The Home Buying Process- Jonathan's Perspective

When Holly and I decided to purchase a home I knew that we would have to be aggressive. Due to the hectic schedule accompanying my occupation(Merchant Marine), we figured we would have roughly 3 months to do everything if we were to be sleeping in a new home before I went back to sea. I got off the ship on Thanksgiving morning and we started looking at homes three days later. We knew we wanted a three bed, 2 bathroom home in the Quincy area. Something that had a backyard area for our crazy little dog to run around in.

We selected a real estate broker who was a good friend of mine, who walked us through the process of what we needed to do. We visited a local bank to discuss financing and we communicated to each other what exactly what we wanted in our new home. After looking at everything in our chosen area, price range and profile, we decided we liked two properties. The home we liked a little better accepted an offer before we had a chance to bid, but not discouraged, we bid on the second house the following day. After a few days of back and forth over the price, we finally settled.

Although it was a hectic few months, it was worth it. Although this is not my first home purchase, I also jointly own a condo with a close friend, it was the first where I was highly involved from start to finish. It was interesting to see how people valued their own homes and to see how homes of similar prices stacked up against each other. Our love shack is now a work in progress. We are taking our time with home improvements and sooner or later it will also come together. My next big project when I come home this May is re-building a deck in the back. Until then...

Flood Watch

Quincy has been one of the top towns in the news lately regarding flooding (as well as Waltham). Thankfully, we have not experienced any flooding at our house. Our street is on a hill which has been saver for us since all the water drains down the away from the house. The one issue we have had is that the water that has collected on top of the pool cover has almost filled to the top! But again if it does start to overflow, it most likely will go down the hill.

I can only imagine how awful it must be for all those people who are dealing with flooded basements. Less than a mile away from my neighborhood, many residents have been hit hard. I am so glad that we researched the flood zones in Quincy and considered it in our house search. Not knowing much about the town or its flooding history or what questions to consider when house hunting could of really been problematic. Note to all who are in the market for a house- put this factor at the top of your search!

The Back Sun Room- Keep it? Or Tear Down?

There is a back sun room that adjoins to the dining room which faces out to the back of the house. We haven't spent much time out there since it is a 3-season room and the weather just hasn't been warm enough. However, now that it is warming up I am starting to venture out to that room more often and am pondering what to do with the room. Honestly, since we need a new deck, what I really wanted to do was tear it down with the deck and re-build a smaller room with insulation so we could use it year round. Unfortunately, there are too many other things the house needs in terms of repairs so rebuilding that room is going to put put on the back burner for awhile.

Right now the room is home to my grandfather's dining room table that he built himself many many years ago. I am in the process of re-sanding and staining the table and since its a messy job, the back room was a good area for this project. Once that table is finished (my next home improvement priority!) i want to start working on the room. Honestly, its a bit of a mess, it is very old and not built very well, the walls have some holes and since the windows have only screens (the previous owners did not even have glass frames for the winter months), which has left the room in not the best condition. The walls definitely need a paint job and the tiles are very 80's. The easy fixes are paint and maybe a nice patio set. I definitely want to get glass window to help prevent rain from coming in through the screens and ruining anything I put out there. Some hanging plants also would help spruce it up a bit. Take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think. I know we definitely will put this room to use over the summer months!

Going Green

After working on a project last semester about sustainability in which I compared products and services that were good for the environment vs. not, I learned a great deal about what "going green" means. I am a big recycler, honestly, I am the one who always offers to take recyclables with me at parties (yes I am the one who will pick a beer bottle out of the trash), however that's only a small piece in the green movement. As much as I try to minimize my carbon footprint through recycling, truly being "green" is a tough project to take on! First of all, its very expensive, environmentally friendly products tend to be higher in cost due to the higher production cost, and no matter how much I wish all of my actions and purchases were good for the environment, I can not afford to be. However, now that I have my own house and can be in greater control of energy conservation, I intend to really take notice and actively seek out how I can conserve energy where I can afford it.

There are many energy efficient tax credits to be had for home owners for purchases ranging from appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines to home heating systems and energy saving windows. Lucky, our house currently has the energy efficient windows installed but there are many other ways in which we can actually get money back for being green! We will have to, at one point, install an energy efficient heating system which is on our to-do list since it currently dates back to 1970. I think its great that the government is offering these tax credits but I also take personal satisfaction in doing what I can for the environment. Even if its little things such as buying the new energy efficient light bulbs or building a compost pile in the backyard- all the little things count and I plant to actively seek out the different ways I can be green at my new home! If you have any other tips or advice on ways to be energy efficient, please post below!

Planning a Garden Part Two

I took advantage of the amazing weather this weekend and spent some time working on the flowerbeds in the front of house. I started cleaning up the beds by raking, turning over the soil and getting rid of the fall leaves. I soon discovered that the bushes in the front have thorns and cut up my arms a bit. I am sure they will look nice when they flower but they still look pretty bare and gaunt. I really want to cover up the cement foundation that you can see in the front of the house so I really want to plant some bushes and shrubs that have more greenery and don't lose their leaves throughout the seasons.
When researching what types of shrubs and flowers to plant, I used the bookmarking site www.delicious.com to save all the different types of plants I am interested in. You can search and find my lists under holls421. I did a lot of research on the Better Homes and Gardens website given that they are the experts in the gardening area. I found their website easy to follow and to be very informative. Not only did they cover a wide range of plants and flowers but they also had useful tips and advice such as the growing conditions and size of the plants to help guide me as I start out on my new garden. BHG.com also has a review feature so I can see what other gardeners are saying regarding BHG gardening advice and suggestions. To start out, I bookmarked a general gardening care article (http://www.bhg.com/gardening).
Here is a list of the plants and shrubs that I am interested in: For the front flowerbeds, I really like this Wine & Roses Weigela. (http://www.bhg.com/gardening/trees-shrubs-vines/shrubs/colorful-shrubs-for-your-garden/?page=4). I definitely want to go with a flowering shrub and I really like the look of this shrub. My other option is a hydrangea (http://www.bhg.com/gardening/trees-shrubs-vines/shrubs/hydrangea-guide). I have always LOVED hydrangeas, they remind me of cape cod and the beach.
For the back yard along the fence I have a few options, the first being the Cyprus Vine (http://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/annuals/annual-vines-for-your-garden/?page=3). It has foliage and can grow up to 15 feet so it could grow nicely along the fence and provide some privacy from the neighbors. In addition, it says its easy to seed e.g is not difficult to grow and given that I am a novice, I am looking to start with the plants that fall into the easy range of the difficulty scale. I also like the Weigela (http://www.bhg.com/gardening/trees-shrubs-vines/shrubs/best-flowering-shrubs-for-hedges/?page=3)however this shrub appears to be quite wide so I am not sure if the best place for it would be along the fence or somewhere else in the yard. To check out any of my other options check out my delicious bookmarks! I also would love to hear any gardening tips or advice you have! Please comment on which flowers you like from the pictures I posted. The first is the Cyprus Vine, the second is the Wine & Roses Weigela and the last is the hydrangea.

Painting the Room Red Part Deux

After a week of debating what my next steps should be to fix my disaster of a red room, I re-gained confidence and determination to get it right. I headed to the local paint store down the road and spoke to the experts about my problem. They were very helpful and gave me a lot of good information. They suggested that I buy a more expensive paint (same color) with a grey primer in it, so I can just continue to paint over my mess without re-priming and then re-painting. This option would require only two coats or so rather than the 5-10 coats that would be needed had I kept going with my first attempt. So I gave it a go again and.... it looks MUCH better! Unfortunately the walls were not in the best condition, they have some cracks from the house settling and you can see some areas where some plastering has been done to the walls which is more visible with a bold color like red. But I am happy with it. The guy at the paint store also told me that red is a good color for the dining room because red increases your appetite. Good to know, lots of dinner parties to come! Next is completing the sanding and staining of my grandfathers dining room table and curtains for the windows. Soon it shall be coming all together:)

Planning a Garden Part One

Now that the snow has finally melted away, I am getting my first good look at the shape of my new yard. The winter certainly took a toll on the yard and since it is still pretty early in the season, the trees and shrubs are bare and the grass is in rough shape. I know its barely even spring yet, but I am excited to start planning my garden and flowers! I really want to revamp the front garden area bordering the front side of the house, as well as start a flower garden and vegetable garden in the back yard. I have started looking at types of flowers and shrubs I would like to plant in the front using my delicious online bookmarking account to save everything that I like. I also used the Better Homes & Gardens website (http://www.bhg.com/) which gave me some good advice on what types of plants and shrubs do best in areas that are in both the sun and shade and the degree of maintenance different types of plants require.

There are currently no real large shrubs in the front and after inspection they appear to be flowering bushes that do not hold foliage/greenery over the winter. I would like to plant something that is not so bare come the fall and winter months. I am seeing some green bulbs pop through the soil already and I can't wait to see what type of flowers those are! Other than replanting some new shrubs in the front, I would also like to re-mulch the flower beds as well as outline the beds with new grey brick to separate it from the grass. As for the back yard, there are currently two gardening plots in the middle of the back yard area to the right of the pool. We plan on removing those are replanting grass in that area to open up the yard. I would like to move the garden to the side along the left fence which still gets a good amount of sun. As for the the right side of the yard, I am researching some good flowering vines that could grow up along the fence. Stay tuned for part two where I will detail what specific types of flowers I have narrowed down on my list to plant, as well as the vegetables I will be growing. Any suggestions in the interim would be much appreciated:)