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| Tomorrow |
| 03.09.04 (11:25 pm) [edit] |
:twisted: I have been talking with my real estate agent a bit recently. I have received an offer on my house for sale on the mainland. You would think this would be good news, but today was about the last straw. Because I did not have time to fully fix and update the place, I was convinced to list the house for less than I thought it was worth. Sure, the agent had comprable prices and justifications for the listing price, but she assured me this price fairly reflected the condition of the place, compared with nearby houses which had been updated, etc. So I get this offer for a lot less than the listing price AND they want money for closing and money to replace the carpets and this fixed and that fixed. The whole time I've been fixing things in the house and paying too much for repairs that I'm not sure are necessary. Because I'm thousands of miles away, I have to pay for things that I would normally fix myself for less or free. In the meantime, I agreed to give them thousands towards closing and thousands to replace carpeting, etc. So then I get a counter offer from this buyer today. they have gotten the house inspected and there are a number of things wrong. I have not seen the list so have nbo idea what things there are. My price is supposed to reflect these things though. Now I am presented with 6 or 8 things that are "hot buttons" for the buyers. The toilet downstairs doesn't work. It turns out it is turned off due to a slight leak. That is a 5 minute fix with a wrench. The buyers want a plumber. There is a spot on the ceiling that has probably been there for 12 years. They want somneone to investigate it to see if there is a leak. There is a piece of plywood (about 1 square foot) which is up under an eave and has a discoloration or mold on it. They want it replaced and the mold investigated. There is a kickplate (a small piece of wood) that they want replaced. This is something you get at Homne Depoit and pay a buck or two for and glue in place. A 5 minute fix! Tweo window panes have cracks in them. They want me to replace the glass. I think you are getting the idea. These are not major issues! There IS a major issue that concerns them. There was a nail popped on a valley on the roof. It caused water to rot a 2x6 and caused water to drip into the garage. I fixed the nail pop and all was well. The agent had me fix it by calling a roofer. They listed all the shingles there and told me "code" is to place a large sheet of metal flashing there and then reshingled. The buyers want $750 to have their roofer inspect the whole roof and verify it is ok. When the agent called today, she was hoping that I would just agree to have these things done and their signed contract would be approved by me and all would be fine. WRONG! I told her in no uncertain terms that I would NOT be fixing these things. That I had already dropped the price to offset things like these. I agreed (and later had misgivings) that I offvered a final $1300 for the buyer to take the house "as is" with any repairs needed and go to closing. I think they may not do that. If that is the case, that they walk, I will take the place off the market, go back and do the repairs myself and update the kitchen, remove the wallpaper and so on, myself. THEN I will have the price reflect the updates and relist it. I believe that the problem with these buyers is that they are 1st time buyers, they are buying a house above their means and have no idcea what owning a house involves. If they are makming an issue out of cracked windows and cannot replace them or hire someone to replace them themselves, they have no business buying a 5 bedroom house! They appear to be wanting a house free of problems and probably deserve a house free of problems. I am hoping folr a buyer who understands the difference between big and small issues. I should hear the results of my decision tomorrow. I actually hope that they decide to walk away. I feel I have already given away too much profit on this deal and would rather go back and fix these things and relist the house for tens of thousands more. -- On a second issue, I sent some information to the leaseholder of the new property in Hawaii. I will talk with a representative tomorrow and hopefully find if it looks good for me to work out the problems with my mortgage company and thinjgs that have to be done on the property. Tomorrow I have to go fix a PC that I worked on Friday that is not yet running smoothly. Tomorrow I am sscheduled to show a neighbor a farm and how that owner does his pulping. Tomorrow I am scheduled to meet with a gentleman who wants me to market his coffee for him. Tomorrow there is a meeting which concerns taxes and the farm. Tomorrow there is a winter storm watch for the Big Island (yes, we get winter here). We probably will get a bit of snow up at the observatories. Tomorrow! |
| Tomorrow |
| 03.09.04 (11:23 pm) [edit] |
|
:twisted: I have been talking with my real estate agent a bit recently. I have received an offer on my house for sale on the mainland. You would think this would be good news, but today was about the last straw. Because I did not have time to fully fix and update the place, I was convinced to list the house for less than I thought it was worth. Sure, the agent had comprable prices and justifications for the listing price, but she assured me this price fairly reflected the condition of the place, compared with nearby houses which had been updated, etc. So I get this offer for a lot less than the listing price AND they want money for closing and money to replace the carpets and this fixed and that fixed. The whole time I've been fixing things in the house and paying too much for repairs that I'm not sure are necessary. Because I'm thousands of miles away, I have to pay for things that I would normally fix myself for less or free. In the meantime, I agreed to give them thousands towards closing and thousands to replace carpeting, etc. So then I get a counter offer from this buyer today. they have gotten the house inspected and there are a number of things wrong. I have not seen the list so have nbo idea what things there are. My price is supposed to reflect these things though. Now I am presented with 6 or 8 things that are "hot buttons" for the buyers. The toilet downstairs doesn't work. It turns out it is turned off due to a slight leak. That is a 5 minute fix with a wrench. The buyers want a plumber. There is a spot on the ceiling that has probably been there for 12 years. They want somneone to investigate it to see if there is a leak. There is a piece of plywood (about 1 square foot) which is up under an eave and has a discoloration or mold on it. They want it replaced and the mold investigated. There is a kickplate (a small piece of wood) that they want replaced. This is something you get at Homne Depoit and pay a buck or two for and glue in place. A 5 minute fix! Tweo window panes have cracks in them. They want me to replace the glass. I think you are getting the idea. These are not major issues! There IS a major issue that concerns them. There was a nail popped on a valley on the roof. It caused water to rot a 2x6 and caused water to drip into the garage. I fixed the nail pop and all was well. The agent had me fix it by calling a roofer. They listed all the shingles there and told me "code" is to place a large sheet of metal flashing there and then reshingled. The buyers want $750 to have their roofer inspect the whole roof and verify it is ok. When the agent called today, she was hoping that I would just agree to have these things done and their signed contract would be approved by me and all would be fine. WRONG! I told her in no uncertain terms that I would NOT be fixing these things. That I had already dropped the price to offset things like these. I agreed (and later had misgivings) that I offvered a final $1300 for the buyer to take the house "as is" with any repairs needed and go to closing. I think they may not do that. If that is the case, that they walk, I will take the place off the market, go back and do the repairs myself and update the kitchen, remove the wallpaper and so on, myself. THEN I will have the price reflect the updates and relist it. I believe that the problem with these buyers is that they are 1st time buyers, they are buying a house above their means and have no idcea what owning a house involves. If they are makming an issue out of cracked windows and cannot replace them or hire someone to replace them themselves, they have no business buying a 5 bedroom house! They appear to be wanting a house free of problems and probably deserve a house free of problems. I am hoping folr a buyer who understands the difference between big and small issues. I should hear the results of my decision tomorrow. I actually hope that they decide to walk away. I feel I have already given away too much profit on this deal and would rather go back and fix these things and relist the house for tens of thousands more. -- On a second issue, I sent some information to the leaseholder of the new property in Hawaii. I will talk with a representative tomorrow and hopefully find if it looks good for me to work out the problems with my mortgage company and thinjgs that have to be done on the property. Tomorrow I have to go fix a PC that I worked on Friday that is not yet running smoothly. Tomorrow I am sscheduled to show a neighbor a farm and how that owner does his pulping. Tomorrow I am scheduled to meet with a gentleman who wants me to market his coffee for him. Tomorrow there is a meeting which concerns taxes and the farm. Tomorrow! |
| In other news.... |
| 03.08.04 (11:52 pm) [edit] |
|
The highlight of my day was going to Subway for a sub. I didn't say it was exciting, just that the trip was the highlight :) At the store I picked up a papaya (50 cents a pound), a couple of pot pies (microwaveable) and a couple of chocolate bars. On the way out ofr the store a young woman was talking to her Mother. Refering to her girl she had in tow, "I HAD to buy here the slippahs". Slippahs are "slippers" or more commonly called "flip flops", a rubber slipper common footwear which is easy on and off. "They were $19.95". she was explaining. "Why did you HAVE to buy them?" and the answer was "Because she wouldn't stop crying until I did". KIDS! Thank goodness I was never like that. I can honestly report that I NEVER cried to get something useful. I only cried and pouted to get things that were insignificant and a waste of money! While I was on the road, I called a friend I have not spoken to in maybe 14n years. We didn't have a fight or anything, just one of those good friendships which got lost in the shuffle. We agreed to keep in touch. He appears to be working his "a**" off like I used to do, before I moved to Paradise and spend the better part of the day thinking about what I want for dinner :) While investigating the limited choices I have on the TV, I was reminded that many of the commercials seen on commercial TV here in Hawaii are locally produced. This may be more common here than any other area (except possibly for Alaska). Many of the items seen here are unique or the prices are different from the mainland or the commercial needs a local slant. McDonalds, for example, has a locally produced commercial; primarily because no other state offers Spam, Portuguese sausage and rice as a breakfast item... |
| Offer and Compromise |
| 03.06.04 (12:58 pm) [edit] |
|
I received an offer on my house in Georgia about a month after listing it. I had a fairly agressive list price in the hopes of selling it fairly quickly. I had to juggle that idea with the one that soon many people will be out looking at houses, in the hopes of finding one and moving in prior to school starting in the fall. I just could not wait in the hopes I would get more money later in the year. Now the buyer and I have performed the buying/selling dance of give and take and it looks as though we both will be happy with the deal. I have a few things to fix yet at the house and they have an inspection soon and hopefully, the inspection will not find much wrong. I will pronbably go back to Georgia to clear out the house and sell what is left in it. Then I'll be there for closing. At closing I'll get a nice sized check. What do you think? Head to Las Vegas and put it down on a double-or-nothing bet? :) Yesterday, I attended the KonaWeb party where people interested in moving here or people already here ahve chats and get-togethers. Afterwards, I stopped by to work on a computer and ended up spending 4 hours trying to get a LAN card and Norton AntiVirus to co-exist. For some reason, they would not! I headed home after midnight and then remembered that I had an appointment at 9am... I also was running low on gas. Luckily for me many stations along the way home, appear to be open all night. I had no Wal-Mart or anything open, so this morning earlt, I headed to Ace Hardware where gloves were on sale. Then it was down to the meeting location where I found 7 other KMona Coffee Council members. We they donned orange vests and gloves and took trash bags to clean up our stretch of sponsored road though the coffee belt. An hour anmd a half later we had done a considerable job "policing" the area of trash. While walking I realized that back in Georgia they get criminals to do this and they renewed their "chain gangs" back there! :) I am a bit tired and will watch some TV and perhaps take a bit of a nap today, but am thinking it may be a slow work day! |
| Whew! |
| 03.04.04 (2:05 pm) [edit] |
|
:wink: Here is an update, and it explains why I can't just give a quick "doing fine" message when asked :-) I recveived an offer on my house back in Georgia. While not as much as I wanted, it is acceptable. I have 3 things which must be attended to there, a current termite inspection, a small roof repair and a small air conditioning repair. My friend who helps coordinate things back there, has higher priorities with golf, so scheduling things is difficult :) I will probably go back to be there a week or so before closing, because I have to have an estate sale to sell the furniture before closing. Closing is tentatively set for March 26th... 3 weeks from now! This farm in Captain Cook is still in limbo, but I think that Bishop and I can work out the paperwork so that the mortgage company and underwriters will approve things. I have contracted with someone to clear trees on my property prior to closing to help comply with Bishops request and needs. In the meantime I have been cutting some of the trees down by hand with a handsaw. That gives me an hour of fresh air in an otherwise slow day! I have put on hold the removal of the room under the house which was built without permits. It may not be a big issue now if other things work out. On the coffee front, I received my scale and business cards are on their way. I have bags, clips and most everything else to sell coffee; except for the labels. I will be printing my own labels at the beginning and may just continue to do that for a while. I have no time or enthusiasm fooling with the artist and the second printer, or starting with a third at this time :) I have an offer to do some computer consulting on the side, but don't think the contract has been signed yet. That will bring in some needed money to pay bills and eat. I continue to build my website and found it was running too slowly where it is currently hosted and will have to move it prior to starting it up. I have had some requests to build websites for people, but my time has been a bit short lately to take on new projects! I have joined the Kona Coffee Council and am attending meetings. I'm sure many have snickered at some of my suggestions, as I am the new kid on the block and have little knowledge of what I am suggesting. THAT will not and has never slowed me down :) I have a coffee meeting in a few hours and a KonaWeb party tomorrow. I continue to offer advise in the KonaWeb.Com Forums (both moving and visiting forums), FlyerTalk (for frequent fliers) and ClarkHoward.Com (consumer issues). As you can tell from the above, I am enjoying my retirement here in Hawaii and just sitting back relaxing on yet another day in paradise! |
| Whew! |
| 03.04.04 (2:00 pm) [edit] |
|
:wink: Here is an update, and it explains why I can't just give a quick "doing fine" message when asked :-) I recveived an offer on my house back in Georgia. While not as much as I wanted, it is acceptable. I have 3 things which must be attended to there, a current termite inspection, a small roof repair and a small air conditioning repair. My friend who helps coordinate things back there, has higher priorities with golf, so scheduling things is difficult :) I will probably go back to be there a week or so before closing, because I have to have an estate sale to sell the furniture before closing. Closing is tentatively set for March 26th... 3 weeks from now! This farm in Captain Cook is still in limbo, but I think that Bishop and I can work out the paperwork so that the mortgage company and underwriters will approve things. I have contracted with someone to clear trees on my property prior to closing to help comply with Bishops request and needs. In the meantime I have been cutting some of the trees down by hand with a handsaw. That gives me an hour of fresh air in an otherwise slow day! I have put on hold the removal of the room under the house which was built without permits. It may not be a big issue now if other things work out. On the coffee front, I received my scale and business cards are on their way. I have bags, clips and most everything else to sell coffee; except for the labels. I will be printing my own labels at the beginning and may just continue to do that for a while. I have no time or enthusiasm fooling with the artist and the second printer, or starting with a third at this time :) I have an offer to do some computer consulting on the side, but don't think the contract has been signed yet. That will bring in some needed money to pay bills and eat. I continue to build my website and found it was running too slowly where it is currently hosted and will have to move it prior to starting it up. I have had some requests to build websites for people, but my time has been a bit short lately to take on new projects! I have joined the Kona Coffee Council and am attending meetings. I'm sure many have snickered at some of my suggestions, as I am the new kid on the block and have little knowledge of what I am suggesting. THAT will not and has never slowed me down :) I have a coffee meeting in a few hours and a KonaWeb party tomorrow. I continue to offer advise in the KonaWeb.Com Forums (both moving and visiting forums), FlyerTalk (for frequent fliers) and ClarkHoward.Com (consumer issues). As you can tell from the above, I am enjoying my retirement here in Hawaii and just sitting back relaxing on yet another day in paradise! |
| Gilligan's Island |
| 03.01.04 (9:55 am) [edit] |
|
Although the opening scenes of Gilligans Island TV show were filmed on Honolulu and Kauai, that is close enough... "The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed" http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/daily/2004/Feb-29-Sun -2004/news/news1.html" title="http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/daily/2004/Feb-29-Sun -2004/news/news1.html" target="_blank"http://www.westhawaiitoday.co... After this weekends storm, we lost at least two other ships in Kailua-Kona bay. There is a harbor up the coast, but it serves fishing vessels. Besides, ships like to drop anchor in our bay. http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/daily/2004/Feb-29-Sun -2004/news/news2.html" title="http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/daily/2004/Feb-29-Sun -2004/news/news2.html" target="_blank"http://www.westhawaiitoday.co... Some pictures will be temporarily on display at: http://www.konaweb.com/curren... A plane got struck during the wild lightning: "A Hawaiian Airlines passenger jet on a flight from Portland, Oregon, was struck by lightning Friday (February 27, 2004) and was forced to make an emergency landing at Kona International Airport in Keahole. The plane landed safely. There were no reported injuries, and damages to the plane were not immediately known. Hawaiian Airlines Flight 26 was about 12 miles of Kona on a flight to Honolulu about 2:50 p.m. when lightning struck its nose, causing the instrument panel to malfunction. The Boeing 767 with 270 passengers and 19,000 pounds of fuel aboard made an emergency landing safely at the Kona International Airport. No other details were immediately available." Then in an unrelated incident, a guy drove his SUV into the airline terminal over on Maui and set the vehicle on fire. Due to the storm and rain and cold weather, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea got a dose of snow. It is viewable from sea level, but for those willing to view it close up, this is what it would look like. Keep in mind that this is a current view and if you view this much later, the snow will have melted. http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/JA... On a quieter front, I had an idea for a way to promote Kona Coffee. See? We place labels on the bags that say "100% Kona Coffee". Well, in the TV ad, we have workers coming down the aisles of coff trees singing... "LOOK for the KONA label, when you are buying a bag of our brew..." You don't think the UNION people will get upset if we use their idea, do you? :) Aloha from the Kona side of Paradise! |