sj, thanks for asking that. And Kristin, thanks for pointing out that not everyone likes having their tag change acknowledged.

Jess, Snapfish wants me to sign up. Are they good about the non-spamming thing?

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Nora, is there no way you could pull it off now?

Sadly, we do not have 40K for a down payment. We have kind of close to that, but not all that. I don't know. It might be an excellent investment, depending on the work on it that needs doing. A shade over 400K for a single family in Somerville is pretty good.

And, yeah, that's why we're looking outside of Somerville, too.

Traisping to a neighbor's bearing pie. Whee! It's my Somerville cab driver friend, he said he did great on the streets last night- but is taking tonight off.

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And Kristin, thanks for pointing out that not everyone likes having their tag change acknowledged.

I was not aware of this. If someone doesn't want their tag change acknowledged, I need to know so I won't do it. I'm sorry for any uncomfortableness I've unwittingly caused.

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Dude, you do not need a huge downpayment, as a first time home buyer, there's often programs where you can do it with 5%--or even nothing! I mean, sure, better to have more, but if it's a house you'd want and a good price? TRY!

(Also....damn. That's a lot of money saved. I'm never gonna afford a house, am I?)

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I miss the days when people sealed envelopes with hot wax and a pressed seal. Well, I can't really miss them since I wasn't there, but I see it in movies and I think it's cool.

Oh I love wax seals. I used to have a set but no more. Of course I also used to write actual letters too. I should prolly start the letter writing before I buy the prettifying things.

"...shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings."

I heart Bev. And am earwormed. "And why the sea is boiling hot..." ( global warming!!!! ) I don't mind. Well I mind the global warming but not the earworm. It is comforting actually. Like mashed potatoes.

After weeks and weeks of torrential rain here, it is strange watching the weather woes from afar. Because it is freakish weather in San Diego. Gorgeous, but this isn't supposed to be January even in paradise.

Hi there. I think I made it through the weekend. But I will check again in the morning just to be sure.

Because I took DxH to the airport earlier and he is officially gone now. In every sense.

However in the interest of being good to myself, I went to the farmer's market for some fresh flowers (I splurged -- some very-early-in-the-year yellow freesia that smell like I think heaven must, pale pink Gerber daisies, deep purple tulips that haven't opened yet but likely will by morning and some red roses).

And I walked along the ocean for a half hour or so. The water is still very January, choppy and cold and rather inhospitable to people. I love the ocean in winter. It looks wild still, not at all tamed.

Now I am wishing I had a good book to read. Curl up on the couch with some tea, a book, a light blankie and fall asleep reading with a cat (or two) next to me...

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{{Cass}}

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And I walked along the ocean for a half hour or so.

Hi Cass! My sistah in beach strolling. I walked a half hour on the beach this morning for the first time in about forever. It was wonderful, not cold though. 60's maybe. Good to see you taking care of yourself.

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Yeah, I know about that, but it's kind of unwieldy. I'm a fan of HREFs. I'll just wait until the new tag is displayed here from now on.

I just meant that by way of general information. I generally don't click on the b.org links posted here (by anyone, for any reason) unless I know what thread it's linking to, because when I have, I've lost my place in the thread. Unwieldy how, though?

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Nora, seriously, if this is a house you want, it's possible. When ex-DH and I bought our condo, we had no money for a down payment. I really mean none. We had to borrow the 5% deposit from our parents. We got a 100% financed 30-year fixed rate mortgage, so we got our deposit back at the closing and were able to pay back the loan from our 'rents.

I can give you the name of the mortgage guy who got it for us--he's awesome. He didn't have a fee, and he would periodically call us and say that we could refinance for a great rate, no points, no closing costs, yadda yadda. Never cost us a cent to refinance, and we did it at least three times.

Our first mortgage, we had a rate that was a half a point higher than the going one (which at the time was 7%) but we were able to refinance rather quickly using the equity, and by the last mortgage we were paying something absurd like 3.75%.

So it's possible.

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meara is right, Nora. GF and I put 5% down. Our place has doubled in value in the two years we've lived here. Getting in a home isn't as daunting as it first seems, at least that was my experience and I live in LA where housing costs make my head hurt.

ETA that Jen is right as well.

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