We have HEAT!

I was really starting to doubt whether the electrician would come out to fix my heat. Last week, my inspector walked me through the steps to troubleshoot my "broken" heater. When the fan wouldn't turn on (which isn't related to the furnace at all), he concluded that it was an electrical problem. Since the fan and heater were fine during inspection, he figured that the electrician had knocked something loose when he updated the wiring.

I have a home warranty, but the inspector recommended that I try to get the electrician to come back since he knew exactly what he did. Now that was a challenge! The electrician didn't leave a paper trail b/c he had done all the work as a favor to the previous owner.

So I reached out to my agent, to the listing agent, to the former owner, to the electrician. And they eventually did respond--after several warm, cold, and warm nights--that the electrician would email/call and come either Friday or Saturday.

I never heard anything, but thank goodness I was home tonight. It was the first time someone knocked unexpectedly, so I was a little spooked. But it was the electrician!! Now that's a real sign of character. Really, what kind of motivation did he have to come back?

He went at it and found the solution quickly. The internal switch in the furnace is constructed funny with wires all criss-crossed, so he had accidentally disconnected the wire to the switch! And lickety split, I have heat! Yay!!

So this is what home ownership is all about.

Induction Stove

I used my stove for the first time today! An induction stovetop! It was really exciting to see the circle turn bright red, and then get really, really hot. And then stay hot. I guess all stoves stay hot after you turn them off, but it's nice (actually, essential) that this stove has that red button that stays lit as long as the stovetop is hot.

I don't have a dining table yet, so you can see the creative solution! :)

I'm slowly moving into my kitchen. The motivation is definitely getting rid of the clutter and boxes in every corner of the house. The best thing about this house is the kitchen. Tons of cabinet space and really open floorplan. I'll show more photos once it gets more settled in!

Power On!

But Georgia Power not good in my book!

Dark and Hungry, but not Too Cold

I am sitting in the dark, waiting for Georgia Power to come back and turn my power back on. They consciously, that’s right—on purpose—turned off my power earlier today while fulfilling the power disconnection from the previous owners, but failed to start up my service.

Imagine the surprise when I got home and I couldn’t turn my lights on! At least the Georgia Power guy was on the phone was helpful (after I got through all the annoying automatic voice prompts), although powerless. At least he figured out the issue and said someone was coming right away. Only, that was an hour ago.

OK, I just called back, and the woman said that someone would be out here in two hours. This sucks. Plus, I’m still waiting on my heat to get fixed.

While I was waiting on my front doorstep for the power guy, the cheekiest thing happened with the local fauna. A raccoon sauntered over from around my car, and then a second quickly popped his head out from underneath. One dug around my yard, while the other came brazenly close to me, peering out at me expectantly for a handout. Uh-uh! After a few minutes and nothing interesting, they finally left. Grrrrreat.

Presents!

I haven't had a housewarming party (and it's probably at least 3-5 months off, given the state of things and the onset of winter, aka hibernation), but I've already had a few warm tidings of welcome. Haven't met my neighbors yet, but I've gotten a few gift cards for Target, Home Depot, and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. More cards to Home Depot and Lowe's welcome!

Yesterday, Alex and I went to the Chopstix for Charity fundraising gala, sponsored by the National Association of Asian American Professionals' (NAAAP) Atlanta chapter. Now that I'm settling in and getting to know my community, I can see myself getting more involved in this organization, as well as the Decatur community and the refugee community of Clarkston next door.

NAAAP is definitely geared more towards the young professional sector of Atlanta's APIA community, reflected in the evening's semi-formal casino theme, DJs, and live music. The event overall was well-done, and all proceeds go to charity. Alex and I even won raffle prizes each, quite fittingly, golf certificates for him and a complete garden kit from Home Depot for me!

This this is heavy. Big ceramic pot, water hose, gardening tools, tarps, hummingbird feeder and food, birdseed, and Miracle Gro. I'll be thinking all during my hibernation about that partial sun/shady garden and how to make it blossom and grow. I see elephant ears, hydrangeas, rose bushes in the future of my grey one.

Moved in & Spending

And stimulating the economy. Now, send me that federal tax credit, and maybe I'll stimuate some more.

Today was IKEA day. Yes, IKEA. I had thought long ago that moving into my 30s, with my first house, I would also move up in consumerism. You know, less H&M and IKEA, and more Nordstrom's and Pottery Barn (if you can call that moving up, but you get what I mean).

But the allure of IKEA was too great, after having depleted my cash store and feeling rather exuberant in my multiple rooms. IKEA has some really great sturdy and well-contructed finds, but also some flimbsy stuff that's not worth the time or effort.

I have upgraded to a low chest of 6 drawers, graduating from my hanging plasticloth shelves. That's probably by biggest (and heaviest) find for the day, plus a few nice things for the kitchen.

More and more... Day 3 in the house, and it's starting to feel, look, and smell more like my own.

Move-in Day

Not bad, not bad. I rented a 10' moving truck today to move all my big items with some help from friends. Now I have a few boxes, all my clothes, and the food in refrigerator left to go. And oh, these two heavy wooden chairs that'll probably take one trip of its own.

The house is starting to feel a little bit more like my own now that my stuff is filling up the place. The only problem right now is that I can't figure out how to turn on the heater. The gas was turned on today, but I can't figure out how to get the darn thing on. At least today has been warmer than the last week or so.

Packed? Not really

Bedroom 1, Bathroom 1,

Closets 2.5, Kitchen 0.5, Living Room 0.5

Boxes, 0

Ellen, -5

4 Days and 2 Yellow Rooms Later

And I thought painting was supposed to be the easy part. After finishing up the last of the pre-move painting and cleaning out all the brushes, I packed away all my clutter and made the space ready for the cleaning lady to come through tomorrow morning to go through the deepest crevices of this old house to make it new!

I've never hired a cleaning lady before, but have just learned that I do not need to stay for the duration of the cleaning. Well, who would lock up? I'm just getting paranoid.

I left the house feeling somewhat morose. It was dark (at night), cold (gas won't be turned till Thursday), and empty (well, I'm not moved in yet). The house didn't feel like my own, and I was sad.

And spooked.

Painting Status

Oh I wish it was as easy as "paint one day and move in the next" with my splendid no-VOC paints. But no! The setup took so long, e.g., figuring out the supplies, buying the supplies, getting help, priming, waiting, drying, eating, sleeping... oh wait.

So my ambitious weekend of getting everything painted has resulted in 2.5 primed rooms and only one with color.

At least I've chosen most of my colors. My brain wanted me to stay sensible (e.g., beiges, taupes, creams) , but I couldn't hold in my love for yellow!! Besides, my house gets so little direct sun that I need warm and light colors to brighten up the place, so I've opted for "vanilla wafer" yellow and "crumb cookie" white, with "april sky" blue.

I took a color/style quiz on at the Ethan Allen website, which says my style is Global and Estate. I guess that's about right, i.e., eclectic.

Green Paint

Not the color. But good for the environment and good for me.

I am committed to living as green as I can. This is nothing new for me, dating back to my days of obsessing over the three R's in middle school and insisting on composting and recycling paper for my high school science projects (no one was all that interested) .

I am ecstatic about the widespread availability of no-VOC (volatile organic compounds) and non-toxic paints these days. Now I can paint one day and move in the next day without worrying about headache-inducing fumes, odorless or not. A lot of people put this to neo-liberal hype, but if I'm going to be living, eating, and sleeping in this big enclosed box, I want the interior paint to be as safe as possible.

A lot of mainstream paint brands are coming out with their own green lines, but they're priced at about $30 per gallon (vs. $20 or so for regular). That's why I was so delighted to find an affordable green line with Olympic Premium Interior Paints, which

includes a wide range of color selections, unlike many other green lines.

In addition, Lowe's is having a 20% off sale on Olympic paints until October 19th. I don't know how they're able to keep this brand so affordable at $20, but with the discount, each gallon is only $12/16 (flat/semi-gloss). Pretty impressive. I bought 8 gallons of no-VOC Olympic primer ($12/gal) this morning to get started.

Changing the Locks

Yesterday's post left out the fact that the whole day wasn't rosy. That would've been too good to be true! The evening ended with a splat, actually, more of a thud, when I got possession of the home and tried to change the locks first thing.

First of all, the seller's agent had left the lockbox on the front door know. No, not suspicious at all bringing a doorknob to change the locks with that thing on it.

Second, I could hardly open the locks at all and figure out which of the two keys when to which locks. On top of that, there's a third door to the house that had a mystery lock with no key that I could find anywhere. Strange. At least all the locks came out pretty easily with a simple screwdriver. I had a bag for each set so I wouldn't get the parts confused.

There are two ways to go about changing locks.

1. Cheap way - Keep the existing locks and have them re-keyed, but you will need both the original key that fits into the lock and a new key. Only $5 per lock.
2. Expensive way - Buy all new locks. The deadbolt/knob sets are cheaper than buying the parts separately. The sets I was looking at ran $15-70, depending on sturdiness and finish.

My friend had given me a new key, but unfortunately, they were of different brands, so wouldn't work. So I just ended up getting brand new locks, but still had to get one set re-keyed to the others.

Both my friend and I had similar problems in finding a store with key-making services. Only three Home Depot stores in the metro Atlanta area provide this service: Tucker, Buckhead, and Midtown. I ended up going to the Lowe's on Chamblee because I wanted to get their no-VOC paint (next post). However, one must note that Lowe's only offers this key service if you buy the lock there (not one one you just bring in, like Home Depot). Anyway, Lowe's also has 10% coupons for people moving, which is a really nice incentive with all these pre-moving home improvement projects. Ugh, the agony!!

Utilities & Georgia Car Stuff

This morning proved to be the best four hours of annual leave used ever, to get all of this stuff out of the way in one fell swoop. Since I got possession of the home today, I definitely wanted to have all the utilities transferred over today to avoid any break in service. And it was about time I became an official Georgian.

Georgia Driver's License

The first thing to do was get my Georgia driver's license squared away since every other task today--specifically the car title registration--would be dependent on having a valid DL. There are five offices of the Georgia Department of Driver Services in the metro Atlanta area: Decatur-South DeKalb Mall, North Cobb-Canton Rd (Marietta), Lithonia, Lawrenceville, and Locust Grove.

I chose to visit the Decatur-South DeKalb Mall branch, which is literally inside the mall at 2801 Candler Road, Decatur, GA 30034. The office is open 7:30am-6:30pm M-F and 7:30am-12pm Saturdays. You can even make an appointment for certain types of transactions, like an out-of-state transfer (like me), but only between 9am and 2pm. Luckily, the lines aren't very long on an early Thursday morning.

The process is simple. You get in line for the receptionist who'll make sure you have all the documentation and forms you need. You then get a number and wait. To transfer my out-of-state DL for a Georgia DL, I needed my:

• Valid out-of-state DL
• Proof of Georgia residency (i.e., my settlement statement)
• Proof of identity (i.e., passport)
• Proof of U.S. citizenship (i.e., passport)
• SSN
• $20 in cash, credit, or check (for a 5-year DL; $35 for a 10-year DL).

After a quick eye exam, the mandatory bad photo shoot, and 45 minutes total, I had my Georgia DL in hand. I had also signed on as an organ donor and registered to vote.

Georgia Vehicle Registration (DeKalb County)

I then moved onto what I've been dreading...registering my car with DeKalb County. Georgia state laws and requirements surrounding car tags, titles, property (i.e., ad valorem) tax, emissions testing, etc. are REALLY confusing.

The Georgia Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division has all the general info, but the county tax commissioner's office is where you need to go register and so get more detailed info.

The DeKalb County Tax Commissioner is located at 4380 Memorial Drive, Decatur, Georgia 30032, and has a nice one-page checklist for new residents describing all the documentation they need. I've poured over this list for days and eventually just stuck all my documentation in a big sack because I didn't want to have to go back.

Good decision too. The lady at the counter must've liked me because I got it right on my first try. Sounds pretty rare. All my paperwork was in order, including:

• Proof of ownership of the vehicle (the list is confusing as all hell, so thank goodness I brought EVERYTHING. Since I bought my car new and am still paying off the loan, the title is held by the lien holder. So my proof was my original purchase agreement with the car dealership with the complete address of the dealership and lien holder [i.e., bank]), plus my current car registration)
• Proof of residency/non-residency (requires two forms of documentation from the list. I used my settlement statement and valid, current out-of-state registration)
• Valid GA DL
• Proof of GA liability insurance less than 30 days old
• Current vehicle mileage
• No emissions testing needed b/c my car is less than 3 years old
• Fees (debit, credit + $4 fee, in-state check)

The fees will depend on your registration period. In DeKalb County, registrations expire on your birthday and must be renewed during the 30-day period preceding and ending on your birthday. My birthday's in early December, so maybe there's a longer period for a first-time registration (or maybe the lady at the counter just liked me), but I lucked out and didn't have to pay a boatload of fees.

I was feeling so positive that I went ahead and got a special plate. The standard Georgia plate is pretty boring with a clipart peach. All special plates have manufacturing fees and possibly annual tag fees in addition to the standard annual $20 fee. Part of the fees go to the associated fund, charity, etc.

I chose the wildflower plate with a purple coneflower because it's really cute, and there's only a one-time $25 manufacturing fee, $24 of which goes to the Roadside Enhancement and

Beautification Fund. Best value. :)

Utilities

• Power - Georgia Power pretty much covers all of this area, so I just called their residential customer service to set up (1-800-660-5890). Simple. Well, should be simple, except that the rep I spoke with couldn't find my house in the system for some reason. Not helpful, so I called All Connect to get it done (1-866-377-7853), no problem. All Connects can set up all utilities for you with one call. Nice service.
• Gas - There are a number of natural gas companies in town, but I've decided to go with Gas South. Signed up online and got a $40 credit (if sign up by Nov. 5).
• Water - I had to physically go to the DeKalb County Finance, Treasury and Accounting Services at 1300 Commerce Drive, Decatur, GA 30030 to set this one up. Not bad. Just needed my settlement statement, picture ID, application form, and certificate of compliance. In an effort to conserve water, any properties in DeKalb County built prior to 1993 must now be retrofit with low-flow plumbing fixtures. My home inspector was able to sign off on this certificate for me so I could turn my water on!

OMG Car Registration

I'm taking half-day off tomorrow to take care of all the nitty gritty yuckiness to get my Georgia driver's license, car registration... water, power, gas... The worst of it is this car title thing. I've been reading the Georgia Motor Vehicle Division's website trying to get all my forms and documentation in order, and every click seems to contradict itself and pile on a new form. AGH!

I'll just go over there tomorrow morning bright and early, loaded with every document that could possibly matter...and cross my fingers!!

I am a homeowner!!

The closing process was pleasantly painless and actually enjoyable! I had to sign many fluttering papers, but not so many for my signature to become illegible. In fact, the hard part had already been done, and all the discussions had. This was just a formality.

My Stepwise Closing

1. I went to the law office of my closing agent.
2. My agent and me, the sellers and their listing agent, and the closing agent were present.
3. First, the closing agent went over my column of the HUD 1 settlement statement to make sure I understood all the costs, particularly the itemized portions that were covered by the seller-paid closing costs.
4. Then I signed loads and loads of papers.
5. After I was finished with my bit, the closing agent repeated steps 3 and 4 with the sellers, although they had fewer pages to sign. However, my seller's son was signing as a proxy, so he had to write out in cursive, "Seller's Name by Proxy's Name as AIF," twice on each form since there were two sellers. Ick.
6. Once all forms were understood, explained, and signed, the closing agent collected my and the seller's driver's licenses, and I handed over my certified check for my down payment (made out to me).
7. After the closing agent made copies and final approvals with the lender, she was ready to cut our checks and call it final! My lender had overestimated my down payment, so I actually got the overage back as a check. And the sellers got their check!
8. We shook hands, and I got the keys, title, and home warranty.
9. In a happy ending, I would've gone straight to the house and celebrate. But in my contract, I gave the sellers two extra days to vacate and clean, so I won't have possession of the house for another two days. That's fine. More time to ponder paint colors!

The forms required during signing will of course vary depending on the contract and agreement between the buyers and sellers, the companies involved, and state/local laws and traditions. But for anyone wondering what they heck they may actually be signing, here's what I put pen on paper for today. No explanations provided. Don't ask! It all made sense during the signing!

Buyer Forms Required by the Lender

• Acknowledgment of receipt of settlement statement
• Truth-in-lending disclosure
• Uniform residential loan application
• Note on loan
• Security deed
• Foreclosure closing disclosure
• Request for taxpayer ID number and certification (W-9)
• Compliance agreement
• Statement of occupancy
• Preferred payment plan
• Request for transcript of tax return
• Correction agreement limited power of attorney
• Property insurance requirements
• Notice of assignment. Sale or transfer of servicing rights
• Affiliated business arrangement disclosure
• Appraisal acknowledgement
• Customer contact disclosure
• General loan acknowledgment
• Initial escrow account disclosure statement

Buyer Forms Required by the Closing Agent

• Compliance agreement
• Limited power of attorney correction agreement
• Disclaimer and notice to purchaser and seller
• Survey waiver and acknowledgment with hold harmless
• Wood infestation report acknowledgment and waiver
• Hold harmless agreement for termite letter

I didn't even mind it all that much. Today was a fine day for a signing--high 70s, blue skies, and sunny.

Closing Looms. HUD 1

My closing is set and ready to go for tomorrow morning!! In about 15 hours, I will be a home owner!!!

My lender sent me my HUD 1 settlement statement document last week. I really should have examined this thing much more closely, but I kind of prefer the blind ignorance strategy. OK, you got me. That's not really a strategy.

According to about.com, the HUD-1 is a form used by the settlement agent (also called the closing agent) to itemize all charges imposed upon a borrower and seller for a real estate transaction. It gives each party a complete list of their incoming and outgoing funds.

In case you want to see what the form looks like, here it is on the website of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Both my agent and lender referred to it a few times and waved it away, saying that I'll see it later. True, I couldn't see the the final document until after:

1. I'd gotten all my paperwork in (bank statements, evidence of gift transfers) to get my stuff into underwriting (the lender's company making sure I'm legit), and
2. After the lawyer took the hack at it. I'm still not sure what the lawyer did, but this HUD 1 thing came out of it,
3. which would all take about one week, at the quickest.

BUT I still would've liked to have seen what the form looked like early on, even if blank, just to get that question mark out of the air. I didn't even know to ask for it, but since I know about it now, here it is. Take a gander for your own amusement.

Re-re-inspection

My closing date has been pushed off by one week. This is supposedly the normal course of business when it comes to real estate. Luckily, it doesn't matter much for me because I built in cushion room between closing and the end of the my apartment lease.

So, what's with the delay? Electricity. That's why.

During my 21-day due diligence period, I had an inspection done as early as possible. That way, if we found any funky things, I could use those as bargaining chips, e.g., for a lower price, for repairs, depending on how severe the funkiness and how wack the seller (and buyer, I suppose).

Luckily, my inspection came up with relatively minor electrical and plumbing issues, almost all of which the sellers agreed to repair. Unfortunately, during yesterday's re-inspection, we found that something got lost in translation between paper and electrician hands, so we'll have to give it a bit more time to get everything in place.

So after the electrician comes back to complete everything, we'll have a re-re-inspection and hopefully the go-ahead to close. I don't want any loose ends before closing, you know?

The Inspection
Try to be present during the inspection for as long as possible, and you will gain a treasure trove of knowledge from the inspector. All about the electrical, the plumbing, the roof, the crawlspace... If you're thinking of remodeling down the road, he can give you recommendations of how that would go too. Ask anything and everything!

It didn't take me long to find my inspector. I just took the guy my agent recommended, which can be risky, but he did come well recommended by a coworker as well. I was lucky. Healthy Home Inspections of Atlanta is quite good. David is thorough and very responsive.

As a first-time homebuyer and first-time old-home dweller, I was alarmed by the fact that my electrical wasn't grounded. Would I get electrocuted blowdrying my hair?? How will I mow the lawn with my electric lawnmower without a good socket?? Will my house shut down if I do both at the same time (I gots skillz)??? David was able to patiently help me understand that no, none of this would happen. Thank goodness.

My actual inspection report is electronic and very thorough with illustrative photos of the actual parts of the house with problem areas, arrows and all. David didn't use checkboxes, but instead, wrote out narrative about each component, with the addition of nice FYIs, not just the code violations, etc.

Of course, I have nothing to compare this to, but I haven't been unhappy with it. Plus, even though David had to re-inspect twice, he didn't charge me twice. Now, that's customer service.

First-time Homebuyer Credit(s)

I shall faithfully do my duty as a citizen of this world to stimulate the economy.

Enter: House.

I'd be growing Pinocchio's nose if I said that this first-time homebuyer credit isn't motivating me to sign on those dotted lines and hand over my lots and lots of hard-earned cash this Wednesday.

No more shopping sprees (i.e., uninhibited window shopping) or vacations to exotic locales (i.e., collecting travel magazines) to tempt my pocketbook. Yes, it's the 30's with a bang!

So how do I get this nice bit of cash incentive? The IRS Ten Facts about the First-Time Homebuyer Credit is a great place to start understanding the federal credit. I don't have a CPA, so I've been doing some reading, and I don't think this is as complicated and scary as I had originally thought (given that the IRS is involved). Some states, Georgia included, also are offering a first-time homebuyer credit, which is a nice bonus.

Federal Credit
Practically speaking, I only need to submit 1 form (or 2, depending on when I want to get the money) to get the federal credit. Form 5405: First-Time Homebuyer Credit is the primary form, and if I don't want to wait to file with my 2009 return (so I can get the money a lot sooner), I can submit Form 1040X: Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return to amend my 2008 return. The 1040X will take 8-12 weeks to process, but I'm hoping it'll be quicker since this is not a busy IRS season, and I've heard that the IRS is watching out for 1040X forms filed explicitly for the first-time homebuyer credit so as to push out the stimulus money. Yes, ARRA, I'm listening!

Georgia State Credit
On May 11, 2009, Georgia state governor Sonny Perdue signed House Bill 261 for Georgia's "eligible single-family residence tax credit," which looks a whole lot like the federal one, but with a few more limitations. This Georgia Department of Revenue Informational Bulletin on the tax credit is helpful to understand the bill and what the process should be, and this FAQ handout by the Georgia Association of Realtors about both the federal and state tax credits is simply awesome. My observations that follow are by no means comprehensive of the provisions in this bill.

• The Georgia first-time homebuyer credit is valid only on homes purchased during the six-month period starting from the month following the effective date of the legislation, i.e., June 1, 2009 - November 30, 2009.
• The purchased home must have been on sale prior to May 11, 2009 and still be on sale; in default on or before March 1, 2009; or already in foreclosure.
• The credit is equal to 1.2% of the purchase price, or $1,800 (whichever is less).
• Unlike the federal credit which can be claimed in one lump sum, the Georgia state credit is claimed in 1/3 annual installments starting with the 2009 return.

Practically speaking again, I need to fill out the eligible single-family residence tax credit portion of Form IND-CR and file that with my 2009 Form 500. None of these Georgia state tax forms is yet available, but should be soon. I also must include a bona fide listing agreement from the real estate agent that shows eligibility of the residence and a copy of my closing agreement.

Well now, that wasn't too bad. Nothing like a good blog to make me do my homework!