The Willimers in America

Happy Anniversary !

Guess what ? If you look at the archive entries on this blog, you might notice that it is exactly 4 years ago today since we left England to make a new life in the U.S.A. We don't normally remember this anniversary, but given that we are about to make such a momentous step in our American venture, it stands out as an obvious landmark.

We talked to Thomas tonight, and asked him what he thought about living in America. "Good" he said. He was four years old when we left, and now he's eight, having spent half his life here. He probably doesn't really remember too much about our previous life - of course he remembers people and some events, but I'm sure he doesn't compare our tiny little house in St Albans with the bumper house we're about to buy in Pennington, and he probably doesn't care that instead of struggling into the City on a commuter train, I have a pleasant 20 minute drive through the NJ countryside to work every morning (actually, he might actually appreciate the fact that I leave for work at 8.30, not 7am, and I'm usually home before 6pm).

Yes, life is good. I can't imagine us ever being in a position to run two SUV's and live in a house with a pool in England. We won't be coming back just yet...

Progress...

We have been completely knocked sideways with the way in which our paid advisors are so blasé about our situation and the problems which arise. When Sue, our realtor learnt that the septic system was shot, and needed replacing, she simply said "well, she (the vendor) will have to fix it". When our attorney got round to dealing with it, he simply sent a letter asking for four simple things to be fixed - some electrical wiring, a corroded waste pipe, a chimney cap, and, oh yes, the entire septic system. If someone had told us we have to spend $30,000 in order to sell our house, we would at the very least have freaked out.

Anyway, we agonised about what to do. Should we drop out ? What would happen when Mrs Robinson pushed back ? How much could we afford to throw into the negotiation ? Well, to cut a very long story short, three days later our realtor rang us to tell us that Mrs Robinson had agreed to knock $30,000 off the purchase price to cover the septic system. What was even more galling was that there was a complicated back story to it all, which Sue related with the words "well, we've all be talking about what to do" - not to us, you haven't. I had to point out that despite her efforts to ensure the buyer has a smooth, hassle-free experience, we are much more used to (and much more comfortable) knowing in detail what's happening when we're spending over $400,000 on a house.

231 Pennington-Rocky Hill Road

So here it is, the new house. Left to right, an outside view, the lounge, the sun room (with pool in the background) and the family room.

The master bedroom, Linda's workshop, the front door, and the pool !!

There is a lot of decoration to be done, but we're actually looking forward to that, after not being able to express ourselves for so long. We've spent almost as much on home improvement magazines in the last three weeks than we spent on paint in the last four years !

The next major milestone in buying a house in the U.S.A. is to complete the inspections. It's a condition of the contract that inspections are complete within a certain number of days after the completion of 'attorney review', and by law you have to get a whole load of things done - as well as a general house inspection, we need to get inspections for water, radon, carbon monoxide and most importantly, the septic system...

It was also a good chance to take a really good look at the house we're buying, which Thomas and I have only seen once, and Linda not much more. When you are househunting, you look at a place very differently to when you've agreed to buy it. A week ago, when we were hoping beyond hope that this would be the rigt place, we saw only the good things, the great space, and all the potential. Today, when walking around with the home inspector and hoping beyond hope that there was nothing wrong with it, all we could see was faults and problems. To be honest, we knew that we would have a lot of redecorating to do, but we didn't reckon with the septic system...

So we left the house on Friday afternoon with a nicely bound comprehensive home-buyers report, complete with pictures, that told us the house was basically sound, a few cracked shingles, some bare wiring, no damp in the basement, but with a waste removal pipe showing signs of deterioration and in need of replacement - and the words of the septic inspector...saying that the septic tank was shot, the concrete baffles were corroded, the distribution box was full and the entire system needed replacing - looks like anywhere between $20,000 and $30,000 worth of work.