Points 1 to 4

A beautiful sunny day back in Portland, a glorious day to think about buying a house with a view.  I'm feeling a little more relaxed -- perhaps it's a good night's sleep, perhaps it's knowing I don't have to be back on an airplane until Tuesday -- but I like to think it's mostly because I've taken a paring knife and excised, almost completely, my emotions from the cold hard financial facts of this house purchase.  Since my brain works like it's still solving problems from my high school math team, I need to clearly lay out those facts that must be faced -- four of them, to my count:  

1. Assurance from the city on two issues:  a)  I can buy the house and get the commercial space converted to residential and b) they'll work with me to resolve the fact that the two small rental apartments are out of code
2. An appraisal that's high enough to allow me to borrow enough money in a conventional mortgage once the new residential space is in place for the list of known repairs 
3. An inspection that doesn't add TOO many more very expensive repairs to that list
4. (Here's the big one) A source of a $50-$75K loan to do the apartment conversion and other initial repairs

Just this morning I've made good progress on points 1 and 2 -- another reason this is a good day!  I talked to a lawyer (painful $$ signs but worth it I think) and then went to the city of Portland's code enforcement office to look up some documents.  Bob, my new lawyer, thinks it shouldn't be hard to convert the commercial space to residential (apparently much easier in that direction) and the boss lady in the CEO -- named Marge, which seems like a good omen -- took a few impromptu minutes to discuss the situation and, without making commitments, said she would try to work with me on all issues if I bought the property.  So that seems point 1 is 3/4ths addressed.

In addition, Rusty, a freckle-faced real estate agent/contractor/appraiser with a pencil behind his ear and a Blue Tooth stuck in it, took an hour in the house this morning to come up with an estimated value;  while he made no commitments (appraisal report will come next week), he talked, in a somewhat awestruck way, about how unusual the house is -- the artsy nature, the views, the amount of space -- which makes me (a little) optimistic on where the appraisal will come in.

Beyond that, inspection (point 3) is scheduled for Monday bright and early, and my ex, Chip, gave me a smart suggestion about point 4, which puts him on my plus side for today.  He reminded me of the bank president who we both know -- he better than me since his bank account is quite a bit bigger -- and suggested I go talk to him.   As Chip said, if anyone would know whether this kind of loan was possible, he should.  So I've set the wheels in motion on that front -- should have a meeting with him later this week.  

Lots to do, which is not a bad place to be -- easier to keep the incision between emotions and finances clean.  I'm going to take Kanha with me on Monday morning for the inspection -- I look forward to seeing the look on her face as she runs from one unexplored and alluring room to the next.