Good News, Bad News
June 14, 2005
Life has been happening so quickly these days that I've not got the time to document it, much less even think about it.
Some of the short and sweet and not so sweet follows...
Friday evening after I arrived in ABQ Mrs took me to see a house that had "promise" of perhaps a different sytle of life, one that would have included a bed and breakfast in our future. But the more she told me about the place, the more I began to wonder.
When we drove through the gates of the "home made" compound, I told her later that there was a flashing sign that only I could see, and it flashed HELL in big red letters. That whole thing was a bust.
Good news - we found a house in Mesa Saturday morning (June 4) and called the listing realtor to tell her that we were going to make a full priced offer. We thought that we had really picked a great "find" especially since the pool and the back yard were really great, even though the house was a bit small. I had figured that I could do an addition that would bring the total house more in line with what I thought would be a sane price on a per square foot basis.
Bad News - We started being jerked around by the listing realtor immediately . We were the first people to see this house and she told our realtor that they had gotten a contract at midnight the night before, for more than the asking price, sight unseen.
Long and short, we offered 5 thousand over asking, and they came back and said if we offered 10 more than that, they would "think about it." We countered with, no you counter at 15 over and we'll take it.
We return to ABQ and they continue to jerk us around. Finally I get a call in the middle of a wonderful mountain hike that the counter came back at 16,500 over asking price, with a modification to the offer that the sale could not be contingent on an appraisal.
We told our realtor to tell the jerk that we appreciated the warning for over paying and we were dropping our price by 5 thousand. We didn't get the house.
Good News I've had 40 showings of my house in 3 months. Bad news, no offers. I dropped the price 10 thousand more yesterday.
Good News We've found a house in Albuquerque (2 actually) that we would like to make an offer on. Bad News We can't make an offer till the house sells.
Good News: I've had a terrific year as far as income goes, one of the best in years. Bad news, the company I am affiliated with calls me the day before I leave for ABQ and says they want me to leave, I'm not making enough money. Half way good news, they agree on Tuesday to let me stay till Sept 15. It's a major pain in the ass to move all the clients.
Bad news: My mother's cancer re-appeared early this year, attacking one of her eyes, and she lost her sight in one eye. She went through another round of Chemo and radiation and supposedly they zapped the tumor.
Worse news: Two weeks ago now, my mother tried to tie her shoe, fell out of the chair. That night she fell when she got up in the night, said she could not feel her feet. ER visit, this scan, that scan and they find a brain tumour that is causing swelling. Start zapping with radiation.
More bad news: Son lost his scholarship with a 3.42 gpa, needed a 3.5 to keep it. Maybe not so bad if I buy a house in AZ and become a resident, since his tuition would drop for 2 years by 10 thousand a year.
Good news: In the same batch of mail with the "you've lost your scholarship" letter, was another from ASU, this one to me.
Dear NSR,
I am delighted to offer you a place in the class of men and women who will come here next fall to begin their legal studies.....
Next news, I'm playing the "I got into ASU card" and will see if I can get the University of New Mexico to reconsider. I'm not really up to one of those "me live here, you live there" styles of marriage and life, although it is doable. I'm not bringing the stronger cards to the table, we'll leave the Senator and the Governor out of this for the time being.
Actually, I really think that going in 06 is the better choice, unless my house sells in the next week or so.
As I told my realtor in ABQ the other day, Life changes here every fifteen minutes.
His response caused me to break out laughing....
"Ok then, so you want to call me back in half an hour and give me 2 updates?"
