Ten Years Down, Forever To Go

We have lots of ambitions and plans for this sweet little house of ours, but this year we wanted to spend our money a little differently... because it's our ten year wedding anniversary! When we got married, we were both graduate students and didn't have much money to travel. We wanted to do something special, so to celebrate we went to Italy, Montenegro, and Greece, three lovely places neither of us has ever been before:
We took a cruise that started in Venice, stopped in the Bay of Kotor (Montenegro), and then went down the Greek Isles to places like Corfu, Mykonos, Athens, and Kefalonia. It's pretty much impossible to condense such a wonderful trip into a blog post, but if you'd like to see some more photos, you can check them out here. (Have no idea how to embed an album slideshow here... Google, why do you make that so difficult?)

One of the fun things about doing the cruise is we really got to experience so many different things in such a short time frame. We got to walk along the same pathways Socrates once trod in Athens, floated down the Grand Canal in Venice, we got to relax on the beach in Kephalonia, eat fresh seafood in Corfu, and see the walled city of Kotor. We went our own way virtually everywhere except Athens; we knew we wanted to see as much as possible in a really short amount of time, so we hired a tour guide to take us around in a private car. If you're ever blessed to visit Athens, I can't speak highly enough of Private Greece Tours. We were able to see so much in a very short amount of time, and we can't wait to get a chance to go back.

We did choose to spend a couple of days on Venice at both the beginning and end of the cruise, and I'm so glad we did; there was so much to see and explore. The first night we stayed in a former palace, the Boscola Venezia, in a quiet neighborhood in the Cannaregio district. When we came back, we decided it would be fun to stay closer to Piazza San Marco, so we stayed in this beautiful hotel where our balcony looked directly out to the canal beneath us and the Torre Dell'Orologio! And, although you can't really see it in the video, the very top of the spires of St. Mark's Basilica.



That was our wonderful trip! So, we may not have the budget for any cool house projects this year, but we have so many lovely memories from this trip.

Six Months Update: Better Late Than Never?

I was at a neighborhood meet and greet this past weekend, and the subject of blogs came up, and it got me to thinking... shew, it's been a while. Now that we've been actual homeowners for over six months, I figure this blog is probably (long) overdue for an update.

What We Like...

• Overall, we are super happy with this house. It's not huge, but it's very cleverly designed such that we've really enjoyed being able to entertain and have friends over without feeling squashed. There are small things I'd like to be different -- sacrificing some space in the master bedroom to have a less cramped laundry room, a bigger balcony -- but mostly we really do like the layout. We've noticed a few settlement cracks here and there, and a nail pop or two, but nothing excessive.
• It's quiet. For those of you contemplating a condo, I don't know if we've been blessed with very quiet neighbors or if the sound attenuation is as good as they say it is, but we seldom hear our upstairs neighbors. Not never, just seldom. The place with the least amount of soundproofing is the stairwell, so periodically we hear them when they are bringing the dogs down for a walk. And, hand to God, I don't know if we've ever heard the neighbors that live next door.
• Location. While we both miss living in Washington itself, being less than a mile from the Metro means we get to enjoy the city life all the time without the price tag of what living there would cost. I also like that we're sandwiched essentially a mile in any direction to major roadways such as 495, 295, and Route 1: close enough to enjoy the benefit, far enough away to avoid the noise.
• Energy savings. This one is hard to quantify, but we're living in the biggest space we've ever lived in, and paying roughly the same or less in energy costs. I have no idea how we compare to others, but we average about $65 in electricity per month.

What We'd Change...

• Living in a construction zone. Obviously, this problem eventually go away, but we're really looking forward to not hearing construction noise all the time. It was such a bummer in the spring time to keep our windows closed, because it was just so noisy! Also, some of the construction workers are occasionally disrespectful and leave trash on the ground, so it means dog owners have to keep eyes peeled for chicken bones, etc.
• No walking path yet. The developers are legally obligated to build one, so just like the construction zone, I know this is an issue that will eventually get resolved, but walkability to Metro is the main reason we paid a premium to buy into this community. The developers are currently paying for a shuttle bus service, but it only runs during the peak hours, which doesn't always work for my husband.
• The carpet. We didn't spend money on upgrading this because we would eventually like to pull it out in favor of hardwood anyway, but it's sorry looking for only six months of wear.

Some pictures from around the house...

Living room and dining room:

Kitchen:

Office:

Guest bedroom:

Laundry room/pet zone.

Kitty gets a special entrance because otherwise the dog is a jerk and eats his food.

Confessions of a Cord Cutter, Part I

I'm breaking this topic up into two posts: finding a DVR, and then how to choose an antenna and hook it up.

We took the plunge and cut the cord with cable several years ago – and by took the plunge, I mean we were cheap ass grad students who couldn't justify the expense of cable. But then we moved into an apartment complex that offered free internet and cable as part of rent, and I could rent a DVR for only $15 a month. When we moved into the new house, we thought we'd see how we could do without cable. Cutting the cable is one thing, but I love the flexibility of being able to record a program and watch it whenever, which meant we needed some kind of DVR.

Before we made the big move, I started looking into "OTA" DVRs. Basically, these are DVRs that capture free, legal, over-the-air unencrypted HD signals like NBC, ABC, FOX, PBS, etc. I pretty quickly narrowed my search down to two possible DVRs: Tablo and the Tivo Roamio. If you're considering cutting the cord and you'd like to check what kind of channels you might get, plug your address in here.

Dolla Dolla Bill Y'all

Cost wasn't the only factor (I'll talk more about that below), but it was certainly a biggie. Tablo doesn't have built-in storage, which means you need an external hard drive, and it doesn't connect directly to your TV, so you need a streaming device. Here's how the numbers broke down for me:

The "lifetime service" refers to the cost of the program guide (the channel listing). If you'd rather not pay the cost up front, both Tablo and Tivo offer cheap monthly rates, but I like the idea of a "one and done" kinda deal.

Tablo

In my view, the good and bad thing about Tablo is that it doesn't connect to your TV. On one hand, the fact that it's not tied to your TV means that you can set it up wherever you get the best TV reception... which may not be a three foot radius from your TV. On the other hand, it means you need to buy another device like a Chromecast or AppleTV to stream stuff from Tablo to your TV. In addition, it doesn't have storage built in, which means you have to buy yet another device to store your TV shows.

One of the other things I wasn't crazy about: there's no remote. The idea is that you access Tablo through a streaming device (like Apple TV or Roku or whatever), so you would just use whatever remote or app goes with the streaming device. This is just personal preference, but I like having a more fully featured remote that has buttons for the channel guide, mute, etc. I should point out you can definitely buy a remote to coordinate with the Tablo (like a Logitech Harmony), but again, it's an additional cost and yet another thing to program.

Tivo Roamio

First of all, I like that everything you need is pretty much right in the box. I hate electronic clutter and cords, so that's a big plus to me over Tablo. It has integrated access to a bunch of streaming services like Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu, so you don't need to switch over to another device for those; another plus. It's got four tuners, which means you can record four programs at once, which is nice if you like a bunch of shows during prime time. I also like that it has a remote. If you have non-techie family members, the remote works pretty much like every cable remote ever, which means it's familiar and easy to use.

One of my favorite features is OnePass. Basically, Tivo finds your favorite show, and searches out episodes on whatever platforms you use: TV, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, whatever. It doesn't matter if they're recorded, have yet to air, pop up on streaming, or are just coming soon to streaming, they all show up in one easy-to-navigate screen.

Oh... and hopefully I won't sit on it.

(Sex and the City fans, I hope you remember the reference! Cordcutters can watch the series for free on Amazon Prime.)

The Verdict

We've been using the Tivo for over a month now, and we LOVE it. I would say the only drawback is there's no easy way to check how much free space is left. My model records about 500 GB. I don't think we're in danger of hitting that limit, but it's hard to say for sure.

I've used DVRs from Comcast and Verizon, and the design and intuitiveness far oustrips either of them by a mile. You have to figure -- they were first to the DVR market, and they know what they're doing.

This isn't a picture from our Tivo (no cable), but it's better than the potato-gram my iPhone took, and it gives you a sense of what the channel guide looks like. It's the exact same on our Roamio, with the nice little channel icons and everything.

If we ever buy more TVs, we can purchase a Mini, which looks about the size of an Apple TV, I guess. You pop it on the additional TV, and the Roamio will beam whatever you want to that TV from your DVR. (It comes with a remote, too, so your guests won't be left out in the cold.) So, I like that it's easy to expand no matter how many TVs you have in your household.

You might also wonder what we've been watching without cable. Well, Making a Murderer, OBVI. We're only up to episode three, so NO SPOILERS, y'all. But seriously... we've been doing just fine; there's a ton of stuff to watch. I won't lie, I do miss all my HGTV shows, but the nice thing is there's a ton of those programs on Hulu, and I can always buy an iTunes season pass for current shows if I really feel the need.

Ok, that's the wrap on the first installment of cord cutting. Stay tuned for how we picked an antenna and hooked it all up.

And to All A Good Night

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends! We spent Christmas in my sister Monica's beautiful brand new house in Charleston, SC. (Actually, we built together and we blog together, 'cause we're sisterly like that -- you should check it out.) It was an amazing week full of family, good food, and good wine. A LOT of good wine. Here are some pictures...

She lives in this super charming neighborhood called Park Circle that does a really nice Christmas light display each year. (Full disclosure: the first time I took the video I didn't do it right, and I made my sister drive around the circle three times. Oops.)



The sweet doggy cousins all got to hang out and eat treats. And, yes, it was warm enough for flip flops!



Monica made beef wellington and she made it look as easy as Gordon Ramsay's video. She didn't use a recipe, just talent.



My mom made a feast for Christmas dinner:



We ate an amazing charcuterie platter (pardon the potato-gram) and drank amazing wine at Accent on Wine, which you should totally visit ASAP:



We saw a fantastic movie called "Spotlight." Have you seen it yet? You should. It reminded me of a contemporary "All the President's Men," which is also a great movie.



We ogled the gorgeous multi-million dollar houses near the Battery:



And that's the wrap on our sweet Christmas with the family!

Welcome Home

We closed! Actually, truth be told, we closed well over a month ago, but life and work just gets busy around the holidays, and it was hard to carve out time to update the blog. I feel like our weekends have been full of trips to Target, Home Depot, and IKEA. Houses need a lot of stuff, y'all. We're exhausted, but we have so much gratitude to finally be in our first home.

Precious metal for us. (For you fellow Ryan Homes owners keeping track out there: nope, we didn't get a keychain! We're okay with it. Haha.)


The very first object carried into our new home.


All ours!

I'm sorry to say our house is still pretty messy and chaotic, so I'll share pictures soon. We jettisoned a lot of furniture when we made the big move from Mississippi, and it's hard to put clutter away without desks, bookshelves, etc. (Hence the multiple trips to IKEA.)

We've done some minor improvement projects here and there, which I'll share in a later post: garage shelves, a keyless entry system, a door peephole, etc.

The closing process was a breeze. We showed up with a certified check from our bank, they cashed it, and that was that. NVR managed to send us a check for totally different RH homeowner in a different community, and even though it didn't harm us, I had some choice words for the branch manager at the Beltsville location that they were so callous with sensitive client information. (I should point out it wasn't an isolated incident, either; a neighbor had her loan information sent to another neighbor in our subdivision.)

If you're going through the RH/NV building process, one piece of advice I can share is instead of (or perhaps, in addition to) marking spots with painter's tape, take pictures with your cell phone to mark problem areas you'd like addressed during the 30-day post-settlement visit. We had remarkably few things that we felt needed fixing -- in fact, most of the touch-ups are dings and scuffs caused by us during the move-in process -- but taking pictures probably would have allowed me to be more organized.

Tips to Make the Closing Process Go Smoothly

We are just one very short week away from closing (wow!), so I've been giving some serious thought about how to ensure it goes as smoothly as possible. We're first-time homeowners, so what the heck do we really know, but here are some of the tips I've found online that seem pretty solid. Anything you'd add to the list?

• Make sure the house is ready for you. It's your responsibility to make sure the home is being delivered in the agreed upon condition. Regardless of whether you're buying an existing house or new construction, if something isn't right, you shouldn't sign those papers.
• Make sure your have a valid, unexpired government-issued ID in the same name as you are taking title. If for any reason you need to take title in a different name than your ID, make sure your lender knows this and is OK with it. You will have to sign the documents that require notarization with the name on your ID. Some lenders may actually require two forms of official ID, but most will accept a government ID, and a credit card as the secondary form of ID.
• Get a draft copy of your documents sent 48 hours in advance so you have time to review them. Misspellings, missing information and incorrect addresses or loan amounts can hold up a closing. Are all the amounts correct? Purchase price? Appraisal? Taxes? If it's a variable rate loan, is the adjustment period listed correctly?
• Friday afternoon and Monday morning are some of the busiest times for the title company and lender. This means if you schedule your closing then, you have limited the amount of time to solve any potential problems.
• It's worth scheduling your closing for mid-week. That way, you've got some runway to burn, and you can still have a normal weekend move in regardless of whether issues arise.
• Get your cash ready. The federal wire cutoff is generally 2 pm in your time zone. If your funds aren't at the title company by then, you're not closing on that day. If you are bringing a certified check, this doesn't apply to you; you are good to go.

Happy Halloween!

Hope you had a spook-tacular evening. In honor of Pope Francis's visit, allow me to introduce our holy terror.