The Shoemaker's Children... posted on Jan 17, 2008 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Okay, it's official. The kitchen project is Getting On My Nerves. I went out and did grocery shopping today - yes, in the snow. People do it all the time in Massachusetts, though it has to be said that the...
SawZaw posted on Jan 03, 2008 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
You can view photos of the destruction of the kitchen / dining room barrier here if you want. Now that we're moving into the construction phase, I pomise to post those photos too....
Well, It's Gone Now.... posted on Jan 01, 2008 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Not only is 2007 gone, but so is everything that once stood as a barrier between the kitchen and the dining room. Specifically, the eating bar, both of it's support beams, the storage cabinets (such as they were) underneath and...
No Traffic posted on Nov 11, 2007 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Although we had folks in the condo complex this week who are already under contract, and we have a settlement at the end of the month, we had absolutely no new traffic at work this week. I had to turn...
Could It Be Over? posted on Sep 23, 2007 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Here on the front lines of the housing market - the sales center for brand new condos - the worse the news reports get the better our market seems to be. Though this week was slow for new traffic, each...
Vultures, I Tell Ya! posted on Aug 19, 2007 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Man, nothing makes refreshments at the sales center disappear faster than a visit from realtors! We only had two of them in today, but between them a whole plate of oatmeal cookies was just GONE. I mean, I know commissions...
Real Estate Really Crazy posted on Aug 07, 2007 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
You know, I think that thing we see coming up to hit us in the face really fast might be the “bottom” of the housing market everyone is talking about. Well, maybe not everyone. Just people like me who are...
At Last! posted on Jun 05, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
We made it through settlement! It looked like it was going to be another non-starter since the guy who was buying the house was surprised by the sudden appearance of $1,700 on his side of the settlement sheet. And not...
Syntax Error posted on Jun 02, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
The settlement was a no go. I wasn’t upset. I wasn’t even surprised. Mortgages require such a huge amount of paperwork on the part of so many different people it’s a wonder that anyone ever manages to get through a...
Almost There! posted on Jun 01, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Less than 24 hours to go until the settlement. Except for that I’m not really going to go to the settlement. I’m going to show up on my way to work to sign the papers early. The Hub is the...
Is It Ever Going to End? posted on May 24, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Tomorrow, I’m going back to the old house to get my china and all the stuff The Hub left in the kitchen. We’re almost completely moved out, but the buyer’s realtor keeps calling and insisting “ that place has to...
A Bird in the Hand and The Ones in The Carport posted on May 03, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Well, it looks pretty official. Except for one set of initials, all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed. Barring any kind of weird, unforeseen events, we'll go to settlement on May 31. The "real" selling price of...
It's a Deal? posted on May 02, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
We may have a fairly decent offer on the house - The Frankenstein Offer - having gone through a whole bunch of negotiation and brinkmanship, mostly carried on by our realtors, God bless them. I didn't get get too worked...
It's Alive! ( Sort of Like a Frankenstein Monster) posted on Apr 27, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Remember that bid, the real low bid on our house? Of course you do! It's the only bid we've had. Apparently, according to our realtors, it's still alive.....sort of like a Frankenstein Monster. I say that because there is no...
Frogs in Limbo.... posted on Apr 18, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Our counter offer was rejected by the potential buyers -or, at least, by their bank. That's what we heard from our realtors this morning. It makes me think that the bidders were just sort of testing the waters to see...
Insulted....But In a Good Way posted on Apr 17, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Birda is back at the old house. I was there and noticed a new nest in a different part of the car port. Also, there has been a frog population explosion. A lot of debris was floating around in the...
We're Goin' Down, Down, Down..... posted on Apr 05, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
We talked to the realtors and lowered the price of the house another $2,000 today. So far we've reduced the price by a total of $7,000 all with the same results: lot of traffic but no offers. Somebody is going...
Dryer Exonerated in Basement Fire posted on Apr 04, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
The poor Hub. He's able to fix anything. And, as a result, he winds up fixing everything. I didn't say it was EASY for him to fix stuff. I just said he could do it. Most of the time it's...
We Interupt This Program.... posted on Mar 17, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
...the one where I was blathering about what impresses me - to bring you A MOMENT OF PANIC! Well. I have these moments. We're lowering the price on the house. We don't have any choice. There's been a ton of...
The Perfect Place to Live posted on Mar 07, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing:Bird Blog]
I came across this Chinese proverb today: "A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song." It doesn't seem real relevant to my problems of frying driers, unhappy automobiles, and the seemingly...
Well, That's One Way to Meet Your Neighbors.... posted on Mar 05, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
We had four people look at the house earlier today, Sunday. Every weekend we have more and more traffic, so I'm hopeful we'll soon get an offer. Otherwise the weekend was quiet. Well, until the end. The Hub had to...
Saved By Bunions? posted on Feb 20, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
I had so much hoped that today would be the day when I could write "we sold the house". Alas, we didn't. Worse, I have to give you the same old story: people looked at it liked it, narrowed it...
Magic 8 Ball Wrong Again! - Full Story at 11 posted on Jan 23, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
"Well, we almost had 'em." Jeff said, encouragingly. He meant the family that liked the house so much, but the gap between what they felt they could afford and the cost of the house was too great, even if we...
"It's Perfect....But...." posted on Jan 20, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Aaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh! Okay, I have officially screamed my head off in frustration. Actually, I wouldn't be so frustrated if I hadn't just come back from getting lost in Gaithersburg, again during my dinner hour. I don't know why I find this...
New Nest - Sort Of posted on Jan 03, 2006 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
We have pretty much moved. I started out on Saturday taking 5 gallons of yellow paint over to "the new house" to paint the kitchen. Not that the kitchen needs five gallons of paint - not by any means. The...
Moving to Memory Lane posted on Dec 30, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Every day, we move another little bit of stuff into the new house, but we haven't moved anything big, like the furniture....or the dog. We did take the dog to the new place to let him sniff it and walk...
Count Down to Moving Day posted on Dec 28, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
The Hub is taking this week off from paying jobs to work on our kitchen, in an effort to get the house into more sale-able shape. He has begun to repair a crack in the ceiling - which, of course,...
Is Rubber a Food Group? posted on Dec 22, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Incidentally, dogsindepth.com gives this description of the temperment of mastiffs: "sensative, good natured, dignified, easy going, gentle, tender, couragous, docile, and laid back. Some can be shy" I don't know if that's close to my personality or The Hub's...but it...
Buy Our House for Christmas! posted on Dec 19, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
We had decided to take the house off of the market for 30 days....and as soon as we decided to do that we had another showing on Saturday. I was dumbfounded. All this time has gone by with absolutely no...
The Headless Snowman posted on Dec 08, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Everything seemed to be going pretty well today before The Hub whacked off the head of the snowman deocaration we had in the yard. He came into the house carrying it under his arm and looking mightily burnt up. "For...
War of the Wall - A New Hope posted on Nov 29, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
We came up with a solution for the problem regarding the layers of wall paper border in our kitchen. In case you are just tuning in, this is the continuing saga of trying to get 50 years worth of wall...
War of the Walls posted on Nov 20, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
The Hub has been steadily doing battle with the wrecked wall all day. In the process he kinda sorta wrecked the door to the office ( it has a small hole in it from being wacked with a piece...
Honey, I Trashed the House posted on Nov 14, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
It's terrible to be a home wrecker....especially when you're wrecking your own home! Nevetheless, that's what wound up happening Saturday when my brother came down to help me take the the wall paper border off of the kitchen. This was...
House For Sale In Westminster, Maryland - Cheap! posted on Nov 06, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
If you're looking for a really great house in Westminster, Maryland at an excellent price than, by all means, click here. Once again this weekend, we had no one come to look at the house. It's discouraging. We decided to...
Stood Up posted on Oct 28, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
"You know," I said to The Hub as we were rigerously cleaning the house for a 3:00 showing, "we're going to go through all this and the people will look around for five minutes and say 'that's nice' and then...
The Bandicoot at the Door posted on Oct 27, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Yesterday there was a knock at the door in the middle of the day. I got up and looked out the glass topped windows - I'm not keen on surprises. It was my neighbor from the furthest end of the...
Hostile Haircut and the Redneck Refugees posted on Oct 25, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Believe it or not, a fourth property has gone on the market on my block. It's not exactly competition with our house because it's a large older home that has been re-done and is being sold as three apartments. Still,...
Dumped in a Small Town posted on Oct 20, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
I'm trying to tell myself that this isn't a good thing or a bad thing - it's just a thing. Another house on Main St. within walking distance of my house, went on the market. That makes practically a forest...
...Oh, Yeah, That posted on Oct 18, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
We have a showing of the house this afternoon, and it took plenty of time to clean it last night. Because we've gone almost 3 weeks with nobody looking at it, we really let our guard down on keeping the...
Showing the House Again: A New Hope posted on Sep 23, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
We had a real estate showing tonight at 6:00. It was really quite a feat of cleaning, since I got home from work at 5:00 and The Hub had to leave for The Depot at 5:30, and I had to...
The Dangers of a Talking House posted on Sep 21, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
Well, we've been getting "Lookers". Prospective Homebuyers. In fact, that's how the first person who came to see the house with his realtor introduced himself to me,"Hi, I'm Aleph, Prospective Homebuyer" Really, I managed NOT to say, I thought you...
The DUMPPy Life posted on Sep 18, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
"Alrighty then!" I said, in the most optimistic voice I could manage as we went through the door of our prospective new rental property. I looked about myself and struggled for something positive to say. "It's blue!" Okay. That was...
The Golden Rule - Sort Of posted on Sep 17, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
I suppose the good news is that there are mortgage lenders who would be willing to make us a loan. The bad news is that our credit score is now a little worse than I thought ( "That's mostly because...
The One You Feed posted on Sep 14, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
When I came home from work today, the "for sale" sign was up in front of my house. Susan had called me at work tell me Jeff was coming by with it. It's a big, substantial thing on a great...
Sellin' Out posted on Sep 08, 2005 by Ginga Cool Cat in category [All Things Housing]
The Hub is fond of saying that Change is the only Constant. He's right. Even though we bought this house with the intention of living here until we died, tonight we signed papers to sell it. It's a beautiful house,...