asked for the seller to pay all closing costs in the amount of $6,100
He didn't want to replace the windows so he offered to give us $900 more toward closing costs.
But we were like - we don't need more toward closing costs - you're already paying them all...
So we start thinking - how can we get the $.... maybe have him throw in lawn eqiupment or a bench or a chiminea...
Then we find out... closing costs will be more than $6,100 - homeowner's insurance wasn't included like we thought it was...
Then we wait for a quote... it ends up being $780 for the year (due that day) so only $120 left which, apparently, we owe one day of interest so there you go. We may actually OWE money instead of getting the $900.

So... good or bad?

Good: that we don't have to pay that $900 that we weren't expecting.
Bad: that are windows now won't be fixed.
Good: that the windows aren't messed up - they're fully operationally, it's just cosmetically they look messy because they have a white residue in them.
Bad: that we'll want to pay for them down the road and we'll have to pay for it with our own $900.
Good: Who cares? We'll live with them until we decide to pay for them to be replaced. It's only $450 a piece- I mean really... NOT a dealbreaker.

So... now we wait for the guy to hopefully agree to our amendment. He has until like TODAY because our due diligence ends today... ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Worst. Day. Ever.

Are you KIDDING me?! So bad... we saw 5 houses... I can't go too far into it, too depressing, but i will tell you that today was totally a waste of a day, I had no idea real people lived in such hellholes, several individuals should be sued for false advertising, and I cried. Twice. Now i'm bed, sad, and just pissed. Where do these people get off selling these crap ass places for $1,700- 2000 a month?!

House #1: Very 70's. Lots of wall paper. Bad paint job - lots of purple. LOTS of wood paneling. Fridge from the 70's. Etc. Managed to avoid all of the bad in the online pics.

House #2: Austin's car couldn't go in the driveway. Seriously. The driveway was so steep we couldn't get down it. The lady was like well I guess it won't work then and started to get in her car. I was like no, let me at least see it. It was bada$$ as far as location and it had charm - but it was SO WEIRD! The bottom floor felt like 3 bedrooms and a kitchen and the top floor felt like four bedrooms. It was small, drafty, old and odd.

House #3: Farthest out house... and not even kind of worth what they were asking. Tiny bedrooms - only the master could fit a full-size bed - and the room that fit a pool table had it's own 'heating/cooling' system, was carpeted, etc. BAD.

House #4: VERY promising. Had the most curb appeal (by far), was in a pretty good area, was definitely the most modern, etc. But the pool table would only fit in the HUGE den with vaulted ceilings, the upstairs and actual stairs had heinous carpet and the kitchen appliances were very, very dated. And they were asking $2,000 a month... that's way too much for what they didn't do... SIGH.

House #5: Worst ever. I didn't even want to get out but Austin made me. You couldn't fit a full-size bed in any of the rooms, the windows were so old you couldn't see out of them, the full basement was a glorified garage, it was just SO SO BAD.

Please note: We're not stupid people. These people just post pictures well, and won't send you any more until you go see it and by then all it's done is waste everyone's time.

So I left the 5th house crying. I'm just SO PISSED. Mostly because I called this months ago - I knew I would be unable to rent a house because they're not fixed up like apt/condos/townhomes and I'm unable to fix them up myself. But whatever. I'm like Austin, here are our options:

1. Ditch the effing pool table and rent a condo or townhome. THESE are going for reasonable prices but none fit the pool table.
2. Buy. I can't rent these POS's and live in them unable to do what needs to be done (i.e. paint, take down wood paneling, paint fireplaces, take down wallpaper, etc.).

P.S. By ditch I mean have it at his parent's house until we can buy a home it will fit in.

That's it - I know I have 5 more rentals to look at but i'm at the end of my rope and i'm livid. You may be thinking, gah - she just found them yesterday - don't get discouraged. But we've been looking for MONTHS and these 10 were simply the best out of hundreds from numerous websites/searches/etc. And the 10 best don't even kind of cut it. What a joke. What a waste of time. I'm so bitter and upset now.