The House Hunters Thread

[gardengloves]

TS44,

the home looks amazing. Congratulations.

 

[Blenheim]

TS - CONGRATS! The house really looks amazing. I love the kitchen, and that nursery is really cute...
What you said about the trashed short sale doesn't sound flaky at all - I can overlook a lot, but I swear that I'd have to do some sort of cleansing ceremony moving into a house like that. Yikes.

NEL - I know just what you mean about a lot of the townhouse complexes in this area. Backing up to woods like that just feels so much more private and not like they're all on top of each other. That's a big big plus of the particular grouping of townhouses.

So. I called our realtor and told her that we were thinking of making an offer, and she spoke with the listing realtor. It turns out that another offer has already been submitted to the bank, who has yet to respond. She thought that if we were serious, then we should make an offer sooner rather than later. DH has seriously fallen in love with the house and is now shopping for appliances (emotionally involved = not good! Bad DH) and the house hits all of the big things that we're looking for, so we decided to go ahead and put in an offer. It's fair but not a bidding-war type offer, so we'll see what happens. We have a decent down payment, no home selling contingency and we're not doing an FHA/VA loan, and from selling to a couple with an FHA loan and from talking with friends who have done the same, not dealing with that should be a big plus. We'll see...

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I think it's smart to put in an offer you feel is fair and remain cautiously optimistic. The fact that you guys have a sizeable downpayment, won't be using an FHA loan and have no contingencies will hopefully tip the scales in your favor. Will you be browsing other homes in the meantime?

I had to laugh about your DH already looking for appliances, haha. He's supposed to be on board with you two taking your time, not falling in love already! I don't want him setting himself up for a broken heart

Keep us updated, Blenheim, though I know it's likely you won't hear for a long while. At the very least, if you are continuing to look, you'll have a great yardstick by which to measure every other home!

 

[Blenheim]

NEL - thanks! We're cautiously optimistic. We actually went on a walk this afternoon and went by the place (it's about 2/3 of a mile from my in-laws), and our would-be next door neighbor was outside walking a different neighbor's dog - I think they have a standing arrangement that if neighbor #2's getting home late from work, then neighbor #1 walks her dogs for her. He said that he's lived there for 19 years and loves the neighborhood. They've thought of moving into a SFH a few times but have never found a neighborhood that they like as much, so they're still there. That sounds really good to me! He also mentioned walking to the ice cream shop, yum. I'm almost wondering if he's a bit too friendly, though, if you know what I mean... walking the other neighbor's dog, plus he thought that the landscaping of "our" house looked sad so he planted some lillies on its side. Hmmm. Either super nice, or really in need of boundaries. It was hard to tell.

I think we're going to keep looking at houses, until we're for sure under contract somewhere. It really doesn't hurt.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Blenheim, it's better that the neighbor is overly nice as opposed to overly obnoxious, right? And how fantastic that he's been there for 19 years, that definitely says something!

I'll continue to keep my fingers crossed for you and in the meantime keep us updated on the continued hunt!

BTW, I finished painting the master bedroom and hung the curtains (yay!), but hit a few snags along the way and now I'm going to change a couple of things. I wanted to take photos this weekend, but am going to hold off until I finish completely. And I still don't have a camera. Blah!

 

[dcgator]

Blenheim - First off, congrats on putting in an offer. I have my fingers crossed for you! But, I must say, on that house #3, what a mess , I don't understand how people could do that kind of thing, just to spite the situation. Awful. But anyway, I think that going for #2 instead of #3 was a much safer bet. Besides, #2 looks really cute and seems to have everything you need.
As far as a get together, I hear restaurant week is coming up soon, so let's try to catch that when they release it. You can't beat the deals during restaurant week in the city!

TS44 - I also have to say what a goregous house you have there. It's quite lovely and clearly move-in ready. And yeah for having a pre-built baby room

 

[Blenheim]

DCGator - mmm, that sounds delish! I really can't believe that those homeowners trashed it like that. I think I read at some point that some banks are paying homeowners for not trashing their foreclosed houses before moving out, and after seeing that house, I can very much see why.

NEL - you're definitely right that there is worse than overly nice! Haha.

So, the bank came back today and wants us to sign a paper acknowledging that there are multiple offers on the house, plus come back with our "best and final" offer by 5 pm tomorrow. The way that they're going about this feels to me like they're just trying to incite a bidding war where there may not be one at all - for all we know, the other people seriously low-balled them! - and we did our research and feel that the first offer's fair. So, we're going ahead and signing the paper and re-submitting the same offer. If we lose it, then there will always be another house. And if we get it, then we know that we were right to stick to our guns!

I did go to a couple open houses yesterday, and I think that if we do lose this house, then I'm going to add in the "want" of backing to woods or other open space and not backing into another neighbor's backyard. It just feels so much more private and homey to me.

Yesterday's first open house was ridic. The listing said that it was a 3 bedroom and then - buried away in the fine print - it said that it was a non-legal 3 bedroom. I figured that this could just mean something like not having a closet but having room to put a wardrobe and meeting all other bedroom requirements, kind of like our semi-fourth-bed in the house that we put the offer on, or it could mean something else entirely, but it was worth checking out. Well, there were definitely only 2 bedrooms. I asked the agent where the third one was, and his answer was, "Well, instead of putting a couch in the basement family room, you could put a bed in there or something." Um, WTF? DH and I kept joking last night about all the places in his parents house where we could fit a bed - "Look, there's room here in the kitchen for one! Oh, we could fit a twin Murphy bed in the bathroom! It's like a 12 bedroom house!"

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Blenheim, this is exciting! And good for you for sticking to your guns, I'm a big fan of sticking to your guns! The bank's interest is obvioulsy in getting the most money they can, so it doesn't surprise me that they're making it sound like a big to-do. Fair market price is a very good best and final offer, so I think you're being smart.

On a side note, D and I only looked at one short sale. The bank told our agent that they had another offer coming in (of course) and that they wouldn't take anything below the list price because that price seemed to generating a lot of activity. We didn't love the house and passed on it and the price has come down another $60K since then, so I always feel like they exaggerate the situation. Seems to be a recurring theme in the real estate world, haha. Every time we put in an offer we were told another offer was right behind ours when in reality that was not the case. Not that there isn't another offer on this house, but you're right, it could be an offer for much less than yours. Our realtor was selling a short sale while we were working with her and she said that all of the offers except one were complete low-balls from people hoping to get lucky. The one reasonable offer was still 10% below asking, but was fair market price.

Hopefully by asking you guys for your best and final that means they'll be making a decision. I don't want for them to drag it out for months!

And I agree about the mature trees. It makes such a difference. Lots of luck to you!

 

[ts44]

Omg 12 bedroom house, I'm cracking up here! The things agents say in listings... One of the houses we looked at was a "3 bedroom with a possible 4th in the basement." And the room in the basement didn't even have a ceiling or full walls on one side! AND the only full bathrooms were the 2 upstairs! If you're going to be using a basement room as a bedroom, there needs to at least be a full bath on the first floor, if not in the basement itself.

Could it really possibly take months to hear back on this short sale, Blenheim? I second NEL - I hope "best and final" means they will make a decision soon.

Our inspection is today - fingers crossed!

 

[ts44]

Passed inspection with flying colors! The only thing that needs replacing is a seal on one of the master bath windows and a slow drain in the basement sink. Both of which we're perfectly happy to allow the sellers to take care of.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

ts44, that's fantastic news!! I meant to post yesterday to ask you how it went, but it looks like somehow my post got eaten. I'm so happy for you. So what's next? Your mortgage commitment date?

 

[ts44]

We are meeting with our loan consultant tonight to discuss the mortgage loan application and sign paperwork. We are perfectly on-target for a September close at this point! I can't WAIT!

 

[Blenheim]

TS - That is great news!!

The bank has by close of business tomorow to get back to us and the other offerer. Since they haven't gotten back to us yet, I'm guessing that they hope to get a third, higher offer before the deadline. I'm already tired of waiting; I just keep waiting for my phone to ring.

 

[zoebartlett]

TS -- that's great; congratulations!

Blenheim -- I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works out for you. I haven't chimed in yet but I've been reading your posts.

I feel funny posting here because we're not house hunting. We just moved into a new condo and we're renting. We love it here but the rent is a bit higher than I'd like. We needed a storage space though, so if you add up the cost of a cheaper condo plus the cost of renting a storage unit, it's about comparable to what our rent is (and we do have a garage). We live in a pretty expensive area, probably within 90 minutes from NEL. My only complaints about our condo are that:

a) while it's a fairly small development, people seem to keep to themselves. We haven't really gotten to become friends with anyone here, and I want to socialize with our neighbors. The people we have met are really nice, but they're older and I can't see us becoming great friends.

b) our guest room is tiny. Our condo is listed as a 2 bedroom, but it's really 1 bdrm plus den/office. My mom thinks they built it this way to discourage families with kids from moving in. I wish we had thought of that before hand. We have a double bed and one end table in there now, plus we have a large couch in there that needed a home. Our ideal place would have 3 bdrms, and we'd use one for a den/game room (we're probably not having kids). The large couch would be needed at that point, so I don't want to get rid of it. So for now, I'll live with having a tiny guest room, but it's annoying that it doesn't look homey.

We still need to hang our prints up before the condo is complete. The walls are kind of a dark beige, the trim and baseboards are a soft white, and the wall to wall carpeting is also beige. The only color is the dark granite countertops in the kitchen. I can't wait to add some color when we hang our pictures up!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Zoe, the more the merrier!! I'm so excited that you're back in New England How are you adjusting? I'm sure there are things about NC that you miss...

The apartment we were renting when we got married had a teeny tiny second bedroom. It wasn't even a bedroom, really, it was more of an office (like you mentioned). I'm glad that you at least have room for a double bed. I understsand what you mean about cramped bedrooms not really feeling homey, but hopefully you won't be using it very often.

And doesn't hanging pictures make such a difference? I like to get things up on the walls because I think it instantly makes the place start feeling more like home. I still want to hang a few things in our house (I just bought this vintage print of a Newfoundland from the 1800's) so that it keeps coming together. I just hung some curtains in our foyer and kitchen this week and that makes such a difference, too! It will all start coming together for you!

How far are you now from the condo you own? Do you miss that condo at all? It sounds like you have a fantastic tenant, which is so nice!

Blenheim, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[zoebartlett]

Thanks NEL! We're adjusting well; thanks for asking. We are glad to be back in New England (we're in the Mill city in our state. I think you know which one. Our condo is probably about 30 minutes south of here. We really don't miss it at all because we've totally outgrown the space. It was closer to school though, so for me, it was great. But that's okay. I'll have a longer commute to work (about 45 minutes), but it's more equi-distant to work for my husband (who works in Ptsmouth). We're about 10 minutes from the downtown area in our new city. They've revitalized it a lot over the years, which is nice. There's stil more to do but at least there are a few restaurants to check out. That, and having the Verizon Center right here will be fun when there's a show or concert we want to go to.

We miss a few things about NC (the weather, Tacori, Princesss), but we know we made the right decision. MY husband felt the need to live someplace different than here for some time, but oddly enough, it wasn't as much of a change for him as he was hoping. I think that's because there are a ton of northern transplants who move down there. Most our neighbors were from either New England or NY/NJ, actually.

 

[zoebartlett]

I've been scouring sites online but the only place this is sold is at C&B. I want to get two of them really badly and hang them in our dining room, but I refuse to pay the price. Maybe I should start a new decorating thread, but I thought I'd post them here too. When decorating your new house, did you have trouble finding things at the prices you wanted to stick to?

 

[Blenheim]

No word. Not even a "no". I think it's time for us to move on.

Zoe - welcome! I find decorating to be really hard, and I think a lot of it is because I hate to spend money on that kind of thing. It definitely adds up! But we worked with a stager when we were selling our house, and she spent about $1000 in decorating our place and it made SUCH a difference. I wished that I had just bit that bullet sooner so that I could have enjoyed it while I was living there! She found a lot of stuff for us at places like Home Goods and Marshalls - have you looked there for similar items?

 

[Blenheim]

The bank finally got back to us this afternoon. They would like to work with us and made us a counter-offer. We're trying to figure out what to do right now.

Since I've already said what general area we're looking at, I'm going to be a little bit vague just for privacy's sake here. The listed asking price is about midway in the range of prices that we're looking at. The top of our range includes a healthy amount of savings plus budgetary wiggle room for things that could and will come up, so we could comfortably afford this home at asking. Our initial offer was for (ASKING - 15k), plus 10k back at closing. There aren't any recent sales in this particular sub but there is a short sale currently under contract; we don't know how much they agreed on but do know that it was listed for (ASKING - 10k). Comps in the closest sub, same school system but the neighborhood doesn't seem quite as nice, are for (ASKING - 30k) to (ASKING - 10k) net, after concessions and the like. The comps in the other neighborhood didn't include any end units; I'm not sure exactly how much that tends to affect prices.

The bank's counter was for (ASKING - 5k) with 10k back at closing, plus a seller-paid 2-year home warranty. (By the way, my FIL sees this as reinforcing his belief that due to accounting practices and how things appear on their books, banks have more wiggle room with "selling costs" than with purchase price.) The bank also want to extend closing back two weeks and then charge us $50 per day for any day that we go over the closing date, even if it's not our fault. I'm fine with moving back closing, but when we sold our house, the buyers had an incompetent underwriter and for most of the time we were under contract, it looked like closing was going to be pushed back for that reason. We're probably going with USAA for our mortgage and we've never had issues with them messing things up, but I'd still want to strike that clause.

My worry about a purchase price of (ASKING - 5k) is that, given the comps, it may not appraise at that price. DH thinks that we should accept their counter, minus the $50 a day thing, and then re-negotiate the price if it doesn't appraise.

Part of me wants to either re-offer our "best and final" offer of before, or go up to (ASKING - 10k) with $10k back: when we were first drafting our offer, the latter was our plan if they countered. But our realtor has talked with other people who have worked with this bank, and it looks like they have a tendency to walk if potential buyers try to counter. There are always other houses out there and I'm sure we could find something else if this were to happen, but we really like the neighborhood and school district, we like the lot (end unit plus backs woods), and the size and layout seems very workable for our eventually-expanding-family. Ultimately we're talking a difference of $5-10k, and I'm not sure if it would be worth ultimately walking over that. Hmmmm.

 

[ts44]

Well Blenheim that's exciting! If you wouldn't overextend yourself by increasing your offer, then I think I would seriously consider accepting the counter. You like the place, you said it has pretty much everything you're looking for, right? So perhaps accept the counter with the caveats mentioned by your husband - get rid of that $50 a day penalty and add the opportunity to renegotiate should the appraisal go south. I think those are reasonable requests. The worst that happens is that it falls through and you have to keep looking, which you'd have to do anyway should you pass on the counter.

 

[Blenheim]

I like the location of the house a lot, as well as the school district and the fact that it's an end-unit backing to woods, but I'm not in love with the house itself (although I feel that paint and draperies would go a long ways to fixing that) and I don't want to overpay for it because we get caught up emotionally in it, you know? DH loves it and I think it would work very well long-term but it needs TLC. The roof's going to need some repair in the next couple of years; the fence definitely needs repair and perhaps to be replaced; the backyard needs to be reseeded; I think that the A/C is low on freon plus looks old and so is probably original to the house and will definitely need to be serviced and/or replaced; it needs a washer/dryer; the floor was put down in the basement without removing the baseboards and so there's a gap between the baseboards and the floor that needs to be addressed, and if it's too much of a gap then the whole dang floor will eventually need to be replaced. And just knowing that we'd have those projects ahead of us, I certainly don't to offer any more than is fair! I don't know exactly what type of condition the other comps were in, but just based on the other houses we've been into, my guess is that they had more updates than this one does.

DH really wants the house and we talked earlier about my hesitations, and I also mentioned that I feel like the main reason to go ahead with the bank's offer would be out of fear that they'd walk if we didn't, and that pretty much every big decision that I've ended up regretting was made primarily out of fear. DH wants me to feel comfortable. There are other houses. So we made a counter, reiterating our initial offer price but conceding the change in close date, the $50 a day thing (our realtor says that it's actually common for foreclosures), and the tighter timeline that they requested for inspections and appraisals. We also put a deadline on it of 5 pm EST Tues. We shall see...

Oh, and that trashed short sale is now off of the active listings on the MLS. I wonder if it's under contract or if it's been foreclosed on.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Zoe!! That wall hanging is really cute, I like it a lot! I immediately went to overstock, but didn't see anything similar there. I also checked out Pier 1, West Elm, etc., but it seems that wall hanging is unique, haha. I saw you posted a separate thread for it--I'm glad because I'm no help at all!

Blenheim, I feel like the stage you are in right now is really stressful. Like you, I was never head over heels enough over a house not to pass on it if need be (even the house we bought), however there were a couple of times I didn't want to lose out on a great house just because I was stubborn. And that is a hard line to walk! When I read your first post I was really torn about what to think: on one hand, the bank hates counters, but on the other hand it sounds like your initial offer was very fair. When I read your next post and saw that you'd stuck with you price, but made all of the other concessions I was glad to hear it. The $50/day for every day after the initial closing date clause sounds a bit ridiculous to me since it may very well be completely out of your control, but I can't imagine that even if the closing did get pushed back, it wouldn't be by more than a day or two.

The reason why I'm really glad that you guys stuck to the original price is the appraisal. Granted, it sounds like comps are very thin in your area, but if similar THs are being sold (even if it's a short sale) for that far below asking, then I'm afraid if you guys go up you're not going to hit the appraisal amount. I completely understand where your husband is coming from: if you offered more and the appraisal came in low, then it would be a platform to re-negotiate. But ideally you would avoid that. I know that in our case our appraisal came in really high, so the lender had a second appraiser come out. And you know who got stuck with the bill? Yep, us. We found out the day before we close that the buyers ALWAYS have to pay for appraisals, which I thought was completely unfair. I had our broker try to fight it, but it was a losing battle. In the end, a few hundred bucks is not a big deal at all, but if you can just avoid the headach of re-negotiating and then having a second appraisal done, that would be good.

I'm sure the bank will drag their feet and not get back to you until Tuesday afternoon But I'm hoping they get back to you sooner because I want to know what they say! Lots of luck!!

 

[Blenheim]

NEL, after last week, I'm half-expecting to hear from them on Wednesday morning.

Just to clarify, because re-reading what I wrote, it's not clear: in my earlier post, "ASKING" referred to asking for this house. The other THs are closing at something like 97-100% of their asking prices, but at the same time, asking was lower on all of but one them to begin with. It was really hard to figure out what to make for our initial offer because of that. And you don't think of foreclosures as being overpriced!

I just mentioned to DH another house that's listed on the MLS... turns out that he hasn't even looked at any real estate website since we first talked about putting in the offer. I'm worried that he's going to take it hard if the bank does walk.

 

[Blenheim]

NEL - I also meant to say that it's really good to hear that you didn't just fall in love with anything either. I did last time around, and so I've kind of been wondering if it's a bad sign that I haven't fallen in love with this one. On the other hand, because I fell in love with the last house, I overlooked some things that grew to drive me nuts as time went by (layout related). I've wisened up in that regard.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Blenheim--it's funny because when I first read your post I thought you meant below asking for this TH, then when I reread it I thought "maybe not". The fact that they are below the asking for your TH is an even better reason for you to stick with your price!

And I had the same fear (about not loving a house) when we started looking. Not initially, but maybe after looking at 20 houses. Our realtor told us that she worked with couples all the time who never really fall in love with a house. We walked through maybe 70 houses? I can't remember anymore, but we looked actively for 8+ months. We made one backup offer and 3 regular offers and I never once thought that if any of them fell through I'd be heartbroken (obviously some did and it was fine). I do love the house we bought and a house with "charm" was a priority for me, so it's not like I'm completely utilitarian when it comes to houses. It's just that I had a list of things I wanted and a budget and I was very stubborn about getting as much as I could for the budget. If this house had fallen through I'm sure we would have gone on to find something else and be equally happy...it just may have taken awhile!

I hope this works out for you, but if it doesn't, that's okay, too! I'm more worried about your husband being disappointed than you being disappointed! I think you're definitely looking at the whole picture and the DH might just be focusing on all the things he loves about the house. When that Honey Do list starts to grow that's when he'll start thinking about all those updates, haha!

 

[rhbgirl24]

Sorry I haven't been able to keep up with everyone. Congrats on the new offers, accepted offers, closings, and prospects!


NEL we finally finished our bedroom and I figured I would upload pics because our faux painting is very unique. The pic makes it look harsh, but it is very soft and supposed to look like a stormy sea. Also our comforter set is dove grey, and this is just a blue blanket, I tend to like it with the grey better.





Also guest room - its a smaller room. 11x14 so its hard to take a pic, plus we have a king size bed in there!




And lastly, our dining room thats now finished. We eventually want to paint because I dont like this color, but for right now its fine.

 

[dcgator]

NEL, after last week, I'm half-expecting to hear from them on Wednesday morning.

Just to clarify, because re-reading what I wrote, it's not clear: in my earlier post, "ASKING" referred to asking for this house. The other THs are closing at something like 97-100% of their asking prices, but at the same time, asking was lower on all of but one them to begin with. It was really hard to figure out what to make for our initial offer because of that. And you don't think of foreclosures as being overpriced!

I just mentioned to DH another house that's listed on the MLS... turns out that he hasn't even looked at any real estate website since we first talked about putting in the offer. I'm worried that he's going to take it hard if the bank does walk.

Blen - It sounds like you guys are sticking to your guns and that whatever happens will be meant to be. It also sounds like that although your DH seems to love the place, he is being very considerate of your feelings on the place, and that is really great that he is keeping that in mind It's always hard to think rationally when you are in love with something, so you appear to be the voice of reason in this situation. Please do let us know what happens tomorrow (or Wed.)

PS So I made a few reservations for lunch for restuarant week (aug 16-22). If you want to come out one of the days, just let me know. We can email the admin and switch info.

 

[zoebartlett]

Blenheim -- I generally lurk on this thread because I love hearing everyone's plans and it's interesting to learn more about the process of buying a home. Plus, I always love reading about different areas and why people chose the house/area they did. The condo we own is about 30 minutes away from the the condo we're renting. If we ever needed to go there to address issues or whatever, we could get there very easily. It was a good first place but we've moved on to another, bigger condo that has a more grown-up feel to it because of the decor and upgrades. To answer your question, I haven't looked at Home Goods or Marshall's in a while, but I'll have to make a trip there soon. I hate when I'm looking for something specific and I can't find it at the price I want. Oh well. I'll use that as an excuse for going shopping again.

I don't have any advice for you regarding your house-buying process, but it sounds like you're in top of things. Hopefully you'll hear from the bank soon and it will work out the way you want it to. Crossing my fingers for you!

NEL -- thanks for checking other sites for the wall hanging I'm looking for! I think it's a product unique to C&B because I can't find it anywhere else either. I might have to break down and buy it but if I do, I'll wait until it goes on sale. I'll just have to keep checking C&B's site to see when the price goes down.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

rhb--your house is coming together quickly and it looks great!! Do you feel like the decorating is finally winding down?

I had to order a couple of additional curtains for our bedroom (ended up needing more material for one set of windows). I wanted to order the bedding today since that's the last thing to do for the bedroom, but it's on backorder at West Elm. Grr!

Oh, and can I just vent a little about matching paint? There were 4 rooms for which I needed to match paint. The homeowner could not remember the names of the paint--just that she thought they were from the Bejamin Moore historical series. I have since bought 10 pints of paint trying to match these colors. And I have literally hudreds of paint swatches at home. I successfully matched one color exactly--that was like winning the lottery. The other color came close enough to let it go. But there are two colors for which I can't seem to get a close match. I'm not ready to throw in the towel and repaint the rooms yet, but I'm almost there.

 

[rhbgirl24]

rhb--your house is coming together quickly and it looks great!! Do you feel like the decorating is finally winding down?

I had to order a couple of additional curtains for our bedroom (ended up needing more material for one set of windows). I wanted to order the bedding today since that's the last thing to do for the bedroom, but it's on backorder at West Elm. Grr!

Oh, and can I just vent a little about matching paint? There were 4 rooms for which I needed to match paint. The homeowner could not remember the names of the paint--just that she thought they were from the Bejamin Moore historical series. I have since bought 10 pints of paint trying to match these colors. And I have literally hudreds of paint swatches at home. I successfully matched one color exactly--that was like winning the lottery. The other color came close enough to let it go. But there are two colors for which I can't seem to get a close match. I'm not ready to throw in the towel and repaint the rooms yet, but I'm almost there.

Thanks NEL - yes, winding down... finished basement left to go - but there is a LOT of painting there.....

As for matching the paint - wow what a PITA. We were lucky, our previous owners still had paint cans downstairs in unfinished basement so I could grab the color names. Best of luck to you!