Slashdot | New IrDA Spec Shoots for 100Mbit/s Data Rate

Sounds like we may have found a bank that can give us the mortgage we need…

We’ve been trying to work with a local bank called M & T, but they don’t really have the resources it takes to do a co-op mortgage. Normally you have to get a special appraiser in to look at a co-op, and they don’t have one. So, they’ve had to apply to Fannie Mae for an exception, to let them appraise the house like a normal house or condo. It’s been taking forever for them to get back to us…

We first started talking with the folks at M & T before we even put in an offer on the house - we didn’t want to make an offer when we knew for a fact there weren’t any banks in the area that could give us a mortgage. They told us they thought they could do it, it’d take a little time, they’d have to put in for an exception…but they sounded generally positive. It’s been over a week though, and we still haven’t heard anything substantial from them. They’re still working on it, they tell us…but we’re getting impatient.

Well, in the mean-time, we’ve still been calling around and talking to various banks… And another local bank (HSBC) thinks they can do a co-op mortgage as well. Not only do they know what to do with a co-op, but they apparently have whatever resources they need…they don’t have to ask for an exception from anyone. We’ve been down to their offices and dropped off some paperwork, actually got some preliminary numbers from them as well. The folks at M & T couldn’t tell us anything substantial, but they were vaguely hinting at interest rates around 6.25%. The folks at HSBC were actually able to run some figures and they came up with something in the 5% range!

So, things are looking good… Still need to get a home inspector in there to take a look at the place, but I don’t think they’ll find anything significant. It really looks like we’ll have a house of our very own before the new year!

Slashdot | WinFS Beta 1 Released Early

Originally, one of the major reasons I was excited about Vista/Longhorn was WinFS. It sounded like a truly revolutionary change in the way we’ve used computers… Rather than a traditional tree structure, with folders and directories for organization, everything would be stored in a database type system. You’d be able to locate files by searching on an assortment of metadata, rather than looking for strings all the time. It sounded very interesting, and I couldn’t wait to see how it would change Windows.

Then it was announced that WinFS wouldn’t make it into Vista in time for release. In fact, it sounded like WinFS was going to be permenantly place on the back burner, and might not see the light of day for many more years. Well, it looks like WinFS will eventually show up in Vista, but not right away. Still, I guess it’s something to look forward to…

We got a call from the realtor around 11:00 this morning, they’ve accepted our offer on the house!

I’m so excited, so thrilled, so scared… I just want to walk down the street and move right in today. Unfortunately, that’s not how these things work. The realtor gave us an estimated closing date of “on or about” October 21. Everyone I’ve talked to has told me that it’ll easily take over a month to close on the house…some of them are saying two or even three months before we can move in…

But, we no longer have to agonize over the house going to someone else. We’ve got it, assuming we can come up with the money. That’s the last real stumbling block to this whole thing… The house is actually part of a co-op, something that’s very common in New York City, but up here in the northern wastes it’s virtually unheard-of. We’ve been trying to find a bank that knows how to do a co-op mortgage, and so far we aren’t having a whole lot of luck.

We’ve spent a week now debating over whether or not we wanted to make an offer on the house we saw last Sunday. Well, ok, debating isn’t quite the right word… We were absolutely smitten with the house when we first looked at it, this week was spent mostly trying to gather information and figure out exactly what resources we have available, and deciding how much to offer them for the house.

We met with the realtors this evening and placed an offer of $105,000. We were originally thinking of offering $99,999 for it…but the house hasn’t been on the market for very long at all, we’re the first (only?) people to view it and the first to make an offer on the house…they don’t really have any strong incentive to go with such a low offer. We knew we’d wind up with a counter-offer, and then we’d counter again…we knew we’d wind up paying more than $99,999 for it… So, we just decided to make an offer of what we were realistically able to pay for the place and save all that hassle.

It’s lower than what they were originally asking by about $5,000…and like I said, this is their first offer…but I feel fairly positive about everything. The house is really incredible, it seems like it was made for us - it’s even got lilac trees in the back yard! Hopefully we’ll hear something back from them soon, waiting a full week to make an offer has been frustrating enough.