Our First Week in Madison, AL (Huntsville: foreclosure, homeowners insurance, job)

[dramamama]

Well we've been unpacking and moving furniture and painting furniture and bleeding out money at Lowe's like we've got veins to spare, but the good news is that it really feels like home in our new neighborhood.

While we were back in Fairfax, we had our two carpenters screen in our veranda for us (they also put flooring in the attic above the garage--great for storage). They did a great job. And our local blind and shutter man installed all the rest of our order the first week as well. What a hard worker! I am so impressed.

Every night we sit on the veranda and watch the world go by as we decompress and recuperate from our busy days of trying to make our house a home again.

The neighbors have been amazing. Lending us ladders, feeding us, and generally just good people to have in our neck of the woods.

We were too tired to go anywhere for the fireworks, but we heard them after we ate dinner while we were on the veranda. I heard from our neighbor's son and DIL that Bridges was super crowded, but well worth going to the show. They said it was awesome. Next year we will try to hit it.

We love this area--it's missing some of our fav' stores like TJs and Wegmans but the lifestyle we've regained is worth it!

[Charles]

Did you already have an electric dryer? If not, did you buy one new? Where? We have a gas one we are trying to sell here (and we caveat our ad writing that it isn't available until 7/28 when we move into a Residence Inn here in the Springs). We found 7.5 cubic foot ones for around $400-$500 at Depot, Sears, and Best Buy. Still got to sell the snow blower too.

How did you chose your homeowners insurance? Did you shop separately for homeowners and auto? I started a thread on the City Data Business forum on how to buy insurance online without getting contacted by agents and shop for a combined general quote auto/homeowners. So far no luck.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/busin...questions.html

[dramamama]

Hi Charles:

We bought the Sears Kenmore Elite Electric dryer HE 5 with steam option--basically top of their line. We have the washer next to it and the tower, not the pedestals (I think they are a waste of space, the tower works way more efficiently). We also got the top cover work surface for the combo set. This is our second set of front loaders-- our practically new, 2 year old Kenmores conveyed with the house! And I loved them, so it was fun to upgrade to the next level and get a few more bells and whistles.

We also had to buy our fridge as ours conveyed in the house we sold. Another almost new purchase! But oh well--I have the Kenmore Elite side by side stainless fridge (would not have bought stainless except all other installed appliances were stainless--pain to clean). It is very cool with ability to measure oz/cup/liters and pre-measure water and it's filtered water. Wahoo.

For Homeowners Insurance I went online and found an agent via our old insurance co in Fairfax. I'm not sure if I am allowed to post his name here as it is advertising. We like him as it is his primary business, his web site was good, and we just had to transfer everything over from one agent to other with little hassle. Any rate, we also took out sinkhold insurance (check out Town of Cambridge--huge problem there with a house in foreclosure due to this issue).

What area are you buying in? Huntsville HS area or Bob Jones or Grissom? Have you decided yet? I think you mentioned Huntsville--there's a good Costco near there as well (bought a new TV there).

They have Sams Club (excellent samples given out by dear women who treat you like their children--a lot different than the sampling people in our old place!), Costco. 72 has a good Lowes, but in the SE Huntsville area there is a great Lowes and it has more stuff cause less people in it.

Just ping me directly if you want more specific info.

[dramamama]

By the way, Charles, I read your article about the gas issue in the LA newspaper--very interesting. My BF in the Netherlands has always had super high gas prices. And it is not getting better there for sure. Even with metro and trains in place, she lives in a smaller village and has to drive her van with the family (they have 4 kids) to a station outside the village to utilize the train system. Plus with that many people to haul, and pay for in the trains, it's not that cheap anymore. I hope the oil prices are artificially inflated by speculators and that the price is forced down by 25-35 dollars a barrel so the economy can recover.

Since we moved here, we've benefited from less stop and go traffic patterns and accessibility to the places mentioned in prior email. I am getting more miles per gallon and that's just awesome. You'll love it here. I think your whole family will enjoy it.

Good luck selling your house in CO. It's a beautiful home.