House 3: So Close, I Can Almost Taste It! (Updated)

The stove was supposed to be delivered this morning between 8 and 11. At 9:30, I got a call from Lowes saying one of their trucks broke down and the delivery will now occur between 10 AM and 3 PM. I'm not going to sit there all day, so they agreed to call me 20 minutes before they show up. That should give me enough time to get there from my office.

While I was leaving, the carpet installers showed up. I showed them the location of the lockbox, gave them the keys, asked if they had any questions, and took off.

During my two hours spent waiting for Lowes to show up, I got out my checklist of things I wanted the handyman to fix and made sure they were all taken care of. I was pleasantly surprised to find they were! The only problem I found was that once I turned on the hot water in the bathtub, it never fully turned off again. No matter how tight I turned the handle, a thin stream of water continued to run. So I called the guy up and told him the problem and he said he'd get it fixed right away.

I also turned off the pilot lights on the two gas wall heaters. It's warming up now and those things won't be used for a good 8 months or so. No need to run up the gas bill for no reason. They have electronic ignition, so anyone inspecting the house can easily turn them on again if they want. I verified they worked a couple weeks ago.

Assuming the stove gets delivered today, the place is all set for listing. My agent even already has the post for the For Sale sign up in the front yard. She's leaving town tomorrow, so I need to call her tonight to give her the go ahead to make sure it's listed for the weekend.

I must say, the house looks good. The outside was formerly white and green and it has been painted a light brown. The inside has been painted and cleaned up. The work appears to be of good quality. I took some pictures, but I'm going to wait for the new carpet and stove before taking some more and posting them. I'm glad the rehab did not take as long as my last one! What a relief! It still took longer than the 4 weeks I had hoped, but the delay was fairly short and acceptable.

And I had some more good news from my agent! When I bought the house, I figured the selling price could be $185,000. After the repairs and doing a bit more research, I figured it could be $190,000. She told me that seemed low and suggested I list it for $199,000. Sweet! She said I'll probably get an offer that includes a seller's contribution, so the actual amount I'll get will end up being less, but it's still a higher price than I thought.

Update: Lowes called at 1:30 and said they were on their way. When I got to the property, they were there, as was my handyman, who had just finished fixing the leaky bathtub faucet. I thanked him for coming so quickly. He said running water was wasting my money, so he got over quickly. I like this guy!

The Lowes guys put in the stove, but were unable to hook up the gas line because there was no gas hose. When I bought the stove, I asked the salesperson if I needed to buy a gas connector and she told me no, it was included in the stove. I should have known better. Lowes will be back with a hose and will install it. That'll probably have to wait until Monday, since I have some other appointments tomorrow and will be unable to meet them. I'm not letting this hold up putting the house on the market though.

The carpet was still being laid, but they told me they had about 2 hours left. That will definitely be done today. Time to call my agent!