I have money down on the house

Today I initialized all the proper documents and sent them back to my realtor. This is a weird feeling.

Moving (what a pain)

Yesterday, I called Baylor to see what my options were when it comes to moving. They have arrangements with a few moving companies. Hmmmm, move myself or move by mover.

Bah! I hate decisions like this.

A chat I heard....

This morning I was invited to Google to listen to a speaker they brought in. The speaker was Dale Chihuly. The individual who invited me had very little idea who Chihuly was, so I gave her a short primer on him.

This is my first time to hear him speak. From other friends, I've gotten differing reports. Some say he's a great guy and others say he gave them the brush off and such. Now I've heard him speak, I can make my own opinion. He appears to be a guy who is designing large glass exhibits and then exhibiting them. He's not the greatest speaker, but that might have been due to the people he was talking to, a bunch of Googlers. I was probably the only person in the room who was working glass (other than Chihuly). He also appeared to be a normal guy. I mean he's been in glass for more than 30 years. The grass wasn't always as green as it is today. He probably made some risks that paid off.

It was a decent speech and I thank my friends who invited me. It was a real treat.

Hunting for homes :(

These last few days have seen me in Waco, Texas. I was looking at a house to purchase. Why? I answer people, "Why not?" I have the money. I'd like to build some equity. And, why should I continue to throw money at someone else to pay mortgage, etc.

Friday was the first day I looked. Yikes! Every property except for two were interesting. They either were homes that people had let go or hacked on. Two of the properties weren't what I was looking for or in a "questionable" area.

Saturday, we went back out. Egads! People can be really cruel on homes. A few of the properties were repo'd by the banks and the tenants just let them go to hell. Unfortunately, these properties were too far gone to be worth what was being asked. There was one property left.....

This last property had potential. While not staged for a showing, the place reminded me of the home I grew up in. A fairly similar layout, until I asked, "Where's the access to the garage?" The realtor and I both looked at the rooms that had adjoining walls to the garage. First bedroom, no access. The second had a strange door in the corner. When we opened it up, it was a large closet. Then, I noticed a hole in the wall. So, we both went into the hole and found a whole other room. It was really weird. A door in the other side of the room led to the last garage. We didn't really look that far into the "extra" room. After thinking about the room, it looks that people who were in it (or another owner) took out what would have been a utility room and converted it into the large closet.

All in all, for what I'm spending, I believe the last property is the most worthwhile to put a bid on. It is in a fairly nice neighborhood and doesn't appear to be in that bad of condition. We'll see. I have asked for some documents that the current tenants have on the property.

Time is slipping by

I'm currently beginning to plan my move and realizing that time is beginning to catch up with me. This is a bit odd because I've had all the time in the world for the past 5 months. If my plans work out, I'll be moving out mid-July and then moving down to Waco.

But, who knows. I go down to Waco in a few days to look at property. The reality of everything hasn't really hit yet.