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Our apologies, it has been 2 1/2 months since we blogged to let everyone (that’s interested) know what is up with the phillipshaus. Just as the post title declared, we are still waiting. At times we had almost forgotten that we were looking at the house. So much has taken place since the last post…Tim went to Africa, Christmas holidays, Breanna turned 18!, January-the month that wasn’t (did we skip some days in there ?).

Not to worry though. We are still hot on the trail of picking this little beaut up. Now we know that it is all in the eye of the beholder, but our eyes behold beauty! It is a sad site to drive by and see it in such sad shape. It appears dreadfully cold and lonely through the windows. It calls out to us each time to come in, throw some paint on the walls, wash the windows (oh,  not to mention replace the heating, cooling, flooring hot water heater, applicances, fireplace, etc). It really just wants to be loved. And we are ready to do some loving!

The property has not shown up on any foreclosure listings or Bank owned listings. So we just have to wait and pray and pray and pray and pray. Will you do it with us?

We talked with a real estate guy named Scott (won’t give the last name – unless you are reading this Scott and want to be associated with us!). He was helpful in helping us figure out where this might be going. We also have talked to banks and a whole lot of other people just to get as much info as possible.

So that’s it for now. Do keep on checking, one of these days there will be news of a purchase. Hoping it is ours!

Thanks for reading. If you don’t mind, pass this on to a friend and get them reading and commenting, it makes it much more of an adventure when we travel this road together!

We are asked “Where are things at with the house?” Best we can answer at this point it that the house as not hit the foreclosure list yet. This is good news as it gives us additional time to plan, look into funding possibilities, and determine what work will need to be done once we get the thumbs.

We are searching to find the name of the bank that the home will revert back to once it is in foreclosure. We have talked to a couple Title companies and will be checking into the information they have emailed us.

So please pray for God’s perfect timing and that wise decisions would be made as we progress further. Keep checking back, we’ll let you know of any new information as it comes our way.

Thanks for walking through this with us!

We arrived a few minutes early expecting to find a large crowd waiting the bidding to begin. We found quite the opposite. We were the first of two couples to arrive. Right at 10a and Sheriff stood outside the doors and read a list of a few home auctions cancelled and that was it. Yup, that was it. He turned around and walked back inside. Another guy showed up with a hand full of papers and started a bid on a home which the other couple bid on and picked up right away. That was the extent of the excitement!

Thanks for reading…more to come.

Temporama

Stopped by the phillipshaus today to take a look, see if there’s any new activity. We were surprised to see some things we hadn’t seen before. BUT, BEFORE I give the details you need to take a look at the right at our favorite dishes. We found a bunch of plates and a few other items at a garage sale for 30 George Washingtons. We’ve seen them before, but these were such a good deal we couldn’t pass them up. Now we eat on them every day. Very retro, cool pattern, always glossy and large enough to put a more-than-satisfactory amount of eats on. Now we look at Craigslist (never find them in the Tri-Cities) and eBay to see what we might find!

So back to the house. When we first started looking at this house, most of the house (except the bedrooms and basement) had been updated. Here is what we found as we peeked into the windows today.

New Carpet in the living room- nadda. New Pergo in the kitchen/dining – gone. Cabinets - missing! New Heating system & Air Conditioner – vanished! Toilets & Sinks – a thing of the past.

So what’s left? Bare floors and walls. You may be thinking at this point that our brains are missing, vanished, nadda…or at least altered a bit. I know it appears that way (sometimes we wonder ourselves). But we still have this sense that this is the house God is giving us. We aren’t disappointed, bewildered or worried. Actually, we are somewhat excited to see where God will take this. As we drove away we were both wondering what the other was thinking. We each were thinking the same thing, “Wow, how cool, it is a blank box to start with. No demolition needed, it has already been done!”

We will continue to wait and be patient. The biggest unknown in all of this is not knowing how the financial side of things will end up. No doubt it will be auctioned off, most likely for a very good price. We know we can’t get a conventional loan since the house is not livable at the moment. Anyone reading this have any ideas? In the mean time we will do some checking and see how creative we can be!

Check back soon and we’ll keep updating the blog as we learn more. Thanks for enjoying this ride with us!

We stopped by the house early this morning to the sound of pounding. The kitchen is undergoing a makeover of sorts. It’s in the “I’m going into foreclosure and I’m going to rip out everything that I put into this house!”stage. Truthfully, our hearts sank. Without a working kitchen/bathrooms and the remaining part of the living space in tact a loan could not be secured. No problem, we can just pay cash when the house goes up for auction or is sold by the bank. Well, maybe that is a problem: Cash! Even though we know we don’t have pockets that deep, we are reminded that God owns it all (Psalm 10)! If this house is to be ours then it’s all in HIS timing and plan!

The nation’s foreclosure mess has left people in a precarious position. Young people are left discouraged and overwhelmed by the loss of their home as they start off in life. Older x-homeowners have watched a slice of their all-american pie guttled. As we have walked through this process this far with the haus-owner we sympathize for where he is at in life. As we talk with him we are compeled to set aside our desire to buy the house and just listen to his story. 

Do you find yourself at a place where you are supposed to listen to someone’s story? Tell us about it…write a comment!

Chrome

Another quick dash into the local Goodwill brought face to furniture with a new friend to take home. Sorry the pic is dark. This terrific 1970′s chrome find is now in our living room awaiting a recovering job (someday, not now). Just another example of the great finds you can find at local second hand stores for a good price. Patience and frequent checking will score the big payoff. Now, if you have turned up your nose as you read this you may not be a lover of Mid-Century items.

(See P-R-A-Y-E-R below) You are not alone. We met with a great Realtor today to look around the outside of “The Haus”. He didn’t turn up his nose at the sight, but it took him a moment to collect his thoughts before saying anything. It’s true, it is quite a site, but it’s a great structure, it has good bones, it has potential, a jewel in the rough! We get a charge just driving by to take yet another look, but we don’t get too ahead of the game at this point.

The Realtor, Lance Kenmore, gave us some great advice about the piece of property. Here are a few of his thoughts:
:::What is most likely owed on the house is higher than what it is worth

:::Several improvements would need to be made. (Some could be done over time, after all it is an older home.)

:::A Short Sale would be the best way to go, but both of the names listed on the documents would have to agree to the short sale (one of them would most likely not be interested).

:::We could offer what is owed on the house, but the Realtor didn’t feel like it would be wise.

:::It is currently not in foreclosure, most likely 2-3 months out.

:::If it is auctioned in a foreclosure, it may not be desirable for someone to bid on since the bank will be trying to recoup it’s costs.

:::Best bet is to wait until after the bank ends up with the property (after the auction) and then work with the bank’s Realtor to get a great price.

P-R-A-Y-E-R This is when we pray. Would you pray with us? Pray that we would not get ahead of God, exercise patience and listen to the Spirit. We believe it to be an excellent location being close to the Fairchild Cinemas (where we hold our church services), close to all of the schools and centralized in the community. This home would give us ample room for groups gatherings. But, if God is not in this it would never be the right place…and he will have another place for us! 
Specifically, pray if this IS where God would have us that a Short Sale would work out and that both parties on the documents would be open to the Short Sale (this would be a miracle!).

Keep checking back. We’ll give you updates as we hear from the Realtor and attempt to meet with the owner. It’s a great ride at this point!

Here it is, Karen’s Nutcase helmet, called Star Bright. This pattern was so mod back in the 50′s. She’s quite excited to wear it. My new helmet is called Fly Boy. Wouldn’t it go great with a Schwinn Fastback Stingray with banana seat, chopper handlebars and gear shift? (Uh, no Sissy Bar.) Sweet! At my age, I’m relegated to a Schwinn Twinn tandem bike…but no complaints, really honey!

So, what’s up with the house? I received a call from the Realtor our friend Amanda suggested. He had a TON of answers, but where it goes from here we are not sure. The long and short of it is we MIGHT be able to ask the guy that owns the house to sell it to us with as regular purchase, we MIGHT be able to talk them into filing it as a short sale, we MIGHT be able to wait for 3 months and buy it from the bank if no one buys it an the auction, or we MIGHT not anything. There are several hoops to jump through and everyone involved would have to be in a pretty good mood to talk about it. But as I remember, God can work in the heart of a king. We aren’t dealing with a king, just a homeowner…shouldn’t be too difficult! It hasn’t shown up as a “Foreclosure” so we may have time. There is some other money stuff (won’t go into detail) that would need to be cleared up on their end and we would need to sell our house (anyone know anyone wanting to buy a house in Hansen Park?).

So we are encouraged, but not too much closer to an answer. Here’s what we know though. If this were to happen, it would be because God’s got a plan. If this deal isn’t in his plan then he’ll keep us from it…and that’s right where we want to be!                      Stay tuned…we’ll be back!

Karen's new baby (minus the basket & mirrors)

This weekend’s garage sale-ing brought delight to my wife as she finally got what she has dreamed about…a tandem bike. But it’s not just any tandem bike…it is a 1968 Schwinn Twinn in Coppertone!!! Once the new tires come in you’ll see us around town. OK, you don’t have to admit to anyone that you personally know the people on the bike, but be sure one of us will have a huge grin!!! If you ask nicely, we’ll even let you take it out for a spin. Wait to see the great helmets we’ll be wearing.

Enough said on that topic. So many of you are asking, “What’s up with the house???” It came to a bit of a standstill last week as we found out that the house IS in foreclosure. So what is our next step?, we weren’t sure quite what to do.

Amanda S. referred us to a great realtor (Thanks Amanda!). I talked with him today to get an idea of what we should do next. He will check tomorrow to find out if we can still buy it before it finishes the foreclosure process…or if it will be auctioned off.

Most likely it will be auctioned off. This if great! because it could go for an awesome price…BUT, there are two downsides to this scenario. 1 – There are 3 or 4 guys in town that snatch these deals up quick, fix them up and resell them (Flip the house). 2- We have to come with the money in hand. We can sell our house and get a pretty good chunk of what is needed but not enough to pay the whole thing, plus, selling our house to end up with nothing is risky (or is that a faith thing?…hmmm). OK, now I’m sounding like Karen!

For now it is up in the air. Tomorrow the Realtor is to call to let us know IF it will be auctioned and how much it might auction for. We’ll wait and see what news he brings.

As Karen and I walk through this we continue to have peace knowing God will show us something in this process.  In some ways we still feel like this could be the house for us. We dream of painting the living room pure white (yes, pure white), working on greening up the yard, having room upstairs and down for group gatherings (youth group and Small Group activities, large group gatherings, etc.), finding a permanent home for our mid-century finds, being a part of the community, etc.

We’d love it if you prayed for this whole thing. Not that we would get the house, but that we’ll be where we are supposed to be and enjoy the ride and look for God’s hand in it all!

Do any of you reading this have advise on foreclosures…or MCM…or Schwinn Bikes…or?

Pass this blog along to a friend, too!

Tomorrow I’ll post pics of our groovy bike helmets and give you a haus update!

Atomic Ranch magazine

I stumbled upon this magazine 4 years ago at the new public library in Sherwood, Oregon – check out the new library below…the architectural panels on the side of the building are reminiscent of the Richland Public library built back in the 70′s. An interesting bit of trivia is the two libraries have shared the same library manager (Ann).

Atomic Ranch is the magazine of choice for anyone with an interest in Mid-Century homes, you have to check it out. It is hard to come by here in the Tri-Cities, but we have found a few copies at the local Barnes & Noble. It is published quarterly in Portland. Would have been great if it had been headquartered here in the Tri-Cities with a natural connection to ‘atomic’. If you wonder why, you need to read up on our history!

You’ll find out how people are saving these MC wonders and making them even better. Most keep them as true to original form as possible. Some will update, eeks!, but keep it on the modern side of things.

I’m not sure why this style appeals to Karen and I so much. It may be an age thing, but we have found our children tend to like it as well. One of the positive things about it is less clutter, which means less cleanup and less knick-knacks to pick up and dust under. The floor surfaces are a favorite as well. The hardwood or tile flooring means ‘no problem’ with juice spills. Let the kids run wild!

The haus we are presently looking at has been updated for the most part. Some is still in the works (see the pictures on our first post). It will take some work but we are willing to give it a go as long as we get an OK that the structure is sound.

I talked with the haus owner this morning and discovered he is moving out and will see the haus go into foreclosure. Not sure what all that means…anyone every purchased a house in forclosure? Give us some ideas…

So we wait but will not get anxious. Either way, purchase or not, we’ll learn a lot along the way. And it doesn’t cost a dime to ask questions anyway!

Lamps

Our local Goodwill store has supplied me with another great score. I know the whole ‘beauty and eye of the beholder’ thing, but when we happened upon these fantastic MC lamps we couldn’t resist. 9 bucks. 

Bringing them home is a risk knowing our kids will say “What? More lamps?!” They said that the last time we brought some old lamps home. In fact they said it the time before that, too. I don’t know if they really don’t like our love of old lamps or if they are afraid they will end up having to sell them when we kick off years down the road. No worries, we won’t be here to feel bad for them!

Did I mention that the lamp shades have pin-holes in them? We haven’t plugged them in yet…we’ll wait til this evening to see if the holes cast a pattern on the wall. We’ll let you now…