Movie Night

It's been a while since I last wrote.  I suppose some say you write less when there are too many things going on.  I'm just being lazy. 

I don't know why I snapped this photo but it's been about 2 1/2 years since we moved into the house and it was really the first time when I felt like there was nothing that really needed to be done or fixed with the house.  We were just really relaxing with Netflix, a fire, and a glass of wine.

By the way, we never did manage to get our house refinanced.  But that's ok--life's too short to obsess over interest rates.  We'll try again this year sometime.

Are we having fun yet?

A Possible Comparable? 2008 Geothermal Home

Thank you 2523 W. Belden... hopefully. You are the only geothermal home I could find that was sold within the last several years in Logan Square/Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhood. 3780 Square Feet, 2495 above grade, 2 story house. Sold for $1.15 million dollars. The bank has accepted you as a "comparable" home. I don't know what exactly that means and I'm sure it'll make appropriate adjustments but I'm now somewhat hopeful that we can get our refinance loan.

I'm Disappointed with Appraisers

"Typical?? Ugh. Not again."


That's what I thought when I saw the appraisal report for our home. This is now the second time a certified appraiser has concluded that our home's energy efficient items are "typical." What? Did you miss our geothermal heat pump? Our solar panels? Our triple pane windows? On demand hot water? I suppose you can't really see our ICF construction but come on.


We're now trying to refinance our home. We pay a ridiculous 7.5% interest on our loan, which at the time we got our new construction loan was the best we could do. We were lucky someone would even finance us. Yeah, times were that tough. Now, rates are somewhere in the low 5's, even with our "jumbo" status and we'd save at least $500 a month just on mortgage payments if we refinanced.

But Mr. Appraiser put the brakes on that, because he sees no value in going green. How could this be? Did you not see us on the cover of a magazine for godsakes??
(Ok, that doesn't have anything to do with this but I've always wanted to say that.)


But seriously--our home is more than twice as energy efficient as a well-built new construction home that is built to code. About three times as energy efficient as a typical brick Chicago bungalow. This means that on energy demanding months--of which there are a lot in Chicago--we will save hundreds of dollars on energy bills than the family next door with an identical house, but for the energy efficient features. This translates literally to thousands of dollars a year. Not to mention how all of these features translate to a quiet, healthy and comfortable house. To someone like me who's got terrible allergies, that's priceless. So none of this affects the value of a home?

Surely, this must be a mistake. So I e-mailed and wrote the lender a 5 page memo with supporting documents (including our Energy Star Rating) like only a lawyer on a mission can do, but the lender is standing by its appraisal. So disappointed.

A year absence

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. But out of sight, out of mind.

Life's full of contradictions like that. I suppose blogging is a bit manic-depressive and bipolar in that way--you really feel like writing some days and some days you just want nothing to do with it. It's been almost a year since I last wrote here.

A lot's happened during that time. We had another child--a beautiful girl named Juliet. I also discovered that our home won an award! Check it out here. A few new restaurants have opened up in our neighborhood, and Logan Square is now a bona fide hipster gentrifying neighborhood. But some things have stayed remarkably the same. I still work where I work, although I work substantially less than I used to.
I also am realizing the gravity of having gone through building a new house. Having built our own house. Geez. I just didn't appreciate it when I was going through it. It was stressful... exciting... often on the brink of disaster... and overwhelming. Now I'm beginning to get more perspective.

One thing I realize now is how lucky we are. I've read that some people are "in love" with our home and would love to be able to build a home like this one of these days... People are saying that about our home? How surreal and amazing is that?

People still stop and stare at our house. Some people don't think it's a single family home. Some people have asked me why we chose to build this home in this neighborhood (meaning "up and coming" and not "established" neighborhood with poor schools, etc.). But some people just gush. And some question our choices and wisdom in what we did. There's all kinds.

I do sometimes wonder if it was worth it. I think so. I still need a few more years to get better perspective on that.

Road Warrior

Another week, another city. Another hotel room. I miss my family. I miss home.


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Flowers Make Any Room Better

Building an Army for a Revolution

Revolution Brewing is now serving brunch. Perfect time to map out your army for a revolution.

Fly or Drive?

I flew to Indianapolis this morning for business. I fly back to Chicago tonight. I contemplated driving (about 3 1/2 hours each way) but flying seemed quicker and easier. Would driving have been more environmentally friendly?

So Tired

So tired. Baby is sleeping reasonably well but I'm just not getting good sleep. When does sleep trainig start? I went back to work today and felt like a zombie all day. Why do I have to work? Can I just win the lottery?