House assesment for financing

I had some crazy good news yesterday about the house situation yesterday. I'm still pinching myself.

We've been trying to close on our new Union City house for the last week, and the assesment has been holding things up a bit. Gone are the days when banks gave away mortgage money like mardi gras beads - now they are not only doing an assesment, they do a physical inspection. It just so happens that there aren't very many single family homes in UC (mostly multi family and condos), and there hasn't been a lot of home sales recently. So, that means that there isn't much to compare our property. In fact, there were only FOUR, as in 4, like quatro, over the last 12 month period. Isn't that insane? Four single family homes sold in this city in the last twelve months. That sounds too ridiculous, maybe it's four homes in same size/neighborhood? In any case, their is not a lot to compare to.

So the assesment happens, and I get a call from the real estate agent informing me that the value of the house was assesed at $260k. Uh, that's weird - we fiercely negotiated down from a starting point of $339k. In fact, our first offer on the property was $269k, and we recognized that it was a total low-ball offer. So low-ball that the sellers made a point of asking their agent to relay to us how insulted they were at our offer. So after weeks of back and forth, settling on a price of $305k, knowing it was more than we wanted to spend but we loved the house, the agents call about the assesment spun me into a panic. Does this mean the bank will only lend us funds based on a maxiumum of $260k and we have to find bridge financing for the extra $45k? That was my first reaction, and I instantly thought - we're done, we're not buying that house, we can't find another $45k. I was lamenting my aggressiveness in having already ordered 5 lilac bushes for delivery in April. BUT NO! The assesment means that we get the house for $260k instead of $305k. I don't know all the details yet but I think the sellers options were 1) take the assesed value and be done with it 2) take the property off the market and wait for economy to come out of the shitter.

I have to admit that I feel a certain vindication now for our initial "insult" low-ball offer. I'm also really happy to save some downpayment money. We're going to put in the swank new kitchen that we thought we'd have to put on hold. That will be a story for tomorrow.

House Buying

Is it totally insane that we're about to close on a house exactly two months after being laid off? I think it is - but since I am the *most* risk averse person I know, I'm taking weird pleasure in this gigantic leap of faith.

The beautiful apartment we've had for two years (picture on home page) is slowly being emptied and boxed up and getting ready for a ride across the river to Union City, NJ.

Where's Union City? Fair question - I know from googling it that it's home to Prote'Ge', who made it three rounds on G to Gents.

I also know that it was formally called "West Hoboken" until sometime in the '50's when it became it's own city. I also know that they mayor is named Brian Stack, and I'm going to stalk him. I've written before about my plans to stalk Moby, right? I'm done with him, and I'm now moving on to city officials. Brian and I will be good friends soon, and when we start exchanging chili recipes, I'll be bragging about it here.

Here's the front door of our new place - exciting, right?

Ack! Has it really been this long?

I think I got a bit freaked out about the potentially public nature of blogs....how do people do it? Just write what they want and consequences be damned? I think I may be too soft in the backbone for that. If I had more imagination (or a store of good drugs nearby) I'd probably be able to 'let it go' a bit easier. Geez, even reading back the last few sentences makes me quesy. How narcisstic I am - as IF anyone reads this but me, and moreover, as if anyone really cares. People post videos of themselves lighting their farts on fire, I don't know why I'm worried about what I may reveal.

So what's best - a catch up on the last few months or straight into what I want to talk about?

Straight into it. Shit! I just realized that I'm typing in Times New Roman. I hate this font. One moment, let's see what my options are. You have no idea how lucky you are, I almost went with Verdana.

Ok, here's what I wanted to post about.....I need a life coach for my work life. My company offers the services of this "Employee Assistance Program" which I was hopeful about - until I went to the website and saw what a joke it was. Basically, a drop down menu of life situations (work, health, finance, home life) with further drop down menus for each. Allrighty, I thought, a pretty good start. So I make my selection (finance ->mortgages) and see a list of linked news articles....not exactly the help I was looking for. Oh well. I guess I'll turn to my best friend, Google, and see what she says. Maybe she can recommend a work/life coach.

I just read a great book

I just finished "Elling" by Ingvar Ambrjornsen. What a fantastic book. It's about a pair of roomates who have been released from a care facility and have to learn to navigate daily life. The book is set in modern day Norway, and I really feel like I learned a bit about the Norse pysche.

Very good funny read, I highly recommend it.

A very mauvaise Saturday

It's almost 10am and I should be whizzing around the apartment putting things away (a pair of shoes from every day this week in hallway) and getting ready for my knitting club and my Saturday trip to library. Instead, I'm in my p.j.'s, drinking my second cup of coffee and reading work emails. It's grey and awful outside - like the sky won't commit to rain, and won't give you a break with showing a bit of sun.

I've been kind of loving having a non-mental period at work, and it's let me get caught up on things that have piled up over the last year. My slow-ish work period is officially over, I've been assigned three new clients, and that means three site launches in the next six weeks. From my end, I know I can do it. I just have to be organized enough that I don't end up putting one artists' bio on anothers site.

The part that worries me is that we have 2 designers, one of which is as lazy as the day is long. So I want to outsource production, and my favorite designer is a French guy living in Germany....thanks to the internet gods, communication isn't a problem, but relevance is. He just isn't as familiar with the artists as a local might be. So do I spend precious time finding a new designer who may be more in tune, or go with the designer that I know is great, and is fast? I think even typing this made the choice clear to me.

If I didn't think that I'd be exposed by someone from work googling said artist name for research, and having this blog come up and let them see into my secrets, I'd reveal, because I'm very proud of the work I do.

Oh what the hell - how about hints then?

Client #1 R&B singer, wardrobe issue, youngest of 9
Client #2 Comedian, gets r done, not a real redneck
Client #3...i'll have to figure a way to describe him, he's not easily tagged. R&B singer with biz smarts? I dunno.

her little efficiencies

Many, many moons ago I worked for a catering company in Vancouver, BC called Copper Kettle. I was probably 18 or 19 at the time. We'd get sent out on small to medium gigs, and it usually meant going out in a crew of 2 or 3, sometimes more if it was a big event. We'd go to the restaurant, pack up the van with the food, the tablecloths, the cleaning supplies, etc. The motto of Copper Kettle catering was that we leave the space in better condition than we found it. Thank god they didn't advertise that, or we'd be hired to do cleaning with some food service on the side.

It was at Copper Kettle catering that I was first introduced to what I like to call 'little efficiencies'. For example, you're never empty handed - if you're going into the dining room, you either take a clean tablecloth, a tray to collect glasses, coffee for refills, etc. Coming back to the kitchen, same thing - you either pick up a dirty dish, remove salt and pepper shakers to re-pack into crate, etc. The captain would always be reminding us - don't go empty handed.

Something about that has stuck with me, and so I'm always on lookout for my own little efficiencies. For example, I am obsessed with having my metro card out of my pocket, and in my hand in the correct position so that when I get on the bus, it's one fluid motion to dip and authenticate. The idea of holding up anyone that might be behind me while I fumble through my wallet for my card? It's abhorrent to me. If I'm on the subway, and know that I'll need to transfer lines, I always walk to the place on the platform where it's most convenient to exit for the change.

My money must be in my wallet with the heads all the same way, and I must have cash on me at all times. Now that I'm a Canadian living in US and have gotten used to all the money being the same color it's a bit easier, but at the beginning, the obsession with smooth, organized cash was a bit stronger.

You'd think this weird quirk would manifest itself in an organized household....far from it. Thank goodness we're having a houseguest this weekend, it will provide the impetus to do a whirlwind clean on Saturday morning. Two adults, two hectic jobs, lack of storage space and months of not having use of our deck have made us fall into some bad housekeeping habits. Our landlord is supposed to be providing us with a storage spot in the basement which will be a big help, but for now we'll just have to be as efficient as possible in hiding things.

thanks for listening.

April Fools Day

Have I mentioned my job? It's great. I'm so lucky. But the people that I work with are not the friendliest. My clients are decent for the most part, some of them even fun and the kind of people I like to hang out with. My co-workers? Not so much. There's not a lot of brainstorming or round table discussions or chats around the water cooler. Therefore, no real opportunities for a quick chat, or a 'how was your weekend'. Believe me, I don't want to hear someone's life story or stand around for hours while they blather on. I do however, like the social protocol of a greeting, a sincere acknowledgment, and then off to work.

Everyone (mostly everyone) knuckles down, does their work, and leaves. I used to be the type of person who'd say hello to everyone as I came into the office, and say "good night" as I was leaving. That nicety has been worn away, as I was usually talking to myself. Actually, there was one other guy, since fired, and he and I used to joke about the social experiments we'd do. We'd come in and say a pointed "good morning" to someone, almost trying to goad them into acknowledging us, and most would reluctantly reply with a half hearted mumbled 'good morning' back. I guess we were trying to show them that it wouldn't kill them to be civil, and that it was quite easy to just say hello, but we soon tired of our game and said good morning only to each other. Now that he's gone, I find myself wishing I had ONE SINGLE other person (beside my husband, we work in same office) that seemed pleased to see me in the morning as I walked into the office, and would say cheerily as I left "see you in the morning". Such a simple thing.

I keep trying things to see if people will follow - a month ago I announced that the G&T cart would be going around the office at Friday at 5pm. At 5pm, I started making drinks (buying everything on my own nickel) and passing them around. Lots of people seemed really appreciative, and to the few who said "we should do this more often" I would reply - great idea, why don't you do it next week? Let's start doing this weekly. What do you think happened?

Maybe I can give it another try - maybe I should have a tougher skin. Maybe I should tell my boss that if he didn't come in before everyone else, lock himself in his office, walk right out the door at the end of the day, he could lead by example. It always starts at the top, doesn't it? I don't think he needs to walk around the office asking about kids baseball games, but would it hurt to say hello to a few people as he waited for the microwave to ding?

Time to get going. Get ready to get into office where I will try again not to be part of the problem. It's tough going.