May 17, 2009

6:47 p.m.

Show and Tell

The showing went very well indeed -- the property looks even more neglected now because the huge acre yard is now an acre meadow, unmowed and full of wildflowers and weeds. The house smelled worse because the weather's warmer overall, and it's shut up. Angela and Marc both assured me it wouldn't be hard to get the place smelling good again. She saw the dumped garbage finally, and Marc took photos. Then we went back to Rose & Marc's house and formulated a plan.

We did find out that the house has been shown to other people -- we don't know how many but it's only been a week -- but no one else had put in any bids. Angela called the realtor to ask a few things, and mentioned the mold in several rooms and the issues with the well. (It has a sump pump because the well house is dug into the ground, so if the electricity ever goes off in the house it fills up with water and screws everything up.) They seemed a little shifty and vague, saying things like, "I think the owner is addressing those issues." One of the previous viewers had put in a bid on the furniture that's left.

We put one in on the house, I wrote a "good faith" down payment check to prove to the seller that there's money, and they got back later saying we'd have an answer by 5:00 tomorrow. The bid we submitted was much lower than the asking price, naturally -- a ton lower. It's still plenty considering the additional money we'll need for repairs, but would still be a great price for the house.

Talking later, Marc and I wondered if the floor damage in the little room downstairs was because of broken pipes or leaks in the bathroom directly above it. It looks like very old damage. The water has been turned off in that bathroom, and if there was an issue with pipes that would be a reason to just shut it off. We know the old man lived downstairs anyway. Just means we need to get into the ceiling and switch out the pipes to the bathtub etc. up there, but that's not such a big deal. We'll have to replace the floor in that room anyway. Might as well do the ceiling, too.

Skweeeeeeeee.

The place is a sad WRECK!! It needs me!!!!!

Under all that peeling and cracking and muck and detritus and mold, there is a beautiful, stately house that could be a wonderful home.

It's like when you get the stray cat. The stray cat needs you, and you respond to that need, and that's all there is to that.

Except, of course, this stray cat will cost a lot more money.

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After all that, Marc took me to Wes's in his pickup truck and we retrieved my antique bureau that Wes had been keeping in his storage unit. I'm donating it to Marc and Rose's spare bedroom. We got it up the stairs on a dolly -- it's big and boxy and the turns were tricky, but I enjoyed humping it up the stairs (no, sorry, Hiss, I mean we just moved the bureau -- we weren't actually humping anything) in practice for all the work to come. Marc keeps telling me, "I don't think you realize how much work you're getting into!" And the thing is that I KNOW it's going to be a massive amount of labor and it'll take a long time, but -- this is what I'm doing with my life!! This is the time for me to be creating this home. And talk about "best for everyone concerned" -- this has been my prayer all along, and it seems that the ripples of Bestness will continue to spread. The neighbors will get a little piece of land to extend their tiny lot, thereby making the purchase more viable for us. My family will get a huge, flat place to farm. Apparently the neighbors have asked in the past whether the family would sell them a little bit -- we don't know if they asked Son or Father, but his realtor mentioned something about the neighbor trying to buy part of the lot. I guess Son wasn't keen on that. Maybe they think that's who's bidding on it now. Anyway it'll be no loss to me; it's nowhere near the house and it'll be a good start to our relationship. I'll still have four or more acres and they'll have a place for a nice, big garden or sitting area.

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It's hard to believe that Wes is moving tomorrow, but there it is. I'm going over to see him for a bit now and say my for-now goodbyes. I hope this works out for him, this rental. This relationship he's in.