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By the way:
Do you know what today is?
Check out Kickin’ And Screamin’ and find out!
Now!
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And these are Damien’s Jaunty Balls!
* Courtesy of Stoat Weasel! *
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Pravda - where the news often has some vague resemblance to the truth - has a shitload of dyed cat photos.
Like this one:
That tail had to have taken hours!
And this one! Creative use of natural anatomy.
In other news, I’m looking at a 10-acre property next week. Here it is:
The house on the property is a 12-year old well-maintained 1350-sq-ft. “manufactured home”.
Now manufactured homes are not really my cup o’ tea (grits teeth in residual snobbery), but (unlike mobile homes) can be added to. They make ‘em with real 2×4’s and normal wall thicknesses instead of the thin junk trailers and mobile homes have.
And I have to do additions: No garage, no shop, no additional rooms. But it’ll be easier than adding to a 98-year old house that’s falling down.
The woods: my agent said the wife that lives there said there were so many deer in the back yard area the other day she was afraid to step outside. Duh. They would have evaporated, lady!
There is a spring-fed creek on the east side of the property. The property is about 300ft by 1300 ft (10.5 acres) - which will give me a forest-buried 200yd target range no problem!
The property also gets county water - so no well. The high-speed internet issue is problematic right now, though. It’s also way closer than the last place to a decent town, too.
Anyway, I’m cogitating about it….
Meanwhile, why don’t you cogitate on this porn?
…and this Daily Chassis from Last Of The Few.
June 6, 2008 at 11:47 am
You’re buying another piece of land? Congrats on hitting the lottery I guess! Is this one anywhere near the House o’ Wasps you just bought?
June 6, 2008 at 11:53 am
I didn’t buy the H of W.
I’m still lookin’ for the same retirement property - and the search is getting ‘old’, I tell ya…
June 6, 2008 at 12:18 pm
How close is the nearest Denny’s?
June 6, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Ha! Mesablue - you are the only person who’s asked that critical question.
The nearest Denny’s is about 50-60 miles away. Too far for a spur-of-the-moment Goth-beating mission.
Normally this would suck mightily. But I have a plan. I will post it after I get moved - (sigh) - if ever.
June 6, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Wait! Did you post about not buying the other property? I missed that! What happened?
June 6, 2008 at 3:17 pm
I didn’t write a separate post, but I did mention it several times.
Bottom line: The house was totally useless - even as a stick frame starting point for a larger structure. The foundation was non-existent, well was bad, septic was useless, etc and the seller wasn’t gonna move an inch on the price.
The seller was actually stunned when I picked up my marbles and walked: he thought I was “committed” and stuck with the place. Nope.
Meanwhile, the original buyer he had online has bailed, too. Soooo…it’s start-from-scratch for the seller too - the jerk.
Ha! (I’m substituting Ha! for heh!) The seller has another issue: he is now “informed” of the problems with the house because I had a copy of the inspection reg-mailed to him. So he can’t plead “I didn’t know” to the next buyer.
June 6, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Spring fed creek–hmm, the most essential ingredient to making a first class whiskey.
Does anyone live in the cleared areas on the right of the googleview? Or do you have all those trees for your private enjoyment?
June 6, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I doubt Missouri spring water will endear itself to anyone. It’s hard and iron-y-flavored.
Personally I absolutely LOVE that iron taste. I could tell stories about it.
The red-outlined area (10.5 acres) would be all mine. The next property to the right is the same shape as “mine” and has folks that allegedly live there part-time. To the left is a house about qa quarter-mile away. To the south is NOTHING for 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile.
Going down there Monday to check it out, and look at some other property.
I’ve been trying for 18 months to find one property to satisfy all my needs: I’m now thinking about “acreage for shooting, suburbia for living” i.e. get some acreage for my range and hunting for friends, and a house in town to live in.
The effort continues…
June 6, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Just to help out: smut. boobs. boob-smut. smut-boobs. smutty boobs. boobsy smut. bucky smoobs (ya never know).
June 6, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Thanks, jw.
Now we can test it as soon as Google gets off its lazy ass…
Many moons ago over at Weasels, the phrase “Temptation - thy name is poop chute” was uttered for some unknown and probably god-forsaken reason (by me, I think!) and I’ve been watching Google ever since to see who got credit for it.
I have.
I can die content now.
June 6, 2008 at 4:38 pm
I saw the post about the house being crap, with the pictures and all, but I thought you were half prepared for that, and tearing down the old one.
Oh! Boobs. Smut. Smutty boobs. Booby smut.
June 6, 2008 at 4:49 pm
It’s all here, Weasel! Boobs. Smut. Damiens Balls.
Yeah - I think the written report came out after that and that’s when I blew it off. I proposed that the seller adjust the price accordingly, and he basically told my agent to shove it - “he’s agreed to the price!”
I actually wrote that the deal was dead in the comments somewhere after that. I wasn’t trying to hide it - I was just frustrated and a bit pissed.
Even so, I wouldn’t have “lashed out” at the seller by sending the reports to him (and his agent) registered mail, except he browbeat my agent when she pointed out the standard “buyer can say fuck you if any of the inspections do not meet with his approval” clause. Jeez! Hasn’t the seller bought/sold real estate before? Until the inspections and renegotiations are all signed off, the buyer can ALWAYS walk.
June 6, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Yes, it’s true. That’s going to give me a real timing headache, if I ever get an offer on this place. In addition to the usual seller’s To Do list, I have visas and travel papers to worry about. I’m going to be especially vulnerable to a last-minute “oh you didn’t tell me about the FOUNDATION” gambit, so I’ve racked my brains to think of every bad thing to put in the disclosure.
June 6, 2008 at 6:06 pm
You are wise.
Some folks would focus on squeezing every last cent out of the sale and try gambit #1 - don’t tell, jack the price up, and hope the inspector misses it. Other sellers go a step further - pay the inspector to “miss” things. Trust me: there are plenty of crooked inspectors out there. They can be rented fairly cheaply.
Question is: how much is your time and the hassle-factor of penny-pinching worth to you? It’s a buyers market, and we buyers are taking NO PRISONERS as far as deals and breaks are concerned. Your buyer will be of a like mind, most probably.
My 2 cents (and some for free!).
June 7, 2008 at 7:51 am
Oh, yes. They certainly are. Two people have shown a definite interest, but since the house has just come on the market, they’re hanging back to see how low I have to go. As my agent said, why not make an offer?
Because they don’t think they’re in any danger of losing it and they’re pretty sure I’ll start drifting the price down on my own…maybe lower than any offer they’d make. At least I think that’s what they’re thinking.
And they’re right. I put it on the market at $30K less than the city says it’s worth, but I have more slack before I hit my break-even point.
Ugh. Horrible process.
June 7, 2008 at 8:08 am
Tell your agent to tell their agents to make an offer! “Every reasonable offer considered!”
You’re also wise in setting you price so that they bargain you “into” your needed price, instead of “out of ” your number. But don’t set it too high or they won’t even look.
A good agent can often make or break a house sale. He/she really has to know what they’re doing, and be aggressive in guiding the seller.
Something I’ve noticed living in Missouri, Texas, Arizona, and California is that the “customs” and “dance” associated with home-buying/selling differ a lot. Odd, since they all are done off of essentially the same cook-book sales contract.
June 7, 2008 at 9:59 am
Weasel–If you have two people interested, then maybe your agent can call up their agents and mention that’s there another party interested, so if they are actually interested, they’d better get an offer in or risk losing out.
Also let them know that you listed it at a relatively low price in the first place, so there will be no drift downward.
Sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
June 7, 2008 at 10:57 am
Yep. What kishnevi said.