Still Looking

House hunting is everything I thought it would be. Real Estate people have there own set of rules that they have brought with them from their home world. Yes I believe that there are aliens among us. Everything they do seems to be tilted. The real cost of things is based on as they say," location ,location ,location." that means the real cost of the property is mainly the ground it sits on. The same house built by the same vendor by the same construction company can vary wildly if it was built in the OC and not the IE. This part I get.
What seems other worldly to me is when they take the same area and use different houses (one is still decked out in its 70's glory, the other has "upgrades") They want you to decide on the price by basing on prices of other homes, or the "potential" of the house. I understand you can do $35,000 in make overs. Why does this make the house worth $100000 more? The cost of the land doesn't change. They tell you 3 other houses in the area sold for (insert $ here) and you should pay what they paid or you're bringing everyone elses value down.
Imagine buying a car for sticker value because somebody else did before you. Oh and we won't tell you if the one they paid for had to have new seats,no radio and 3 cylinders aren't working. They are crazy.
I am not even going to start on the financing part of this, where you qualify for certain amount and have stellar credit but somebody else made bad credit decisions so we are going to make you pay for that as well. Or you must pay more to insure that you can really pay for what you borrowed. If you don't think I can pay don't lend. AUGHHHHHHHH!!!!
Beam me up Scotty. we are going to look some more today as the other home went to somebody else...or did it? Why do they ask for back up offers? If the person whose offer they took was so great why do you want back ups?
Maybe my view will change when I've seen so many properties that they all blur into one and I really start thinking like a Realtor and can even understand their language.
Maybe a 2 hour commute each way from nowhere won't be so bad.

Our puter crashed yesterday. I lost alot of data as my back up disk didn't have much on it.

I did find a couple of old pictures and thought I would share.

Try an guess how old they are.

Just an quick update. We won't know if our offer is accepted for a few more days. We changed the terms a bit to make it more attractive.
I believe we will know by Monday at the latest. I think this weekend will be used to start cleaning out the junk so we won't have to much when we do move.
Wish us Luck!

The hunt for a Home

We took the first step tonight of writing our first offer on a new house. It is a low offer but it is for a house that the bank owns. I am hoping that they see the value of getting money and not holding land.

The yard has lots of work so anyone wanting to come visit can help pull weeds and help trim back the vegetation.

My favorite spot might be the fireplace. I love the hard wood floors.

I like the 500 sq/ft family room. It will also be nice when everyone comes home. And they will come home. If we are lucky enough to get this home. It is in Yorba Linda close to the Placentia line.

Wish us luck!

Well I'm begining to think this house hunting is harder than it appears. We went and looked at about 10 homes today. Their were only about 2 worth even considering.

Shayla and Kaylee came along and it was easy to see what wasn't good by looking at the expressions on their faces.

We also went up to Shayla's Graduation and I couldn't beleave it was snowed. We had a great time. I got to see my brother George and sister Lisa so it was a bonus trip.

I need to write a nasty complaining letter to the the Liberty Square aparment in Provo. They had cleaning checkout scheduled for 11am. They didn't come check until after 2pm. They failed everyone who wasn't present. They upset many parents who needed to leave to catch flights or travel. They said it wasn't their problem.

They also charge $30/hr to clean. Not a bad scam if I ever saw one. Kaylee got little sleep staying up tp pack and clean.

I hope we can send info soon on our search for a new home. There will be one that will be right for us.

Thank you Shayla for fixing the pictures so I could use them!

So everybody knows this is what we looked like at 6.

Today we will continue our search for a new place to call home. It is exciting as well as disappointing. We need to stay in So. California and I need to keep my present job until we retire. That means we live in one of the most expencive places to buy a home. The average price in our area is still mid $500,000. That means a mortage of betwwen $3000 & 4000/mo. That is a little bit of a mind boggler. We want to be in our new place by June/July at the latest so we need to start putting on the pressure.

I hope that I will do much better a picking a house than I did the winner of March Madness.

I have finished cutting the lawn and now need to wash the car then it will be House Search 08.

Any comments or advice (lawfull as bank robbing is out) on making this work I am all ears.( no comments that I do look like Dumbo)

Tag responce

What are 5 things I have to do today?

1. Drive on the Wonderful LA freeways
2. Plan more for Youth Conference
3. Find out what has happened in the world today
4. Work on Blog.
5. Thank my wife for being wonderful.

Where was I 10 years ago?

About the same as today only, one daughter away at school and 3 still at home.

What are 5 snacks I like?
Watermelon.
Girl Scout Thin Mints Frozen.
Any fresh baked cookies with chocolate.
Hot buttered popcorn
Black Licorice

What would I do if I was suddenly a billionaire?

Most likely die before I could spend it or realize the dollar has fallen to an all time low where a loaf of bread cost $323,000,000.00 a loaf.

What are 4 bad habits I have?
1. Talking to much
2. Thinking way faster than I speak
3. Not saying Thank-you enough
4. Love seeing other fall down.

What are 5 jobs that I've had?
Worked as a chimney sweep for the summer in high school is MA
Sold Ford’s at Given Ford on University Ave in Provo
Bottled Pepsi in Provo
Worked For Aztec Industries of Chattanooga,TN
Threw newspapers (Wall Street Journal) to get extra income.

DO I know anyone famous?
Define “know”. I have met many famous people.

Have you started any trends in that last year?
I didn’t start it but it looks like bloging might be a trend.

If I were a pizza topping what would I and be and why?
Red Pepper everyone needs a bit of spice.

What is your favorite clothing trend?
Wearing them…Adam and Eve got it right with covering up.

What is your favorite commercial?
My favorite all time is Alka Seltzer “that some spicey meataball.

Which Seasame Street character is your favorite?
Big Bird, Isn’t it obvious?

Which Christmas Vacation character do you see yourself as?
I don’t remember the name but this clip might help Sorry about the commercial first but wait for the video.
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/christmas-story-tongue/652877833