Closing Delayed

January 22, 2010 – 11:52 am

From my attorney this morning

I was just informed that the bank has pulled the file for re-review of the appraisal. Apparently the area in which the house is located is deemed a “declining market area” and the bank has asked the appraiser to provide 2 recent comparables to which he must conduct a field review, site inspection and photo inspection, all of which is being conducted today. The appraisal was conducted well over 6 weeks ago. The bank has had the file for too long and is now re-reviewing as a direct result of the numerous delays in getting the fully executed contract…and the scheduling of a closing. We are fortunate that they have not asked for an entire new appraisal and are just requesting updated comparables.

The market has caused banks to be overcautious of their files and this is one of the many results.

The should hopefully be cleared up by Monday and we could still be able to close next week if things fall right.

I’ve already extended my lease into February. Assuming we close soon, that will give us time to get the floors refinished, clean and paint before we move in.

By Gary | Posted in Personal, The Market | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (6)

I Need More Facebook Fans

January 21, 2010 – 9:51 pm

Home In Babylon on Facebook

Don’t make me beg…because I will.

By Gary | Posted in Random Stuff, Website Stuff | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

Sold Homes In Babylon Village – September 2009 – Part 1

January 18, 2010 – 7:05 pm

September was another busy month with MLSLI listing 10 houses sold in our little village. Just like last month, I’m going to be splitting September up into three parts so that the houses don’t get lost in the shuffle.

I don’t have a lot to say about most of these. If you have some information, feel free to share it with the group.

32 Howard St

  • MLS# 2093191 – Zillow Page
  • Sold: $580,000 – 9/1/2009
  • Prior Sales:
       10/12/2001 – $226,000
  • 3 bedrooms – 2 bath – Victorian
  • Taxes: $9,601 – Village Taxes: $816

Read More »

By Gary | Posted in Babylon, The Market | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Remember When This Blog Was About Real Estate?

January 18, 2010 – 3:46 pm

Well, fear not, real estate posts are coming back to Home In Babylon. Really really!

By the way, I may not be looking for a house any more, but I’m still very interested in reading, writing and talking about housing, real estate and the market in general. If anyone out there is still on the hunt for a house, please leave a comment and let us know what you’re seeing. Things are pretty dead now, but I expect there will be a bit of an upswing right before the $8,000 home buyer credit finally ends in April.

If you’re a newcomer, there are tons of posts about Babylon Village real estate in the archives. Click on that “Older Posts” down that the bottom of the page or try one of the categories or tags on the right-hand side of the page.

As for me, I have a couple posts in the hopper. The first part of sold homes for September will be up later in the day or tonight. And once we close, Debra and I will be documenting renovation and decorating, for those of you who are still mourning the loss of HGTV.

By Gary | Posted in Random Stuff, Website Stuff | Comments (3)

The NY Times Loves Barrique

January 17, 2010 – 10:54 am


As Metroproletarian mentioned in the comments yesterday, The New York Times trekked out to our little village to review Barrique, the new restaurant/wine bar on Deer Park Ave.

Full Bottles to Light Pours: A Spot for Wine Lovers

Barrique takes its name from a type of barrel used in winemaking; bottles, barrels and wooden wine crates make up much of the décor. A beamed ceiling and lots of brick give the place a cozy, rustic ambiance. Tables are bare wood; napkins look like French dish towels.

Barrique is owned by the Babylon Restaurant Group, which also runs the Argyle Grill and Tavern, a lively 10-year-old spot across the street. Barrique is just as lively and noisy, but it has something its older sibling lacks: the cooking of Pierre Rougey.

Mr. Rougey, the executive chef, had been the chef and co-owner of Emerson’s, the cafe that occupied these premises before Barrique. His menu is designed for sampling; every table is set with stacks of plates for sharing.

It’s a pretty positive review, although with more typos than you’d expect in the paper of record. I’ve heard good things about the place, but I’m not much of a wine lover and Debra doesn’t drink at all, so one of the main appeals is pretty much lost on us. We actually haven’t been out to dinner since Aurora was born, so there’s not much chance of us showing up there anyway.

By way, I noticed on their web page that Barrique also has a blog. I’m always interested in Babylon Village blogging, so I clicked right over. Sadly, all they seem to have there are reviews of the restaurant.

By Gary | Posted in Babylon, In The News | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

Closing In On Closing

January 16, 2010 – 11:03 am

Well, it looks like our closing date is set for January 25th. There are still a few things that could get us bogged down, but at this point I’m reasonably confident that we’ll be homeowners (well, us and the bank of course) some time in the afternoon of that day.

By Gary | Posted in Personal | Tagged | Comments (3)

Sunday Night Updates

January 10, 2010 – 9:13 pm

Hey there HIB readers! Well, between work, trying to get the house situation locked down and chasing Aurora around I haven’t had much time for posting. Here are some updates, for those of you who are interested.

As of Tuesday last week, we are officially in contract. Yay! The documentation showed up at my lawyer’s office after much chasing around, tears, threats, wailing, gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. This was only three weeks after all the details are particulars were worked out and agreed to by all parties. Good job there by the seller’s attorney who managed to drag his feet, dodge my attorney’s phone calls and e-mails and not deliver on things he promised.

FYI, between the taxes, maintenance and upkeep on the house as well as the opportunity cost of the money from the sale, the seller is losing over $50 for every day delayed. The sellers attorney has so far cost his client over a $1000. Well done.

Right now, we’re in contract and have an approved mortgage. I sent the last of the last paperwork to my mortgage company on Friday. The only thing we’re waiting on is the survey, then the whole kit and kaboodle gets shipped off the bank for their final blessing. Once that’s done, we can schedule the closing.

One amusing note, I got the bank appraisal late last week and as I perused it I realized that all of the comps in the appraisal report were homes that I’ve written about here on HIB. I suppose that’s to be expected, but I still thought it was funny.

Thereby hangs a tale, unfortunately. The house we’re buying is an estate sale. The seller is is out of state and apparently wants to fly in to attend the closing in person. So there’s no telling when that might be. It would have been nice if the seller’s attorney had informed us of this fact early on in the process so that we could have scheduled this well ahead of time, but that would make things too easy.

So, here we sit. It’s January 10th. My lease on the apartment we live in now is up on January 28th. If I don’t get out by that date it’s going to cost me a ton of money for an emergency one month extension, even if I only need a few days.

Monday, I will again call everyone I can to try and speed the process along, but ability to affect the outcome or time line is pretty limited. I have to hope that the seller and/or the seller’s attorney wakes up and realizes that it’s in their best interest to get this thing done as soon as possible.

Anyway, that’s enough of my troubles. I do have some actual real estate posts on my thumb drive. I’m going to try to get caught up on those sold homes posts Real Soon Now.

By Gary | Posted in Babylon, Personal, Website Stuff | Comments (4)

Happy New Year

January 2, 2010 – 1:36 pm

Hi there, HIB fans! I know I haven’t been around much. Sorry about that. I’ve been trying to get this house purchase thing locked down and I really haven’t been interested in writing about other people’s homes.

I think we may finally be in contract now. It’s hard to know for sure because everyone is gone for the holidays. I’m going to follow up early Monday morning and hopefully report back with the good news.

In expectation of that, I’ve tentatively scheduled a survey for Thursday. That’s actually one of the last things on my to do list. Once that’s done (and contracts are in hand) we can schedule a closing date. Hallelujah!

I’ve actually gone back and prepared a time line of all the twists and turns that went on in my quest to get into contract over the past month. Once we’re done and the keys are in my hand, I’ll post it here for your amusement.

Anyway, I hope you’ve all had a fun Holiday Season and I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year.

By Gary | Posted in Babylon, Personal | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Merry Christmas

December 25, 2009 – 9:57 pm

I hope you all had a similarly enjoyable day.

By Gary | Posted in Personal, Random Stuff | Comments (1)

Deal or No Deal?

December 16, 2009 – 11:34 am

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”. – Henry VI Part 2 (Act IV, Scene II).

By Gary | Posted in Babylon, Personal, Random Stuff | Tagged , , | Comments (3)