I've been getting the desire to blog more and more. With no readers, the desire to blog really has to come from me, and a sense that there is someone out there who will someday stumble on my blog and think "that shit's funny". This sense, or intution if you will *read:ego* isn't always strong with me. Meaning I might have to direct people who know me in real life this way.
... we'll see how that goes.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Public Service Announcement
The delay in your regularly scheduled posting has been due to job stress. We apologise for this inconvenience and blame it directly on our current employer who is finishing up with Bankruptcy filing. Current employer has made hints in the direction that "the way the economy is currently we'll be able to get qualified individuals for cheap!". Meaning, this not-so cheap and not-highly qualified individual could be out of a job soon. Also out of the house hunt.
It has been hard to come up with anything to write that doesn't sound like a "Dear Diary" entry. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it's the waiting not the result that's killing me. How is everyone else fairing in this uncertain time?
It has been hard to come up with anything to write that doesn't sound like a "Dear Diary" entry. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it's the waiting not the result that's killing me. How is everyone else fairing in this uncertain time?
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday's are a deja-vu
Rule #1 in homebuying, never piss off your Real Estate Agent.
... three days and I haven't heard a response back from him. Two houses just hit the market in our target area, one in the middle of our price range. The other at the top with little wiggle room.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet, houses are moving really quickly in our area and price range. You know the houses I mentioned in this post? All have gone contingent*, most were on the market for under twenty days.
If I'm in the market longer I'll start bringing a camera, and I'll post screen caps of the market listings. That way you'll believe me when I say, time is of crucial.
The majority of the houses we looked at are ones we can see ourselves in. We've considered expanding the kitchen, visualized where the entertainment center would go, laid on the floor to figure out how our bed would fit in the master bedroom, imagined wedding pictures mounted above the fireplace and planned Thanksgiving dinner. In a way we don't so much get an emotional attachment to the house but rather what the house means. The house is a blank slate in many ways, if there's the room and money for it, almost anything can be changed inside.
*contingent essentially means that an offer has been accepted by the seller and the escrow process has started. Houses can go back on the market during this time.
... three days and I haven't heard a response back from him. Two houses just hit the market in our target area, one in the middle of our price range. The other at the top with little wiggle room.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet, houses are moving really quickly in our area and price range. You know the houses I mentioned in this post? All have gone contingent*, most were on the market for under twenty days.
If I'm in the market longer I'll start bringing a camera, and I'll post screen caps of the market listings. That way you'll believe me when I say, time is of crucial.
The majority of the houses we looked at are ones we can see ourselves in. We've considered expanding the kitchen, visualized where the entertainment center would go, laid on the floor to figure out how our bed would fit in the master bedroom, imagined wedding pictures mounted above the fireplace and planned Thanksgiving dinner. In a way we don't so much get an emotional attachment to the house but rather what the house means. The house is a blank slate in many ways, if there's the room and money for it, almost anything can be changed inside.
*contingent essentially means that an offer has been accepted by the seller and the escrow process has started. Houses can go back on the market during this time.
Friday, August 28, 2009
and then I was wrong...
Update: according to my husband I'm harsh.
With that in mind, I probably apologise cause I need to.
With that in mind, I probably apologise cause I need to.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The Apologizer
Hi my name is Meghan, I am 25 and I am an Apologizer.
I'm the finger on the trigger, apologize first and then ask what I did wrong kind of gal. If it's not the first thing I do, sometimes a defensive exclamation escapes first, it's the second thing I do.
Always without fail, I will apologize whether I was really wrong or not. It's probably my faux-bohemianesque upbringing that makes me want to care about how others "feel". That as part of a whole working society we're all just gears that need to get along in the machine of life. In part I can attribute my Apologizer status to my tendency to be blunt and my preference to soften the blow with an "I'm sorry, but..." (those shoes do give you cankles).
As I've gotten older, I've started to wonder if me being an Apologizer is adjusting the way those I interact with view me. Does it weaken my stance and how I'm viewed as a whole? Does it cause people to take me less seriously? Am I often apologizing for no reason?
In a brief e-mail exchange between my Realtor and myself, I felt the need to apologize. My initial e-mail could be viewed as an insinuation that he had not done his job. Previously he had insisted the listing price on a house was almost $10,ooo more than it was. Not only was I calling him on it but I was asking if any subsequent information regarding a bid in on the house was also incorrect due to the original mistake. His response was completely clipped and brief, telling me that the information on the bid was still correct. My internal response is "I'm sorry I implied you can't do your job!! FORGIVE ME!". Followed by groveling.
.... I'm stepping back, and reminding myself that in life I'm not always wrong. He had a right to be irratated if he was, and I had a right to question his original answer due to his initial mistake. No apologizing for me this time. It's a twelve step program!
I'm the finger on the trigger, apologize first and then ask what I did wrong kind of gal. If it's not the first thing I do, sometimes a defensive exclamation escapes first, it's the second thing I do.
Always without fail, I will apologize whether I was really wrong or not. It's probably my faux-bohemianesque upbringing that makes me want to care about how others "feel". That as part of a whole working society we're all just gears that need to get along in the machine of life. In part I can attribute my Apologizer status to my tendency to be blunt and my preference to soften the blow with an "I'm sorry, but..." (those shoes do give you cankles).
As I've gotten older, I've started to wonder if me being an Apologizer is adjusting the way those I interact with view me. Does it weaken my stance and how I'm viewed as a whole? Does it cause people to take me less seriously? Am I often apologizing for no reason?
In a brief e-mail exchange between my Realtor and myself, I felt the need to apologize. My initial e-mail could be viewed as an insinuation that he had not done his job. Previously he had insisted the listing price on a house was almost $10,ooo more than it was. Not only was I calling him on it but I was asking if any subsequent information regarding a bid in on the house was also incorrect due to the original mistake. His response was completely clipped and brief, telling me that the information on the bid was still correct. My internal response is "I'm sorry I implied you can't do your job!! FORGIVE ME!". Followed by groveling.
.... I'm stepping back, and reminding myself that in life I'm not always wrong. He had a right to be irratated if he was, and I had a right to question his original answer due to his initial mistake. No apologizing for me this time. It's a twelve step program!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Dear diary
I'm starving. My stomach is an empty gnawing pit.
My last meal for the day has consisted of rabbit food, with a little bit of protein thrown in for shits and giggles. So far the "I is so poor I can't afford my frilly $10 coffee drinks" diet is a tough one. I'm not going to share with you the midday daydream I had of a dancing Iced white mocha, or the chorus line of rice crispy treats with shortbread cookie feet, or the measly snack of garlic tasting cucumber slices I had earlier. I will share with you my desire to sell my husband "services" on the street corner. Buy me an iced chai anyone? He's a great mechanic, mind out of the gutter people.
Isn't my life so tragic? On the plus side, I hear starvation is God's diet plan.
*note: sarcasm doesn't always translate well in text.
My last meal for the day has consisted of rabbit food, with a little bit of protein thrown in for shits and giggles. So far the "I is so poor I can't afford my frilly $10 coffee drinks" diet is a tough one. I'm not going to share with you the midday daydream I had of a dancing Iced white mocha, or the chorus line of rice crispy treats with shortbread cookie feet, or the measly snack of garlic tasting cucumber slices I had earlier. I will share with you my desire to sell my husband "services" on the street corner. Buy me an iced chai anyone? He's a great mechanic, mind out of the gutter people.
Isn't my life so tragic? On the plus side, I hear starvation is God's diet plan.
*note: sarcasm doesn't always translate well in text.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Mis-Adventures in Homebuying Pt 2
Here's a quickie, when looking at homes that are foreclosed you'll eventually run into some unusual choices in home construction. Some of the unusual things we've run into so far:
- Wood paneling in the closet, only in the closet. This was faux wood-paneling that was peeling off.
- Random tile, in all colors of the spectrum, on a closet floor and no where else. With no grout.
- Brick fireplace with ugly orange marble framing out the mantle.
- Storage unit with a door built three feet inside of the unit, door ends at the start of the door way. At first it looked like it was a sliding door, even had a handy-dandy (don't say notebook) handle to slid it out with. No cause that would be practical, and it's a lot more fun to install a standard door complete with hinges that can't actually be used. At all. All of those above are from the same house.
- Mirrored, floor to ceiling closet doors used as a master bathroom door. Seriously, double doors at that. Wish I'd taken a picture cause it was he-larious.
- Bedrooms or random rooms built into the garage, illegally, and with various stages of professionalism. Usually the walls are unfinished and unpainted sheet rock.
The list goes on. That's not even including the stuff left behind, the walls scrawled with angry sentiments against the banks, random mattresses on things like pergolas, improperly installed shower units, missing cabinet doors, missing toilet seats, warped wood floors, seriously outdated kitchens and etc... It's enough to make you lose ten pounds from laughing at it all. Anyone want to share their experiences searching for a house?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)