Introducing

Introducing : our new (first) house -

View from the front yard - gotta love that antenna, awning, and gigantic bushes.

Please come in! Glass door knobs on every single door! Complete with skeleton key. 

Butler's pantry in the kitchen - this must survive the remodel!  I love it.  I love it.

 

I adore this old kitchen... and that HUGE window! But there is no room for appliances with the current set up...problem.  

Red counter tops! You can not get this from the picture, but they are coated in layers and layers and layers of funky grime. 

Huge window (still in the kitchen) the widows crank out to open - so neat! Down side : apparent sacrifice area...  kidding!  It's some kind of rust/ paint. I think. 

Gourmet stove next to the built in ironing board. 

Bedroom number 3. With a wall of gorgeous old windows! 

Look at all the light! And that fancy AC unit. 

The floors are gorgeous. Just imagine how amazing  they are going to be when they are cleaned up! 

Bedroom number 2! That pile in the corner was apparently a cat's pee pad. 

Some type of technology called a "typewriter" and an old school desk! 

The ONE and ONLY bathroom. 

Love that arched bathtub/ shower area! 

Bedroom number 1. We are planning to use this as the master. 

Bedroom 1 - the Master. 

Front entrance, fireplace and awesome old widows! 

Living room and front door. 

Entrance from the breakfast nook/ butlers pantry into the kitchen. Beautiful framing of that fridge! 

 

French doors from the dining room to the front porch. 

+

The closer

I can not believe the amount of time that has passed since we first toured this house to this day. I have quietly been expecting something to fall through. I didn't know what it would be - but I was so certain that it would, I really didn't even want to talk about the house to other people...I was afraid I would jinx it. So many little parts had to work together. I didn't think they all could.  They did. We made it to close.

Since we received the letter on time, we were actually able to move the close date up from Friday to Wednesday. The closing was a bit tricky since so many parties were involved in this deal. This was not a traditional ownership with one simple seller.

From what we have learned, the couple who built and lived in the house in 1933 left the house to their two daughters when they passed away. Each daughter owned a 1/2 interest in the home. Daughter B was married and moved out of the house at some point. She later passed away, leaving her interest in the home to her husband. When Daughter B's husband then passed away, the interest in the home went to his two nephews (we are not certain if they had no children of their own, or if they too were no longer living). The nephews are both still alive and well and each one is married. That makes four.

Then there was the other daughter, V, she makes five. The one who, from what we know, has lived in the house essentially since it was built in 1933, or very shortly thereafter. She was never married. She had no children. She did not do a lot of home repairs :)

About a year and a half ago, she was no longer able to live in the home on her own and had to move to an assisted living facility. From what we know, she did not want to leave the house - and thus, it sat vacant for a nearly two years until it was decided that the property would need to be sold.

She was not able to come to the closing, but we were told, that took a lot of convincing by her Realtor and the other four co-owners. It seems V was convinced that she WAS coming to the closing. Who can blame her?

Only two parties were able to be present at closing, which meant their attorney in fact (one of the brothers) had to sign each document on behalf of himself, his brother, his brother's wife and the other daughter, V. It was a long closing. Our trusty closing attorney (below) maneuvered everyone skillfully through the paperwork. 

We all waited patiently while that poor man was required to sign as attorney in fact for those three other owners over, and over, and over again. And - when it was all over. We needed a drink. Oh - and I should add, Eric and I now owned a house. 

Closer to close

The scientists, geologists, clean up crew and back hoe operator dug up the backyard, conducted multiple tests, removed twenty some tons of soil from the yard and got rid of all the nasty stuff. I think they said two full dump trucks? I can say with scientific certainty that it was nasty stuff because I watched some of the removal during my lunch break. The soil was tinted green and the smell was so heavy, I tasted it all afternoon. The nice*  people at the state of  North Carolina very timely* reviewed the handy work, a series of soil samples, final test results, a certified report and finally everyone agreed...alas, the lust had been subdued.

A little over a month after we first learned the tank had been leaking oil, and a few days prior to close, we received a letter from the State proclaiming that no further action was required to clean up the contamination. (Note to self: consider framing letter as very expensive piece of artwork, next to other very expensive pieces of artwork...i.e., college degrees).

Honestly, we were lucky. We had the soil test before it was our responsibility, had it timely remedied, and the removal was paid for by the sellers. We also learned that clean-ups regularly cost more than double what ours did. OK, we were very lucky.

Unforeseen side effect: our soon to be next-door neighbor got curious watching us digging around in the backyard.

She had her own soil tested. Surprise, her tank had also been leaking. She now has a back yard full of new soil and grass seed and a very large bill for the clean-up. Lesson: do not have your soil tested for leaking chemicals.



Figuring out the renovation loan, working with the general contractor, figuring out the work needed, the money involved, the inspections, and other surprises took a bit longer than anticipated. The original closing was scheduled for July 31st; we all agreed that in order to actually get to close, we would need to push it back a month to August 31st. That month took forever...



* please note sarcasm. 

LUST

Professor Kilbert one day told us that everyone loves environmental law because it is so sexy. Much sexier than other areas of the law. Now, that is something I had never thought of before. And I wondered, where is this guy going with this?

Professor Kilbert

Then I learned all about the "LUST". The Leaking Underground Storage Tank. Whoa. That is sexy. Kilbert really knows his stuff. When I learned we had one - not just in the text books - but in our very own soon to be backyard, I started taking my studying of the LUST a bit more seriously. I mean, I really dove into reading everything I could get my hands on. I blew up the NC DENR's website and read every guidance document more than once. http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/wm/ust

What I learned, in a nutshell: that shit is expensive to clean up. I could probably get an A on that test now...