Cleaning and Organizing

I've encountered several people who pride themselves in their ability to throw things away.  Being a lifelong packrat/family historian/boarderline hoarder some of these trashcan fillers outright horrify me.

One of the most painful things for me to find in an antique store are old pictures.  Why didn't the family keep these treasures?  Did they not care?  Did they not know what to do with them?  Was there even anyone left to pass the pictures to?  How dreadful that my great grand children might possibly not appreciate the stack of old faces I have so carefully collected and charted on our family tree.

And then I remember there is a whole breed of people out there who have no space in their sparse lives for old things.  If something is tattered it feels dirty.  Who wants dirt and grime in their pristine homes?

Recently I've had to come in behind such a people in different situations.  While coming in after a non-organized person who never throws anything away is a lot of work, there are many gems to be found in the depths.  Perseverance pays off.  Behind the tosser is... nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  It is sparse.

More often than not the sparseness reveals only what the tosser wants you to see.  It's manipulative. It doesn't answer my question, it answers only what they want to reveal.  When I seek coloring books I'm offered blocks; when I need wheels I'm offered pegs; when I hope for explanations I'm given emptiness.  It's bleak.

Another trait I find with tossers is a lack of organization.  It's easy to sort three items, it's overwhelming to deal with thirty.  I know a woman who hates clutter so much that cleaning  involves either tossing or hiding.  When visiting her son's home she tried to put dishes away, driving her daughter-in-law insane because the small plates and cups and bowls were UNDER the larger items.  WHO DOES THAT?  At first the daughter-in-law wondered if it was an intentional act to alienate her but no, it was done in other places in other ways.  Then DIL started to look around the in-law's house.  It was neat and tidy but not organized.  Drawers and cabinets revealed a mishmash of disjointed items.  I know one woman who can't handle seeing dirty dishes so much that she actually throws away dishes.  My inner cheapskate is outright astonished at such an act!

I know that not all tossers are unorganized but I'm finding more and more the two traits go hand in hand.

My beloved sister-in-law and I had a conversation around this topic yesterday.  In describing my style of cleaning and organization, "My office may look like a tribe of rapid monkeys were set loose but all of my drawers and cabinets are very orderly."  Even as a kid when my mom stood in the doorway proclaiming my room looked like a pigsty and pondering which are clean clothes how I ever find anything - trust me, I knew.  I have a process and don't fuck with it.  My layers of clutter are merely waiting patiently to be organized.

I'm sure somewhere between clutter-waiting-for-organization and bleak-sparseness is a happy medium.  I'm quite happy in my cluster of stuff, just don't ever tell me if I haven't touched it in three months I don't need it. 

Organizing The Garage

When we moved in last year lots of things ended up in the garage, it was FULL.  A few months later when the inside of the house was more settled we attacked the garage so we could at least fit the car in it.  That was not a pretty day as we chose the hottest day on the calendar and managed to scream and yell at each other every step of the way.  We did manage to squeeze one car into the two car garage, but the results were dismal.  Piles upon piles of random crap remained.  Ever since then basically every tool or item I have needed was "back there" with a vague point to a distant corner.  More than once I have sent the teenager on a mountain climb to retrieve a thing or two hiding behind some precariously heaped pile.

The time had come to clean the garage. 

Teenager invited a friend over to help with the ordeal - what a trooper this kid was, to help clean someone else's mess! 

Step One:  Remove EVERYTHING.  My yard looked like I was prepping for a garage sale and the neighbors each drove by very very slowly inspecting the possible sale.

  

Step Two:  Discard, discard, discard.  The pieces of furniture I've been nagging my husband to post on Craigslist are now sitting in  my dining room.  A giant trashcan was pulled onto the driveway as I kept chucking unneeded crap.  Several other items were moved to the basement (how long before I tackle THAT mess???)

Step Three:  Get the structural bones in place.  The fridge and freezer were re-arranged to improve space and unintentionally give us a resting spot when unloading the car after shopping excursions.  Shelving was moved to a more logical position.  Figure out where things like riding mower and the tool box will sit.

 

Step Four:  Put everything away.  Once the heavy lifting was done I sent the boys away.  This is something I do in a very haphazard, ADD process and look like a moth flitting around on acid.  Friendly suggestions and distracting chatter only delay the outcome.  Least used items were put on bottom shelves and in back corners, garden tools lined up on the bare wall, frequently used items close to the door, broom hanging in an accessible spot.

 Step Five:  Admire your work then take a nap!

Step Six:  Move the car back in

 

Now we can open the passenger side of the car, I no longer have to send the teenager on a scavenger hunt to find things in dark corners, and everything I need is right there.  

One Year Anniversary In Our House

Has it been a year?

I remember when the relator brought us to this house.  How many times have I driven into this neighborhood to visit my college roommate?  But this street?  I had no idea even existed, tucked away inside a golf course. 

We walked around the yard before entering the house.  Wow, the yard, it was huge.  It reminded me of a park, all lawn sprinkled with trees.

  

Next to the house are two mature lilac bushes.  They were in bloom and I pulled a fluffy branch to my nose and told the relator "this right here could sell me this house."  And it did.

We walked through the interior and it fit absolutely everything we needed.  It's a practical house, not a two story, century old lady that I have long dreamed of owning.  It's a sprawling ranch that my husband and his bad knees can maneuver with ample room for all of our furniture, including my ridiculously oversized recliner.

The basement was finished and came with a pool table!  More attractive to us coupon clippers was the huge pantry with built-in shelves.  And yes, I have managed to fill it quite nicely.  Friends have declared this to be the destination of choice when the zombie apocalypse hits.

Most importantly, the house was clean, ready-to-move-in, unlike so many of the foreclosure homes we had viewed.  Despite wanting to tear down walls and completely overhaul the kitchen, the house is solid as it stands.  Even if we don't start remodeling for years to come, we are perfectly content living with it as is.

One year ago we took possession.  Moving in was hellish and the many hands who helped make it happen have my eternal gratitude.

It only took days to discover the glory of our front porch.  This one caught us off-guard.  It's actually not big enough, but the covered shelter is perfect to sit and enjoy the scenery any time of the day.  

We are most frequently parked there well past sunset, listening to the frogs serenade each other.  Our quiet, tree-lined street from this vantage makes it feel like a vacation rental.  I'm still surprised there isn't a lake lurking beyond the rooflines.

Next to the front door is a perfect perch for Maxi, the cement goose, we inherited from my grandmother.  She has a suitcase of different costumes that keeps us amused.

 

My mother remains the matriarch but she has passed the torch for hosting family gatherings.    My brothers and I are left to figure it out.  Thanksgiving 2013 proved that I can easily seat 20 people for dinner.  I didn't even know this was on my wishlist, oh but how I love it!  Here are two long tables, side by side, allowing children and adults all in the same room, boisterous conversation from all directions, and most importantly, we were together!

Practically everyday I stop at my backdoor, a sliding glass window, looking out on a squat red porch with an ugly red fence and I just sigh, feeling lucky, blessed.

I am happy.

I am still alive

Everyday I open my computer I think "I really should post something on my blog" and then catch up on Facebook and play a few games and before I know it time has slipped away from me.  Actually my TV and computer time have become grossly shortened.  I miss it, that's for sure, but life got busy.  Don't worry, though, I've had a camera capturing much of it.

Work has been crazy busy for me.  Last week was our annual auction which always sucks the life out of me.  The very next day I jumped into the finishing touches of our new website.  What should have been a couple of days worth of work has turned into over a week.  A lot of my progress has been hampered by my learning curve.  I'm having fun and definitely got the hang of it, but it's hard to stay on task when there are so many cool possibilities!

On the home front life is even crazier.  We have so much work that needs to be done for our house and only so much time and help to get it accomplished.  In March we had four trees dropped.  Instead of letting the cutter haul away the debris we kept it.  I wanted firewood and mulch.  The drawback is that the piles are moving very slowly.  My brother and his family descended on my house one weekend to haul the wood to one central location in the yard and run the limbs through the chipper/shredder.  Now it's May and the city has cited me for the bigass mess in my yard - not like I haven't been working on it since March, though.  I've been out there every weekend puttering away.  Half of my woodchip pile has been transferred to the front yard to kill the grass for a large flower garden.  The awesome part of that is the woody scent fills the air and is absolutely wonderful.  It's definitely much nicer than the nasty bagged crap the neighbor put out.  We were gagging on that for weeks.

My stacked wood pile wasn't far enough off the ground for the city's regulations so that has been torn down and raised.  I actually knocked that out in one day on my own.  There's still another pile of even larger logs that still need to be split.  They are too heavy for me to wrestle so I need my sons and a rented log splitter to converge at my house in the next couple of days.

There's light at the end of the tunnel and it will be great once it's all done.  This definitely took 3 times as long as expected.  Oh well.

We've also been wrestling my husband's worsening issues with his legs.  He has been suffering severe swelling and sores below the knees.  After several visits to the doctor I finally asked about compression socks.  We were sent to a medical supply/pharmacy who then sent us to an orthotic supplier.  The lady who met us there took one look at his legs and said, "lemphadema".  This was later confirmed and diagnosed by his doctor.  Basically he has had an injury to the lymph nodes behind his knees, his was years of wear and tear but for many people it comes from chemotherapy.  He requires wraps like ace bandages to bring down the swelling.  Finally it came down far enough that he was fitted for compression garments, not a sock, but a velcro locking system that goes up each leg. 

None of this is ideal and we have had to shift a lot in our lives to accommodate what is now a real disability.  His mom stayed with us for several weeks to drive him to and from appointments and treatment sessions.  He has lost nearly all ability to drive except short distances.  He needs help getting dressed and undressed, especially when wearing his compression garments.  It is time consuming but there is also light at the end of this tunnel.  He will never be cured of his lymphadema but now we know how to control it.  Our biggest hurdle is getting the gross ulcers on his legs to heal.  Last week I had the doctor prescribe silvadine and immediately, I mean within hours, we saw improvement.  That shit is MAGIC.  It's frustrating that I have to lead his doctor around by the nose but I haven't been wrong yet.  I learned from the lady at the orthic office that most doctors are uninformed about lymphadema.  Crazy but solutions are coming.

The happy part of my life is that I now live significantly closer to my grandchildren.  The daycare center is just around the corner from my house.  If it's even two miles away I would be surprised.  Later this week... well tomorrow... I will be picking up my two beautiful grandbabies to spend a few hours playing at my house.  In a few short months my daughter's baby (it's a boy!) will get to join the fun.  We are impatiently awaiting his arrival in mid-August. 

I have many many stories to share so maybe my hiatus will have been a good thing!



I wonder what I will post tomorrow?

Just A Lazy Day

Yesterday was an incredibly luxurious lazy day.  It wasn't my intent to accomplish nothing.  In fact, we had quite the itinerary of errands to run.  Instead, we just never got going.  I sat on the front porch and read a few chapters, took a small nap, sat in the backyard and read some more, then took yet another nap.  It was fabulous.

It dawned on me at some point in the day just how relaxing this house is.  I tried to recall when or where I've felt at ease like this.  Certainly it happens when I'm camping, it also struck at my brother's house, but it's also a memory from my grandparent's home in Los Angeles.  It was a happy, safe place - inside and out.  There were lots curious things to discover, a lot of history buried in closets, but always I was able to sit back and relax.

I hope my grandchildren will think back on my house in the same comfortable coziness.

Friday Fragments - August 2, 2013

It's been a while since I've done this and it looks like Mrs 4's isn't hosting at the moment.  So I'll just frag here.

Let's see, since my last fragment back in... March?  I have bought and moved into a house.  Big ass ordeal but I love my new home.

We finally rolled out the database at work that was supposed to roll out last September, then October, then December, then January.  hahahaha.  June 1st!  It was not smooth, AT ALL.  We are still mopping up the fallout.  Which by the way, I closed on my house June 13th.  So my stress levels were astronomic as you can imagine. 

My kid is forced to change high schools as a result of this move.  Unhappy and excited all rolled into one.  He is hoping to run into old friends from when we lived here 7 years ago.

I'm getting a second grandbaby!!!!!!  A girl is expected in November and we will share middle names.  That makes me ridiculously happy.  So in the middle of moving, hottest day of the year, sweating like a dog, I'm crying happy tears on the sidewalk where they decided to share this news.  Buttheads.

Recently we spent a weekend with my college roommate who I haven't seen for a while.  It was a great time to catch up, hang out, and relax.  It was a mini vacation that I very truly needed.  Our husbands hit it off so I hope to have more frequent encounters.  Even though I live literally two blocks away from her dad's house it is likely she will take up my offer to stay at my house.  Dad's gets crowded with other family members and this would save her a hotel stay.  This thought excites me to no end.

So, what's new with you?  Any big plans to finish out the summer? 

Riding Mower - Day One

I'm pretty sure if I kept a journal of my riding mower experiences everything after day one would be pretty boring.  In other words, don't expect a "Day Two" post.

But let's discuss the days leading up to Day One.  First there was shopping for the house and me declaring "holy crap that's a big yard, we are going to need a riding lawn mower."  And The Husband condescendingly stating that he and his brothers had mowed a full acre and blah blah blah blah.  Whatever, Dickhead, YOU won't be mowing this yard, nor will any of your brothers.  Just me and my out-of-shape, middle-aged self.  We're getting a riding lawn mower.  I quietly kept my argument to myself, I would win this war.

The weeds were knee high and it was time to at least butcher them to keep the neighbors from complaining.  It was easy enough but I did get very sweaty.  The Husband started to back down from his notion that a half acre lot was no big deal to tame.

The following week I worked a smaller patch of very thick, very beautiful grass.  THAT was a workout and it kept killing the mower.  He took pity on me and then next day we were standing in Lowe's contemplating the world of riding mowers.

Neither one of us knows shit about riding lawn mowers.  There was one on sale at a palatable price that had been returned for repairs.  We were told it was the cadillac of the mower world.  When the salesguy rattled off horse power and blade sizes and vroom vrooms and whatever else, The Husband's eyes got really wide and was completely sold.  It was all fixed up and ready to go, except that we knew we were going to need a mulcher attachment, because let's be honest, bagging a half acre of grass is going to be even more back breaking than pushing a regular mower over it.

I could get into a whole rant over Lowe's decision to stop carrying mulching kits in-store and the fiasco of online ordering and getting it installed.  With the help of the store manager the part was ordered and installed on our mower.  It took forever and a day to get the part delivered, but pick your battles, folks.  We really did land an awesome deal for this vehicle so waiting two weeks was worth it.

And then it arrived. 

It sat in our garage with us pushing and poking buttons and levers and nary a sound was emitted.  Once we figured out how to start the thing, both feet on peddles pushed all the way down, choke out, gas all the way up... then we had to figure out how to make it GO.  I'm sure we spent close to an hour, turning it on, turning it off, revving it up, flooding the engine.  He was on the phone with the store, I was online searching for an owners manual.  We knew it was something basic, a special sequence or an overlooked button, but WHAT????  It turns out there is a tiny wire thing hanging out the back of the mower that basically puts it into neutral so you can push it on and off loading trailers.  ooooh

I had been inside for a while and ventured out to see if Hubby had any progress.  Evidently he discovered that wire thing and was speeding up and down the street!  He should have stayed on it and maybe the lawn would have been properly mowed but I hopped on and was not letting go of the controls. 

At first I just wanted to see how it mowed.  Well hell, since I'm there, let's knock out these weeds that are a horrid eye sore.  And then I wanted to see how it held up against the thick grass in the back corner - brilliantly, by the way.  Suddenly I am criss-crossing the yard in no specific pattern, mowing the grass.  I really should get up on my roof to take a picture of my tracks.  I broke every rule of mowing.  I went back over areas previously mowed, I didn't follow my tracks, I darted from one side of the yard to the other.  Granted the whole thing is now mowed, and completely in under 30 minutes thankyouverymuch, but it looks like a sixth grader on crack got his hands on a riding lawn mower for the first time.

Did I mention it was raining?

New Walking Path

At my old house I had a beautiful park at my disposal with clear walking paths.  If I wanted a change in scenery I could veer onto one of the other smaller paths or venture through the neighborhood.  It was probably the one thing I liked most about that house.

This morning was my first walk since moving.  And man oh man did my back need that!  Isn't it amazing how something so simple as a 20 minute walk can clear up a whole bunch of problems?  I woke up way too early with an aching back and decided what the hell, get outside.

I get excited whenever I encounter wildlife and the very first thing I heard when I stepped out the door was the hoot of an owl.  I never did see him, but I heard him a couple of times in the distance as I continued to walk (definitely explains the lack of bunny rabbits in my yard).  I opted for the easiest path which was down the street for a few houses.  Had I gone the opposite direction I would have had some hefty hills to hike up - something I'll work towards but not on my first day out in how many months???

On my wish list for my new house was some place green to walk.  Well how much more green can one get than a golf course?  I didn't walk but more than the length of three houses on the golf cart path but who cares?  My wish was fulfilled and I have some wonderful walking paths at my disposal.  I'm not sure if I can get away with it in the middle of the day, not that I'm a mid-day walker anyways, but at 5am? It's just me and the owls (and a rooster in the distance).

Mowing, mowing, mowing, mowing... And more mowing

McHoly Moly this is a bigass yard!  It is a half acre which is lovely to look upon and is a pleasant walkabout... however when it needs to be tended?  Ugh.

Husband is a farmboy.  He scoffed when the teenager and I raised concerns about mowing.  Why he and his brothers cleared a full acre with a regular push mower!  Mmmhhhmmm.  With his bad knees it wasn't going to be him pushing a lawnmower back and forth.  And with the teenager alternating weeks between here and his dad's house it is going to be ME doing the mowing.  Little, out of shape, Me. Huffing and puffing behind a lawnmower.  Across a half acre.

I figured my best line of attack was to break the yard into quadrants and the first one was more weeds than beautiful grass and it was (is) sprouting more rapidly than the rest of the yard.  I mowed it within days of moving in and then returned to the inside of the house unpacking boxes.  It was enough to keep the neighbors from complaining.

A week later I ventured to the second quadrant, a thick lush lawn.  It was so thick that it constantly killed the mower and it was a struggle to complete.  Hubby was resigned after watching me complete the first section that one day we would break down and buy a riding mower, but after seeing the smaller section pose a bigger challenge it was clear we were not going to wait until end of the season sales.  The next day I pulled the mower out and attacked the next section.  I was a bigger, but more barren piece of ground and was much easier than the previous two sections.

That afternoon we went to Lowe's to sign up for a credit card and buy a riding mower.  I will have to wait another week before it's delivered.  This means I will have to pull out the regular mower at least one more time.  There is still one quadrant I haven't touched.  Fortunately it is not too scraggly looking, but the weedy section is starting to scream out again.

Even with the riding mower the old regular mower will still be used.  This isn't one big flat park, there are twists and turns requiring a smaller mower for attack.

Despite all of my whining and sweating I have actually enjoyed mowing my yard.  The key phrase there is MY YARD.  It has been a mighty long time since I have owned property.  It is a good work out and I feel energized to do more.  I can't wait until I can do some serious landscaping which will reduce the amount that needs to be mowed and I will have lots of pretty flowers!

My yard.  My big, pain in the ass to mow, yard.  I'm happy.

When Shopping For a House

A friend told me about her sister who needed to move almost immediately after purchasing a house because they had failed to consider the school district.  They landed a gorgeous home in one of the shittiest school districts in all of St. Louis.  It's a total no-brainer but if you have preschool aged children then maybe it's something that missed your check list.

We had a similar no-brainer.  We know perfectly well the state of decline my former hometown has suffered.  Our new house is in a gorgeous neighborhood but we are realistic in understanding that there is a level of crime not so far away.  Yet it wasn't until we started discussing an alarm company to reduce our home owner's insurance that we suddenly noticed that absolutely every single house in the neighborhood has a little security sign in their front yard.  Had this been anywhere on our radar we may have bid differently (lower) for our house.

I watch the old lady across the street of my current (soon-to-be former) house struggle with the hike up the stairs to her house.  She is literally perched on a hill with 12 steps to her front door.  This was an important aspect to keep in mind as hubby's knees are in bad shape.  I kept a close eye on entry steps as well as interior stairs.  We landed a lovely mid-century ranch with only one single step to get inside the house.  There is a basement but that won't be part of the regular living space so that doesn't matter.  I do wonder, though, if my neighbor ever considered how treacherous those steps would be in her twilight years?  Or did anyone think about the challenge of mowing those steep hills?  If I owned one of those houses I would totally dig up the yard and landscape in a manner that wouldn't have me chasing a mower down the hill and then pushing it back up.

Parking is something that has never been something I put much thought into for any of my homes.  We always had a driveway.  This house has a shared driveway with the house next door.  On top of that, the street parking is so horrid that it's close to impossible to entertain without completely displacing all of my neighbors.  The new house has a private driveway as well as ample street parking for my visiting friends.  This has never been an issue, nor do I think it will be ever in the future, but I think it's worth considering when you find the house of your dreams - exactly where do your visitors have to park?  Even if you don't expect to do much entertaining, just having the visiting nurse to exchange your oxygen tank my be an issue.

My brother and SIL discovered that the showers in their new house posed a problem when SIL's mom came to visit for Christmas.  Her mother is in a wheelchair and was completely unable to bathe herself in a house with three bathrooms!  For a young family, having enclosed tubs was sufficient, but if and injury or visitor with limitations arrive, you could really appreciate having at least one walk-in shower.  That may not be a reason to pass up a house, but it could be something to consider when remodeling time comes around.

I'm sure wise readers could add to this list!  What suggestions would you make to a home shopper?

My House Is Amazing

Actually my house is a maze... of boxes.  Of course I did not plan this well so it isn't a cool maze with tunnels, twists, turns, and deadends.  No, it's an old person maze with consideration of natural walking paths and not blocking the view of the TV or access to the bathroom.  The worst of it is you have to turn sideways to leave the living room or enter my son's bedroom.

We are a week away from closing and two weeks away from moving.  Very soon we will be living out of suitcases.  This weekend I plan to empty cupboards and cabinets.  I had up to this point packed away all of the extra stuff or things I knew we wouldn't need - like five boxes of cake mix and the new "guest" towels.  Now I'm going to narrow down the the absolute essentials like salt and toothpaste to be left out or sitting in an opened box on the counter.

For all of the people who detest and hate packing - I am the sick asshole who enjoys it.  Maybe I should do this for a living?  hmmmmm

Seller's Disclosure

We found a house!  Closing is in two weeks so it isn't final yet and I remain on edge that something may still happen to bring the deal crashing around my feet.  Worrying is not a natural state of being for me so my anxiety level is extraordinarily high.  This is not a happy place for me.

Holy cow what a process to even get to this point.  As I've said before, shopping is not my forte.  Combing through racks of clothing is annoying enough, walking through house after house is downright exhausting.  We have bid on three different houses, each with its own set of problems.  The current house is by far the most expensive and it was difficult to get the seller to come down to a palatable price.

Then came the inspections.  We were confident that this was a rather clean property and actually considered forgoing the cost of inspection.  Woooo, Buddy, that was a VERY BAD IDEA.  We are SO glad we went ahead with the inspection.  So glad.

The relator suggested an inspector he has used often with the understanding that this guy is very thorough.  And he was.  He pointed out every little bump, crack, and possible hiccup with the house.  He even showed hubby how to operate the windows, humidifier, and dryer flue.  The inspector raved about the quality of the house and said it had been cared for very well... and then submitted a list a mile long of stuff right down to cracks in the back of the fireplace.

This prompted several exchanges between us and the seller about desired repairs.  What's frustrating, though, a couple of items should have been on the disclosure.  I understand that no one caught the fissure in the back of the fireplace.  It took a bright flashlight and craning my neck to see it.  It's probably been there for over a decade, hiding in shadows.  But the disclosure was BLANK.  Not a damn thing listed.

The seller's agent was apologetic saying this property was in trust and that the trustee never lived in the house.  oooookay... 

There is a miniscule amount of termite damage that was revealed in our inspection.  When we inquired suddenly a warrantee popped up, quickly.  That tells me the trustee has access to information.  Furthermore, we found out through an insurance agent that a claim for theft was made against the property just a few months ago - WHILE IT WAS ON THE MARKET.  This pisses me off.  Oh and the theft we pieced together and was later confirmed by the seller was all of the copper water lines in the basement.  That's major.  I don't give a damn that the trustee didn't live in the house, this theft happened on their watch.  They submitted an insurance claim on it and the agent knew about it.  That is dishonest.

In speaking to other relators they agree it is shady, but not illegal.

While all of this is going on one of my friends is also shopping for a house.  She found a gorgeous home complete with an in-ground pool.  I was happy for her, but her timing totally screwed with my anticipated move.  Allllll about me, right?

Then she, too, encountered non-disclosed issues with the house.  Unfortunately her seller is uncooperative (worse than mine) and refuses to repair the $10-$15,000 estimate of termite damage.  That's pretty significant.  There were some other major issues before the termite situation arose, also not disclosed.  While termites can wield their damage rather quickly and may have not been something the owner knew about, the other items WERE festering issues.




As a seller I'm not sure what I would do in that situation.  Chances are the people just don't have the cash to make the improvements, I'm definitely sympathetic with that.  Yet, having a beautiful home that needs significant repairs means the price has to come down or you are stuck with a rotting, empty house.  And that, my friends, is an even more expensive proposition.

I will have to keep this in mind as one day my property will have to go back on the market.  It is so very important to keep a house maintained and repaired.  This very reason is why I advocate that renting a house is not always a bad idea (another blog post for another day).  I will be a loud reminder to fully disclose the known flaws of a house going up for sale.  Yep, it might affect the price but that was your bed to make a long time ago by not keeping the property in good repair. 

House Hunting

Last week was the bigass auction for work.  And we are finally bearing down on a rollout date for our new database (you know, the one that was supposed to be released last September???).  Needless to say when I get home I'm exhausted.  So it seemed like a good time to look for a new place to live.  Don't you think that was a good idea?  It certainly diverts my attention away from the chaos at work!

This house hunting process is really draining.  Maybe if I enjoyed shopping more this would be not quite so painful.  Hubby and I stood in the appliance store last week and were discussing the different features.  Finally, I gave up and said, "I'm going to pull a dude-move.  As long as the refrigerator can keep my beer cold and ice cream frozen and that the oven can cook my frozen pizza, I really don't give a rat's ass." This is pretty much my attitude about buying a house.

Oh okay, maybe I have a few more opinions about the biggest purchase of my life.  I love houses and have some firm opinions about style, layout, room sizes, and decor.  So tromping through houses is interesting as I like seeing the inside of different houses and that may be the only thing that keeps me sane through this process.

On our first day out, the last house, the one thrown in as an after-thought, was the one we fell in love with.  It didn't meet several of the must-haves on our lists but we both really, really liked it.  It definitely helped us narrow down some of the other features we feel is necessary in a house.  On our second tour of the house we discovered an electric issue and decided to keep looking.

Our next journey took us through fourteen different properties.  Again, we found an awesome house.  It had all of the must-haves and then some.  We agreed, let's put an offer on it.  The same day our bid was submitted we found out that the house is being put up for a bulk sale.  I don't fully understand what or why that is, but in the end that house could come back as a possibility for us but we will be pitted against other people who have put offers on that house and it will be like a silent auction. 

Well hell...

We left the offer on the table, but we haven't stopped looking.  Clearly something amazing and awesome is still waiting for us.  I'm getting a little weary of this process and we really haven't gone through very many properties.

One positive thing that has come out of this process is that despite a few angry exchanges between The Husband and myself, we actually agree on quite a bit about housing options.  We really are good roommates.