Tales of Nine: Proceeding to Close

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Proceeding to Close

The inspection report had no surprises on it; just a lot of little stuff one would expect to see with a 20-year-old house. The buyers did want to travel down the road of having the furnace and A/C replaced, but we quickly squelched that, as they are both working. Our thought is that if they want a new house, they should buy a new house. Ours has had every appliance other than the HVAC replaced in the last 5 years - several in the last 2 years - as well as the siding, too and driveway. Our price is lower than anything comparable at this point, so we are done dealing. So, when they asked to have their inspection contingency extended until Sept. 3rd to get quotes on new units, we said no; if they want to do that, they can let us put the house back on the market and risk losing it to someone else, because we aren't negotiating in new ones anyway, and anyone can price those out on the Internet within a pretty good ballpark in just a few clicks.

They withdrew their request and are proceeding to close! So, the house is now empty, we got vacant home insurance (did you know most policies won't cover a house that is vacant for more than 30 days if anything happens) and we turned down the utilities and turned off the water. Today, we pre-sign paperwork for close and assign power of attorney to my dad so we don't have to come back on October 23rd. Tomorrow we leave for Fairfax. This week has been so long, but it is almost over, and we can start our new adventure!

1 comment:

UnknownAugust 29, 2013 at 5:51 AM
I hope all goes well in your new adventure! Moving to something new is exciting and stressful all at once, but enjoy it all!
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Abbreviation Help

A few readers have asked what DH stands for. They figured out that it had to do with my husband, but didn't quite get it. For anonymity's sake, when necessary, we use the following abbreviations:

DH = Dear Husband

DS = Dear Son

DD = Dear Daughter

I have put numbers after each of the DS's, since there are six of them. I numbered them DS1-DS6, from oldest to youngest.

You may see other abbreviations over time, like MIL (mother-in-law). I'll try to add their explanations here when that happens.

HHE - HouseHold Effects - items that you can't bring to temporary housing with you that are stored in a warehouse, such as Haggerstown, MD. When you leave temporary housing, you get to send HHE items to your new post from storage. You can add anything you don't want from your temporary housing to HHE storage, and anything that isn't going in your UAB or on the plane with you will go into HHE that is going to post. You get to visit Haggerstown once before you leave and take out boxes if you need to go through and remove some things. For example, our packers mixed ice skates with garden tools in one box. I will be removing that box, and will send the skates back to storage (other than any we have outgrown) and send the gardening tools onward. HHE allowance is 18,000 lbs and includes items in storage in Haggerstown or any other government storage facility. 18,000 lbs. can go to a post with no furnishings provided. 7,200 lbs. can go to a post with furnishings provided. The remaining 10,800 lbs. can stay in storage. Weights include packaging materials, and you don't get to pack your own stuff.

UAB - Unaccompanied Air Baggage - When you go anywhere, you get a small shipment sent more quickly than your HHE. This could mean you get it two weeks after arrival or 3 months after arrival, depending on the destination and customs hold-ups. Nothing in UAB can be over 3' long and 2' wide, as this is the approximate size of a UAB shipping box. UAB weight allowance changes with family size, and any amount you don't use can be added to your HHE allowance. Weights include packaging materials, and you don't get to pack your own stuff.

POV - Privately Owned Vehicle - You can also ship one vehicle at the department's expense. Every country has their own guidelines as to what vehicles they will allow to be imported, so don't take this as a blanket rule that you can ship whatever you want to drive. The maximum size the Department will ship on their tab is 800 cubic feet, and you have to pay overages if it is bigger.

CDO - Career Development Officer - The person (which will probably change once while you are a junior officer) who decides where to send you for your first two tours

TED - The date of departure from your current post (even though it is a specific date, for bidding purposes, you can use the whole month, and after that, we hear there is wiggle room up to a month prior to that date, if necessary)