8/17/08 Captain Jack's Repossession Repo Cruise to PC thru TPC #5

[micmse2003]

Christopher . . thanks for the encouragement . .LOL. DH is saying the house will sell in less than 30 days. I'm thankful it will sell with the way the media is talking about this market. We're choosing not to particpate in the recession . . .LOL The house is about 25 years old, but everything has been replaced or updated. DH is even getting new windows put in this week. I was teasing my sister that we will finally flip our first house and it only took EIGHT years . . .LOL

Have a lovely evening!

Good Luck with the house sale!!!! It is a shame you always put things into a house that you will no longer be living at!!! We need new windows too but the next people in 3 years can buy them.

 

[danfromca]

Last week in Yosemite...

... our visit to the valley floor had a few patches of snow - all inaccessable. And on our day of departure we stopped at Badger pass to see what it looked like on the closing day - well - it was SNOWING and at times snowing HARD! Making for beautiful conditions for a snowball fight or for making snowmen. Unfortunately all we had time for was a short look around and a spirited snowball fight. As such, my point is this adventure into the snow proved to be a wonderful and memorable experience for us. The stuff of childhood memories and whimsy if ya know what I mean! Next year we look forward to spending more time visiting the snow and Yosemite.

I know... some folks think I must be nuts... as there may be an abumdance of snow in your parts - but I tell you - it has a unique quality all its' own! Take a 2nd glance from another perspective and maybe you'll see more of what I'm seeing... eh?

I had the good fortune to visit Yosemite in mid February, just in time for a fresh snowfall on the valley floor. Aside from great sledding (back near the stables), it was simply indescribable. Yosemite is one of the most beautiful places in the world any time of year. But during a snowfall... what a treat.

Wow -- I've heard nothing but horror stories about renters. I don't know if I could ever become a landlord knowing how some people treat others' property.

About a year ago, we moved out of state. We decided to look at some foreclosures and were shocked at what we found inside. Even though there were some so-called bargains, I don't think we could ever buy a bank-owned home. We were told by our realtor that many of these homes had "foreclosure parties" before they were evicted. They would invite a bunch of friends over and literally destroy the house and remove anything of value before leaving. It was the stories of what they would do to places that you can't see (behind the drywall, etc.) that finally steered us away from looking at any more foreclosures. We ended up building a new home and had to live in an apartment for six months during construction. That was another eye-opening experience for the kids.

I guess the one-positive from the number of foreclosures on the market is that banks are starting to fix them up to sell them rather than holding on to them to sell "as-is".

I bought a foreclosure for my folks some 10 years ago. It was a mess - we put in about $25K to fix it up - but we figure that was just part of the price. It turned out to be a great investment in the long run.

Same here. We will be taking the biggest carry-ons for each of us in addition to the largest bags we can check and we will EACH have personal bag (purse, briefcase, laptop bag). And I probably wont fly Delta again unless they change their position on this.

One nice thing about this trip is that it's a short flight for me - and direct, so little chance of luggage getting lost. Last summer I did the med cruise and our luggage didn't catch up to us until Naples. At least it did turn up, and we had packed some essentials in our carry-on. If you're coming from far away and have any plane changes, definitely take a large carry-on!

 

[Esteri]

I got a rock.

We got Mickey Mail on Thursday. Trust me M, there's NOTHING in there you already don't know. After a quick scan, I put it down as a waste of time. Much better information available here.


We had a nice weekend - I took a day off and we went skiing on Friday. Sadly, the sunscreen was forgotten, but we skiied anyway. DH doesn't burn, and boys had helmets, goggles, and coats past their chins - so not much was exposed. I, on the other hand, now bear a striking resemblence to a reptile - probably a snake.

I don't recommend skiing without sunscreen as a good head start on your summer tan.

It was worth it though to see DH6 take his first intermediate run!

Well, gotta run - up at o-dark-thirty tomorrow to catch a flight. Travelling for the next 3 days - ug.

 

[DiaLady]

We had replaced or updated everything as well, including the kitchen and basement. Our realtor (a friend of ours) let us know a couple of months ago that ours was the third highest selling price in the neighborhood last year (there were about 20 homes sold in the neighborhood in 2007). Even though we were far from the largest home, the realtor attributed the selling price to the updates we did. So here's to selling it for your full asking price the first day!

Thanks Christopher . . .we'll share the results (and hopefully the new place) when it happens. I'm all for selling the first day at full asking price. We're excited about the house being a big blessing to another family

 

[DisneyVegas1]

very cool cake


Happy Birthday Melissa.................and the rest of the family....or are you done with the birthdays now?

LOL One more to go ...Dylans on Thursday then we are finally done for another year ..LOL

 

[LynnTarrant]

I

One nice thing about this trip is that it's a short flight for me - and direct, so little chance of luggage getting lost. Last summer I did the med cruise and our luggage didn't catch up to us until Naples. At least it did turn up, and we had packed some essentials in our carry-on. If you're coming from far away and have any plane changes, definitely take a large carry-on!

Hi Dan
I remember your luggage problems, I guess Andrew and I have the long flights this time..........please can I borrow a tee shirt if necessary!!!! the good thing is I'm staying a week in CA before we cruise so hopefully if it needs to catch up it will!

 

[danfromca]

Hi Dan
I remember your luggage problems, I guess Andrew and I have the long flights this time..........please can I borrow a tee shirt if necessary!!!! the good thing is I'm staying a week in CA before we cruise so hopefully if it needs to catch up it will!

Absolutely. And you're right - a week should be plenty of time. And if worst comes to worse you'll be able to outfit yourself comfortably at reasonable cost (the exchange rate being very much in your favor, and the Disneyland area being surrounded by economical shopping places).

In the end it all worked out for us. Iberia did cover our claim for expenses due to the delayed luggage, so in the end most of our "souveneir" items (at least when it came to disney cruise clothing) ended up being covered - some consolation for the hassle. Of course, it did take about six months for the claim to be processed.

It's nice to see that you and a few others from our cruise will be on this one as well.

 

[radioclash2]

Good Morning Pirates. Have a good Tuesday.

 

[captaincrash]

Melissa & Cade...

May I offer wishes for a neighborly ....

 

[msaseifert]

I hope you win!!! Whenever United pulls a no no...........I just get a voucher to shut me up!!!!!


:

Well, at this point DH is hoping that they will give us a refund............We did find the same flights for a bit cheaper through AirTran and Continental. Its just a shame that Delta is treating their customers this way.

 

[paulasillars]

Penny, my uncle has had 2 different tennants pour concrete mix into his toilets and sinks.



She was a "friend" of mine and also an employee. While we were in vacation in January, she stole $2000 from me. I am prosecuting for that and now for the damage to my house. It will be the last house I rent to someone I know.

What is wrong with people? Some people have no respect.

We rent out our old place to tenants and they stopped paying rent after just a few weeks and going through mediation took weeks. We had to get a court order to evict and they left it in a terrible mess.

Never again will we be landlords. Not until the law changes to protect the landlord better.

 

[sk8ingmom]

G'mornin' s

Sorry M - but there is an upside, you now have the first ingredient in stone soup.

You know what would make this soup better? A few carrots. Is anyone willing to share a few carrots for the soup???

It's funny, this song is in one of my gym mixes, always makes me think of either of my two younger brothers.

I love that song.
For some reason it always reminds me of roller skating.

Good luck on selling the house. We put our house on the market one year ago this week. We sold it in mid-May. Although it was on the market for less than 45 days, it seemed like an eternity. Hopefully you'll be one of the lucky ones who sells their house the first week (our last house was sold the first day it was listed).

Ours rented in 12 hours last spring, which so far is still a good thing...
Our house selling method is this: put the house on the market, go on vacation for a week or 2, come home to 2-3 offers. It's worked 3x so far.

I don't recommend skiing without sunscreen as a good head start on your summer tan.

It was worth it though to see DH6 take his first intermediate run!

YAY! (on the run, not the sunburn). We love skiing. Someday we'll go again.

 

[LITTLEKID58]

GM

Presently 66 going up to 80 here in Sunny Central Florida

and prayers to everyone who is going to need it today

aboard to all the newbies

Happy Birthday and Anniversary to all we have missed

Have a great Tuesday

 

[yargrnhoj]

Absolutely. And you're right - a week should be plenty of time.

One would think a week would be enough, but I've been waiting for my luggage from British Airways for 12 days now.

I hope our bags had a good tour of Europe without us...

 

[luvmy3sons]

Good Morning Everyone! Hope you all have a good day! It's my Friday! (taking some comp time)

Penny

 

[arlenesp]

One would think a week would be enough, but I've been waiting for my luggage from British Airways for 12 days now.

I hope our bags had a good tour of Europe without us...

Morning JR! How was the trip?

 

[goofyforlife]

Hi everyone,
Is there a plan to do a group dining at Palo? If so what night?

I would like to do a group dinner if others are interested...My DH would eat in Palo every night if he could...

What is wrong with people? Some people have no respect.

I know.. When we moved to MD the housing market was carp in PA so we ended up having to rent out our old house.

The first family i thought would be ok. They were building a new house and just needed a short term rental. They paid the rent ok.. Complained that they had a bunch of mice...I thought that was odd because in the 5 years we lived there i had only seen maybe one or two a year (before we would trap it.) Well i found out why they had mice. They left the place a mess. There was so much food spilled "inside the stove" and food wrappers shoved behind the portable dishwasher and spilled dog food in the pantry. They also moved out in Feb and we discovered they had never raked up the leaves from our huge Silver Maple from the fall and it had killed the whole lawn. Oh yeah and some of the shrubs i had planted a few years prior had mysteriously died that had been healthy before.

AND THEY HAD THE NERVE TO ASK FOR THEIR WHOLE SECURITY DEPOSIT BACK....

We had to paint again and put up new blinds.

Next family was also short term but they were great. He was totally understanding about us fixing the lawn and watered it to help grow in. He planted a few new shrubs and in August that year we were ale to put it on the market and sell right away (we only broke even of course but the house looked nice.)

When i was renting, i always made sure i left the place clean.... Heck the last place i rented, i left it cleaner than the last tenant and had made repairs and upgrades.

You know what would make this soup better? A few carrots. Is anyone willing to share a few carrots for the soup???

I've got celery.... (sadly it is not getting eaten; i can't stand the smell of it.)

Morning JR! How was the trip?

Apparently BA thought they were going to a nude beach on the Riviera....

 

[goofyforlife]

Suffering my way through the workday....

(we have planning commission tomorrow so i have to prepare; this also means i will be on tv and the internet tomorrow AM. Oh yay!!! I'm going to look like Probably will sound that way too.)

 

[PBader]

You are so right............these were not of the human race but animals!!! It is a shame but whenever we heard someone bought to rent in our neighborhood we all hated the owner. Most renters here had destroyed houses too!!! I only saw the outsides detroyed and I could not imagine til your pictures of what the inside might have looked like!!! The outside looked like the perfect little house!!! You deserve a long vacation now after all the cleaning-up you did.

I guess I would be concerned too if there were a lot of rentals going on in my subdivision. Many of them just don't have the sense of ownership that comes from your own home. The ones that come from an apartment also don't realize that now they need to start doing the yardwork and I guess they get a bit overwhelmed. But like I said before we have been lucky, hopefully my next tennant will be better.

We get to go to Hilton Head in June--so that will be our time to relax. 10 days at DVC there. I am already looking forward to it.

 

[PBader]

We had replaced or updated everything as well, including the kitchen and basement. Our realtor (a friend of ours) let us know a couple of months ago that ours was the third highest selling price in the neighborhood last year (there were about 20 homes sold in the neighborhood in 2007). Even though we were far from the largest home, the realtor attributed the selling price to the updates we did. So here's to selling it for your full asking price the first day!

Christopher, that is great! I think people can tell when you have really taken care of your home and spent money on updating it. When we have looked at houses I keep adding up what needs to be done and the costs, I think it makes a BIG difference.