Friday - August 21, 2009

Moving on out

Well, I guess it’s a done deal. We’re moving.

I don’t have much say in the matter.

Three weeks ago this wasn’t even a blip on the radar.

Now I have a week and a half to pack up this whole place and shuttle it over to another apartment. And if all goes well, I’ll get to do that all over again soon thereafter.

I guess it’s a step in the right direction, but frankly I could do without the whole thing.

So glad I spent half a day this week getting the cable service squared away. I hope the account is transferable. I think it is.

So, assuming we can get the power turned on, services activated, et cetera, in good order, there shouldn’t be any interruption of blogging here at BMEWS. Assuming my PC survives the trip.

And I know damned well it’s going to be me doing 95% of the work, just like always happens with any other project “we” get involved in. Always.

And of course, it has to happen when the weather is just friggin sweltering.

Can you tell I’m just thrilled to pieces? And so looking forward to the whole thing? No? Neither can I.



UPDATE:

Ok, it’s not as bad as I thought.

Here’s the deal. We’re looking to purchase a home, either a small house or one of these condos here in the area. If you can buy right now, you can get in on this $8000 first time buyer’s tax credit, and if you haven’t bought a house in 3 years you qualify as a first time buyer. And right now the market is a bit depressed around here. Lots of homes on the market, not many buyers. We’ve been watching the “comps” on these condos, and while there are about 40 of them for sale in the 8 condo parks in the area, very few are actually closing. Less than one every other month for the past year. Prices are down ... some. Not enough in my opinion: in 2000, places like the one we’re in right now sold for $80,000. In 2007 they were asking $200,000 but closing on $185,000. Now the asking price is down to $163,000, and the rare closings are in the low $150s. And we’ve found several that need some fixing up, modernizing, or some general repairs for less than that. We’ve found a couple that are in foreclosure, or short sale, or REO (whatever that means), for as much as $30,000 below market. So we’re hot to get one.

So why move? Well, the lease is up here in a couple of weeks. And by a very long, involved, soap opera -esque story, my wife’s boss has a bigger condo in perfect condition, in the swankier area, that he prepaid an entire year’s rent on, that he can’t unload. It was occupied for just 3 weeks, and now he needs a tenant. We are moving in, but only paying the same rent that we’re paying here. And that place has gas heat, so the utilities bill will be less.

And it’s huge. It’s easily 25% larger than this place, with better parking to boot. Brand new carpet in all the rooms, brand new lino in the kitchen. Everything works, even the intercom and the alarm system. He’s willing to eat a couple hundred bucks a month loss, instead of the whole thing. So while we try and wheel and deal for a place of our own to own, we can live there, in style, for a few bucks less than what it’s costing us now.

And I’m going to try and get a job from him. Maybe I can become an eyeball tech like my wife, or just be a receptionist. The pay isn’t going to be great, but it’s steady work, indoors, with no heavy lifting. You see, he suddenly finds himself in need of another tech. And another junior receptionist. Because his tenants were his employees and they both quit, single mother and just out of high school daughter. And they moved out. And they took all the clothing and furniture he had bought them. And stuck him with a prepaid year long lease on a really nice apartment he has no use for now. See, doc was a bit of a playa ... and was only thinking with the little brain, not the big one. So we can help him out by letting him help us out, and if I can get a job there it will be helping him out even more, and the regular dependable employment there will only help us mortgage-wise.

I’m getting too old to be hanging off of ladders washing windows. And while the money is AWESOME when I get work, I’m not getting enough work to make it worthwhile. The big jobs are few and far between, and the little jobs have just about evaporated in this bad economy. So it’s time to get a regular job again. But at least I was my own boss for a few years, and that’s a good thing.

So I’ll be taking stuff over to the new apartment one carload at a time for the next week, then we’ll rent a truck to move the big stuff. And if we have to pay a little extra to our landlord to keep this current place another week or two, that’s fine. Why knock ourselves dead, when the move is less than 5 miles away? Take it slow and easy. And if it takes a couple months to close on a short sale home, we have a nice place to stay in the meantime. Heck , we can stay there 11 months if we want, and then pay full rent thereafter. But I don’t think it will take that long.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/21/2009 at 09:12 PM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life •  
• Comments (7) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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