Flit, flit, flit

[msmemory_archive]

I have no attention span this week for no specific reason. So in no particular order --

I'm behind on my pace for my current freelance job. This will mean some extra time later this week. It's an interesting book, but thick and I made the mistake of taking Birka weekend "off" from reading.

Now that we are (temporarily) catless, it's time to clean up the joint and move out of it. Much throwing out. Yeah, I do remember wearing some of those sweaters, back when tunic length "handknit" sweaters and leggings were fashionable. Oh my.

My FIL phoned on Friday night, to tell me he'd heard from his brother's wife, V. V is doing a medical internship in some kind of homeopathic medicine with a special focus on geriatrics. So a group from her medical school are going to an assisted living building once a week to counsel the residents. As it happens, it's Mother's building, and Mother introduced herself last week. FIL wants me to call V to answer questions about Mother. I'm procrastinating doing so.

I'll be taking jducoeur out to his favorite restaurant on Friday for special (4-0) birthday dinner. Much more focused on that dinner than birthday pressies or Valentine's day, which makes me feel guilty. Isn't modern merchandising wonderful, where I can spend over $100 on one dinner and still feel guilty if I don't buy him some shiny trinket two days later?

We'll be thinking and talking much about the moving thing over the next couple months. All of you out in the ether may get really tired of hearing it after a while. Sorry! One of the "sooner" projects should probably be choosing one of the eager realtors who keep flooding our mailbox with offers of free market appraisals - we need one that will give us a fair assessment of what needs/must be done to the house before sale, or whether it's sensible to sell it off to someone who wants to tear it down and build something shiny-new on the lot (and not put kilobucks into rewiring the family room, or replacing the cellar door).

More rambling later.

Comments

[anastasiav.livejournal.com]

Is jducoeur's birthday on Friday?

Ivan's Birthday is on Valentine's Day, which means that (for us) we've just totally substituted the one 'holiday' for the other. No guilt. We also have a very solid no stupid cards rule, which helps a great deal....

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Yes, his birthday is the 12th. I like your plan!

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

V and personal questions -- since I haven't phoned yet, I don't know whether her questions are to do with Mother's medical history, or her preferences in gift cookies :)

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Area comparables - actually, a number of those hungry realtors are more than happy to send us postcards whenever something sells in our area. The ranch house kitty-corner across the street sold for $369K in mid-December, for example.

[new-man.livejournal.com]

mermaidlady and I spent part of the snowstorm thinning and reorganizing the closet. Very little got thrown away, but a lot of stuff got put aside for charity. It's satisfying, sort of like dieting, but faster.

I'd suggest that rather than finding a realtor to list your place with, that you find a buyer's agent. Many buyer's agents are also realtors and there's no conflict for them to sell your place while trying to find you a new place.

If you need help with home repair let me know. I'd be happy to do some minor work as a favor, and if you need more serious work (carpentry, painting, wall board, etc.) learnedax and I are a pretty good team -- and since he's out of work, we come pretty cheap ;-)

[jducoeur]

If you need help with home repair let me know.

Thanks -- it's possible that we'll take you up on that. Some of the work needed is smallish, but I just don't know how to do it yet -- for example, replacing a bit of wallboard where the squirrels dug through it, or replastering a few ceiling bits where there is minor water damage.

The big question, through, is the back wing of the house, which has been essentially destroyed by animal damage. That requires a real contractor -- it needs the ceiling replaced, complete rewiring, reinsulation, the whole nine yards. Far as I can tell, we're talking somewhere north of $20K for the whole job, which is why we need to make a very serious decision about whether to repair it or sell it as a fixer-upper or knockdown. My gut instinct is to fix it up ourselves, but enough people have told us to consider the other option that we're doing so...

[new-man.livejournal.com]

The big question, through, is the back wing of the house...

If it's still standing, I suspect you don't need a knockdown. I also suspect that I (and a small crew) could do almost all of the work (and I have a good electrician). Andy Benson is also doing construction these days. If you want, I'll swing out and take a look at it at some point.

And Happy Birthday ;-)

[tpau]

where are you thinking of moving to?

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Waltham, Watertown, Newton, Arlington, Burlington. i.e. staying in the same area.

[nazrynn.livejournal.com]

Good luck with moving... God knows, you're probably getting tired of my rambling about that by now.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that everything goes off smoothly.

House selling

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

You remember our house in PA. The realtors universally agreed that it was "too cluttered" to show well. I'm sure I can imagine your bogglement -- I sure was. (Those of you just reading along -- Living room and corner of living room) I think much of the western world wants to live in a flavorless beige box or something.

After we moved out and had the walls painted, we got a lot more interest. Probably should have replaced the rugs with "berber" type, too, but didn't want to spend that much, as the paint had been about $2K and the same for remedial yard maintenance. Fortunately the outside of the house was stucco, so we didn't have to have that scraped & painted. In retrospect, replacing the rugs would have cost less than having it sit empty for 6 months.

Which reminds me: random advice: when you get a new place, if there's a ghost of a chance you want new rugs or paint, do it before you move in. It takes forever and is a big hassle if you try to do it afterwards.

Re: House selling

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

That's cluttered? I wish anyplace I'd lived had ever been that tidy.

I second the advice on the carpet and paint. I moved into an apartment two weeks before new carpet was to be installed (I *had* to leave my previous place as I was subletting and the people on the lease were returning) and it was an enormous pain.

Re: House selling

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, frightening, isn't it? That was super duper clean & uncluttered, for us (prior to kids, that is.)

Re: House selling

[matildalucet.livejournal.com]

That wasn't cluttered. What realtors want is a house that has no sign of your personality or tastes, allegedly to make it easier for potential buyers to imagine themselves and their stuff in the space. Oh, and allegedly an empty room looks bigger.

Now if I had been looking at your living room, not only would I have been tempted to buy but I would have wanted to know how much you wanted to leave that furniture behind. That room had STYLE.

Re: House selling

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Those pages are both up and linked from my Medievaloid Home Companion webpage. You might find it interesting -- http://www.virtue.to

The only piece that isn't easily available is the twist-legged table, which I got at a yardsale. I think it was from the revival in the 70s.

Now, my in-laws have a whole suite of things that look like that table, and much better made. I lust after them. The furniture, that is. They got it at an estate sale 40+ years ago.

Re: House selling

[jducoeur]

if there's a ghost of a chance you want new rugs or paint, do it before you move in. It takes forever and is a big hassle if you try to do it afterwards.

Understood from firsthand experience. Despite the fact that msmemory pretty well loathes the living room carpet, we've never gotten it replaced due to the hassle factor...

House values

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I forgot to mention that it's our experience that some realtors will overestimate the potential selling price of a house, in order to get you salivating.

To get a realistic baseline, try talking with your insurance company. They should be able to separate out the price of the house from the price of the land it is on, and they won't charge you for the info. (Ours told us our values, which was amusing. The land is worth about 3x the house value. Explains the tear-down across the street, now a large "colonial" type.)

Re: House values

[jducoeur]

The land is worth about 3x the house value.

I'm hoping that's true in our case as well -- given that we're in Waltham, it's entirely possible. That would be very encouraging, as it makes the tear-down option very viable, while still realizing a considerable return on the investment...

[pamelina.livejournal.com]

Another good way of figuring out how much your house is worth is to look at what comparable houses in your area have sold for in the recent past, which are public records. That's how insurance companies and realtors do it, anyway. Gives you very usefull information.

[new-man.livejournal.com]

You don't need a realtor to find that info either. Go to

https://secure.boston.com/premium/bt/

#53 and #118 have sold within the past year, each for right around $335K.