Three or Four- The Dreaded Dryer Dilemma

Why in the name of all that is good in this world is there more than one type of dryer electrical connection. So here's the non-electrical engineering method to get your dryer fixed up right.

Here's the history of me and my dryers.

• First dryer, shortly after being married (<1 week in our apartment), we got a used dryer from a friend. It had 3 prongs on the dryer and fortunately so did our apartment.
• About a year later, we got a newer dryer from a relative and it had 4 prongs...crud. So I searched and searched and eventually found a way to pull the 4 prong off and replace it with a 3 prong from the old dryer. I had to do some jimmy rigging, but I got it to work.
• Two moves later, we're in a new home with a 4 prong receptacle and a jimmy rigged 3 prong dryer that's supposed to have 4 prongs.

There is a lot of websites that explain how to take a turn a 3 prong dryer into a 4 prong receptacle. Also a lot of websites that show 4 prong dryer into 3 prong receptacle.

But I would like to show you what I did. 

Just a quick warning: UNPLUG THE DRYER BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING!!!

Materials:

1. Hands
2. Phillips Screwdriver
3. 1/4" Hex Socket (I recommend the 1/4" hex screwdriver with a Phillips insert)
4. New 4 prong electrical cord (I recommend the shortest you can get, they sell up to 10ft, but really you only need 12-18 inches)

Phase 1: Remove the old cord

Step 1: Remove the cord strain relief

What is a strain relief? It's this little puppy right here. Just two pretty simple screws and you can pull the two halves right out.

You need to kind of twist them up to get them out.

What is the function of a these strain reliefs? (A) They make sure that the connection where the wire meets the dryer isn't being pulled on all the time. (B) it ensures that wires don't rotate on you and touch.

Step 2: Disconnect all of the wires

The wires are connected by a 10-24 (1/4" long) screw in most dryers. That spec comes handy if you lose one of the screws. Just unscrew all 3 of them at once, it's no biggie.

You'll notice that if it was done properly the first time, there should be a green wire that goes to the control panel of the dryer that is connected to the center (white) wire. It's connected by just smashing it between the cable to the wall and the dryer connector. It's kind of hard from my picture below, but the placement of that green wire won't change when you put the 4 prong on.

Step 3: Remove Jimmy rigging and cable.

Now, when you changed your 4 prong to a 3 prong in the first place you had to make a connection from the chassis (back steel panel) to the center terminal (white). This Jimmy rigging is useless now, so go ahead and get rid of it.

Step 4:Take a peek under the hood

Now this is important because you don't want to cross your wires. Most 3 prong dryer hookups are not color coded (as can be seen in my pictures above). So you need to make sure that you get the colors straight when you put the 4 prong back into the dryer. Take a peek and take note of which color is where.

In case you can't tell from my picture, black on the left, white in middle, red on right.

Phase 2: Placing the 4 prong dryer in.

Step 5: Route all of the wires through the strain relief hole you removed the wires from previously. You're going to want the strain relief later on.

Step 6: Connect the black white and red to their respective terminal.

Ok, now you've got 3 of you 4 wires connected, now we've got to figure out what to do with the green wire coming out of the wall.

Step 7: Connect the external ground connector

On the back plate there should be some labeling showing where the external ground connector is located.

You'll notice that the external ground connection has a 1/4" hex on it. This is why I recommend the hex/screwdriver combo. Just pull the Phillips tip out and use the screwdriver to turn the screw and connect the green wire to the chassis of the dryer.

Step 8: Figure out what to do with the green panel wire

I simply forgot to put the green panel wire on the central white, so take that sucker and put him right in there with the white wire. This is how it usually comes from the store.

Step 9: Strain relief

A quick trick with the strain relief- there is one that has a through hole and another that has a threaded hole. You want to make sure that you thread through the through hole and then into the threaded. Quick visual shows that one side is smaller than the other.

As you can see, the bracket on the right has holes slightly smaller than the one to the left. The smaller holes are the threaded holes.

Pop those babies in the same way they came out and you should be done! Congrats in connecting your dryer up properly again.

Hindsight is 20/20

So we're just cleaning up on our first home purchase. We've got the closing on Monday and we'll get the keys on Friday evening. There's a lot of things that I really wish that I had known before getting into this whole home buying thing. Also, I feel like we've learned a lot of lessons when it comes to this process.

1) Shop around for who you're working with.- When we first embarked on this process, I was still in School. We actually sat down with a different real estate agent that we really just didn't like. He seemed like a sharp guy, and he knew his stuff, but we just got a bad vibe off of the guy. We felt like he was just a commission shark who was hungry for cash and had seen a lot of it in a very hot real estate market.

So, we shopped around. We spent quite a bit of time trying to get someone that was willing to sit down and walk us through the process of buying a home step by step.

In the process of talking with the first real estate agent, we got in touch with a couple of lenders. Here's one thing that I had never expected- there's a lot to learn about the loan process, it's fees and so forth. I highly recommend one of your first steps as a potential home buyer is to get in touch with a lender that will educate you on the process.

I will tell you that education has been the one biggest thing that I've gained out of this whole process and purchase.

2) The lender.- I've already said how important getting educated on the loan process is, but I'd like to throw in another dimension to selecting a lender.

3) Selecting a price range.- A lot of people will tell you to buy as much home as you can afford right now. I don't agree with that. It is my honest opinion that you should have 20% down on a home before you buy. However, we're purchasing with 10% down. DO NOT fall into the trap of "you only need 3% down" or any of the federal programs. You wind up paying A LOT more money in interest, fees, and private mortgage insurance.

I recommend a 15 year loan. It's just a good financial move. Likelihood is that you're not going to be living in your first "starter home" for 30 years. You probably won't even make it to 7 years. On a 30 year loan you will not have paid off even 20% of your loan in that time. You will still be paying private mortgage insurance. If you do a 30 year loan, sure, you can get a bigger home, but it is so much harder to build equity quickly.

But whatever you do, pick a price range before you ever start looking at homes. Pick it based off of a smart financial decision not because you want "THAT" home. So pick a price, and stick to it.

4) The down payment & initial costs- I was shocked to find out that the down payment on the home is not the only thing that brings cost to you up front. There's lender's fees, taxes, insurance and all other sorts of things. This can rack up quite quickly.

Be careful that you have enough money in the bank and still have some left over. You do not want to buy a house and then find out you don't have any money to put that nice sectional, or tv or whatever in the house.

5) Walking through- Pay attention to the details of every home you walk through. Do the faucets leak. Do the toilets flush. How many weeds are there. What is the floor plan like?

I found that one thing that helped me was to take pictures of homes while we walked through.

Another thing that helped was to draw a map as I walked through the home to keep track of what the floor plan was like and if I liked it or not.

6) The Real Estate Agent- First thing with a real estate agent. Do not sign a contract with him/her that says you will only work with them. That is a rotten deal. If you find out on your second walk through a home that you're working with a dirty rotten scoundrel, you want to have a way out. Some agents will give you a piece of paperwork that says it's a way for them to represent you. Make sure there is a clause in there that says you've got a way out. Don't take them at their word for what they say it says.

I initially had a gross misconception of what a real estate agent actually does. For some reason, I can't even remember what that conception was. But, I'm going to try to put into words what it is, as a consumer, I think they do for you.

You can expect a real estate agent to represent your best interests. If in walking through a home, you've fallen in love with the kitchen sink so much that you neglect that the basement is flooded, the roof is caving in, etc. It's his/her job to make sure you know there's something wrong and you shouldn't buy the house.

Also, if your lender is yanking you around on dates, your agent should be there to talk to the lender to make sure things are taken care of on time.

The agent should take care of setting up all walk through appointments. Our agent was with us at every single home we walked through. Sometimes, the seller's agent will come along for the ride as well.

The agent will suggest homes to look at and features to consider.

Make sure that you and your agent both know that he/she works for YOU. You don't need to feel sorry about making them drive all the way out in the middle of nowhere.

Your agent should not recommend homes outside of your price range. Keep in mind, it is in his/her interest to do so (they're paid on commission). If you find all of the sudden that your agent is pushing you $20k, then $30k then $50k outside of your price range, you need to pull in on the reigns.

You are the one in control of the home you buy, not the agent. He/she might think that one house is great, but you make the final call.

7) The Lingo- Make sure you educate yourself on any word that does not sound familiar. Trust me, there's a ton.

For instance, I had no idea what an escrow fund was. ASK!!! The people you are working with, work for you. Don't feel stupid or naive because you don't know the word for a specific style of floor plan or whatever it may be. 

8) Your signature- Just remember to be careful with your signature. There's a lot of paperwork that will be thrown at you. Make sure you actually read what you are signing. Make sure you understand what it is that you are agreeing to.

9) The REPC- This is one of those lingo things that I've learned. REPC stands for Real Estate Purchase Contract. This is the document that you work with to make offers, or changes to offers on a home you plan on buying.

Remember that this document is a living document. If at any time, you want the sellers to do something like...fix the AC, have your real estate agent write up what's called an Addendum to the contract. You sign and send it out, and the sellers accept or reject. 

Also, you have certain points to bail out of the contract without losing a dime. But after that, you may lose your "earnest money." So make sure you're serious when you sign that contract.

10) Finances- Make sure you lock in your finances. We made the mistake of getting a major promotion, having payroll issues, getting an irregular bonus, gifts and so forth. 

Once you get your new job or raise, hold tight for a couple of months before you run off to buy a house. It will save you headache at the lender's office.

Also, any gifts, cash or any other funds that could go into your bank account hold on to until after you have closed. We received some gifts that we deposited and the lender inquired to every dollar that came in that was not labeled "payroll" on our bank statement.


There's a lot more I would like to say, but that is all for now. Happy hunting!

First Time Home Buying

So, Sarah and I are working on buying our first home.  We've been working for over a month now to seek out the right home and get in there.  There's been quite a bit of a process to get to that point.  What I really wanted was a nice flowchart for how to buy a home, but I really couldn't find one.  Maybe that's a next up on a future post!  

Progress thus far:

• We've made an offer
• The offer has been accepted
• Seller disclosure statement
• Due diligence period
• Home inspection
• Appraisal
• Loan approval (90%...but wait)

We've really made a lot of progress for our Aug 2nd close date. The biggest thing that I'm concerned with right now is the closing costs. The Loan originator that we're working with (Rocky Mountain Mortgage-Larry Fry) has been really great in educating us...but he's extremely high in closing costs. All told, we're going to be spending over 7k in closing costs with him for our 205k home. That's a little ridiculous, but I'm working on getting a second and third quote.