On Hold

So the house has been on hold forever and so much has been going on … can you tell by my lack of posting? I’ve been working away at it still but it’s been a lot more repairs than anything else. Life has changed a lot, I’ve officially separated from my partner and I’m raising my daughter as a single mother. John now has his own home that also need renovations, so it adds to the to do list pile. Plus due to the nature of the business, he has 95% of the tools and lives about 40 minutes away. I’m slowly purchasing and borrowing what I need as I go.

There never seems to be time for anything, let alone blogging. It’s just watch her full time, work on the business when I can, drive a million hours to see everyone for events or business and maintain the house + property. I concentrate the most on my daughter but am trying to work on something everyday when I’m here. I find myself often in the garden as it’s something that I can do without much $ and you can physically see the different changes.

Zoey and I, Rose, in our still un-renovated kitchen

One yard

The second yard in the centre where the house is and the third comes up to the cedar trees. Each yard is 50′ wide by 132′ deep. You can also see the worst two mossy roofs at the back on kitchen and above the old cold room.

Right now, the house is on hold because I’m so busy and I’m at an impasse. Since falling and hitting my head about 6 years ago, I became disabled and can’t hold a steady job due to “bad days”. Financially I do not have much. I’m still working with John on the business and have finally joined on as more than a volunteer. I hope the business can and my health can get to a point where I can work part time in the future hopefully at the business and in architecture again.

I don’t want to get into it too much but basically I’m on permanent disability right now and although I can afford a higher mortgage by far (I’m well under 30%) many banks don’t consider that I have an income. Also working part time doesn’t count as an income. In the future even if I make a lot as a part time employee it won’t count for a mortgage … it’s another battle I’m fighting.

My original plan was to increase my mortgage this year for renovations and get my step mother off my mortgage and off the title as the required 1% owner of my home. Right now it is impossible but if you know me, I’m a fighter and I figure out a way out of impossible situations. It’s also almost impossible to find a contractor that will come here, quote and won’t charge a huge price that is unreasonable.

I can’t imagine loosing my home even though I’m paying for it. The mortgage company – BMO – said that I should be able to remove her after one year. Fastforward 3 years and they now tell me, even though I’m making more money that it might be indefinitely be impossible. I make more than the required payments but they just increased my mortgage rate to a whopping 4.69% almost a full percent higher than it was. They increased it because they noticed they could when I went in. (They didn’t increase it last year when I went in). DOH! Isn’t it odd that the bank say you can’t afford to pay for things on your own, yet I pay more and then they increase what I have to pay again? What I’m paying still covers things and as I said I could afford more, but I was hoping I wouldn’t loose it to interest. I’m a planner and I want to always make sure I am good. Sadly it’s a long story but with my disability and the complicated grey area of my student loan (I don’t have to pay until I make a lot more money than I do now), other banks won’t take me on without a cosigner.

I had thought that I would fast track and pay my mortgage off in just under 13 years but now with the increased interest, it will probably take me about 14 years. I could see about upping the payments again … we shall see. I’m hoping I can find a better option for the future, so I can pay down the mortgage and get funds to renovate. This house will be useless to the bank and myself if there aren’t funds to maintain it and it goes into disrepair.

My father and step mother just sold their farm and bought a new place. Through the funds of their sale, they might see if they can help me with a new roof. So I’m hoping that will work out and then I can start moving forward again. I keep saying I’ll try to backtrack and post some of the changes here but who am I kidding – it may or may not happen? I shall hopefully show you some mundane but very useful work I’ve had done here in the last year or so that I’ve missed showing you.

For now I am going to buy a laser measuring tape and start sorting out a more conservative but definitive plan for the back roof. I also think I might have to start learning the trades (plumbing and electric) myself. :S I’ll take any tips you may have on budget renovations and budget ideas for trades.

Next up I have to figure out how to renovate physically with an almost 1.5 year old. The only time I have is when she goes to bed but renovations are quite the noisy event … Hmmmm. Let’s go with day by day planning.

For now let me find an updated photo because just seeing writing is no fun.

In the early spring just after Zoey’s first birthday. You can see how bad the roof is getting.

Parts of the carport have come off and it is leaking in the carport and the sunporch.

The electrical was moved into the laundry room earlier this year. WAHOO. I was so excited to remove this box until …

The box opened up before the electrical was removed and disconnected.

Electrical box removal

Close up

Oh no, there’s serious wood behind.

As far as it has come off.

… I found out there’s wood behind it that goes up into the ceiling. I don’t want to take down the gross bat infested ceiling above so it stays. I’m hoping to just cut it off. Half the stuff in this room will hopefully move into Zoey’s room by the end of this year. I’m hoping to make the dining room into my temporary bedroom to make it more liveable for both of us. We are crammed plus add renovation materials. Fun.

Here’s some more photos of the living room as we live in it (read make a mess in it).

She won’t stay still

Water is on everything. She recently poured a blueberry shake around this room

It’s a mess all the time and she’s a monkey

The book corner. I shall have to duplicate this in her room

 

Thanks for reading! Wish us luck.