Catch-22, No Closing For You!!!

So, it all gets more complicated. One of the stipulations to my FHA mortgage from hell is that, because my cosigner (thanks Dad!) is not living in the property, I can't purchase a multi-unit house. I was unaware of this when I made my offer, so now after the appraisal, everyone's freaking out about this duplex that isn't even supposed to be a duplex!

Basically, the house counts as a duplex because it has two kitchens. One will be my bedroom, but try telling that to my bank! So herein lies the catch-22: I can't close until I remove the kitchen, but I can't remove the kitchen until I close! Grrr...

I talked with the listing agent to see how we could fix this situation so I can FINALLY close on the dang house. I said that I would be able to do all the work necessary to seal the deal if the seller would allow it, I'd just need access to the house. Luckily, the seller was OK with this and tomorrow morning I'm doing the necessary changes for my loan to go through. I need to remove the oven (it's a mini apartment stove, about 2.5 ft. wide) and the kitchen sink, essentially rendering the kitchen unusable. All I have to do after that is take some photos to email to the appraisal company. The underwriters come next, then closing. Hopefully Friday. Better be Friday!

I looked up Mr. Somes' obituary at the library while I was on campus today to see what it said. Yeah, I'm a creeper but I'm interested about the history of the house! There was a picture in his obituary, which was really interesting to see. You don't usually get to have an image of someone who lived in your house over fifty years ago. The paper said that he served in WWII, how cool is that? As it turns out Mr. Somes was very involved in many community organizations including the American Legion, Elks club, Eagles club, Boy Scouts, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and some sort of business organization. A man after my own heart; I'm in a handfull of student organizations, we must both be prone to joining organizations! He was the branch manager of some sort of business I haven't researched yet. Most impressive though, was that he and his wife managed to raise 6 kids in my 1350 sq. foot 4 bedroom house. Mind you, the second bathroom wasn't added until 1984! I have a lot of respect for Mr. Somes & I'm excited to fix up his house!

Yay City Records!

Today I took a little trip down to the city inspections department and inquired about my house's history. The fanstastic woman at the counter pulled out my block's information and let me thumb through permits and assessments dating back to the 60's. I found the building permit from 1984 when the PO converted the house into a duplex. (grrr...) I also found out that my ugly white steel siding was installed in June of 1975. I also found that all of the houses on the block were built between 1898 and 1908. Mine's from 1928... what's with that? My house is the only one on the north side of 9th ave. on my block that's not from the 1890's. Strange, huh?

A gigantic smile slipped across my face when I found the last piece of paper that pertained to my house. It's a 1968 real estate assessment record that has lots of information and one faint picture. Mind you, this picture is prior-gross white steel siding. I especially like the little vent in the attic that has the trim around it. I've always felt that something should be up there, not just the vast expanse of siding that sits there now. I may have to go digging for that... we'll see how adventurous I get. The owners at the time were listed as Ernest D and Barbara F Somes, who purchased the house in 1955. I'll have to google them later to see what I can find.

The back side of this sheet had general information about the house. The report says that the house has 'pine or fir' trim throughout the house, but it also has the 'painted' box checked, so how would they know? I'm still hoping for oak. The first knothole I find may bring tears.

I ran over to the public library and asked if they would have any information in their archives about my house. The gentleman there referred me to a book I already own, given to me by my Grampa who has lived in the Fargo area since the 1950's. (except for ten years living out at the lake. I miss that lake!) My house, because it is not a substantial contribution to Fargo's historic architecture, was not featured in the book. The man then said I should contact the author of the book because he is extremely knowledgeable about Fargo's history. The author turned out to be one of my favorite Architecture professors! I had no idea, and I've owned his book for years! I took two Architecture History courses from him, so I'll have to see if he has any advice for me.

Closing soon. Salivating over upcoming demo. Hurry up underwriters!!!