i am a homeowner.
i bought a condo in west lafayette, near purdue. it's a straight two-mile shot into campus along 231, so even in the craziest traffic, there shouldn't be a problem getting to class.
to say the least, it has been an adventure. my dad and i worked with three different brokers, two of whom were absolute shit and one who occasionally deigned to throw us scraps of information regarding the contract and potential sale. one of them actually told us, "i have bigger fish to fry." eff you, real estate agents. especially those who represent large organizations that profess to have codes of conduct for this sort of thing. every customer receives equal treatment? not my experience at all.
so that process definitely could have went more smoothly. there was about a month of negotiation and addendum-drafting, after which i closed on june 17th. now, for those of you that know me, you might be saying to yourself, "how the fuck did josh afford a condo?" an excellent question. the place was a fucking dump, man. everything, and i mean everything that could have leaked was leaking. kitchen sink, garbage disposal, main water valve, hot water tank valve, washer and dryer hookup valves, toilet valve, showerhead and tub faucet. i got a crash course in plumbing and soldering, to say the least. my dad's ability to fix anything was exhibited more times than i could count, and i was reminded of his humanity only by the frequent chains of obscenities he ripped off when things didn't go according to plan.
we also tore out and replaced about half the drywall in the bathroom (which was so soft around the toilet beforehand that it gave like cake batter) and ripped up the linoleum floor. that was replaced, but heavens to gandalf...scraping that floor clean was some of the hardest labor i've ever done. it has to be scraped completely clean in order for the new glue to stick (and also to prevent lumps in your new floor), so we used ice scrapers. they apparently have adhesive removers that can dissolve the linoleum glue and have it roll up like butter, but they can leave oil residue on the floor that prevents new glue from sticking as well. so we did it the old-fashioned way. anyway, it was fucking hard, homeslice!
oh! and don't forget the woodlice infestation! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse) their corpses lined the baseboards and covered the bathroom floor when we toured the unit, so we sprayed outside like motherfuckers three times and i bought a dehumidifier to suck the life-giving water from their undeserving gills.
we scraped all the walls clean (the last painter sucked ass), and patched dings and holes with drywall mud. then we painted the whole house. my bedroom is a really deep blue, the living room, hallway, and small bedroom are a retro-looking green, and the bathroom is an off-white. and the furnishings! mwahaha! i'm hard pressed to think of anything i bought new. the chairs, tv stand, end tables and coffee tables (pier one!), lamps, lampshades, and lighting fixtures were all scavenged at yard sales. a newer subdivision near valpo had their first community garage sale and everything that the contractors put in that the new owners didn't like they ripped out and sold. so as a result, i got next-to-new stuff for a handful of knuts.
we were able to salvage the fridge after a good deal of scrubbing, but the stove sucked. i got lucky on finding a new stove, washer, and dryer, though. my uncle had bought them for next to nothing off the people he bought his house from, but since they were electric he couldn't use them. he kept them in his basement, and was glad to be rid of them.
all that work took about three weeks straight through, and now the place is pretty livable. i still see the occasional woodlouse and gigantic spider, but i have renounced my earlier hatred for their kind. i would even go so far as to say that, were i a power ranger, the woodlouse would grace my morpher. anyway, i'll guarantee that, if you come to visit, there will be at least 20% fewer bugs than on a camping trip.
so. i suppose that's a decent summary of the last few weeks. it's certainly given me enough to write a memoir about. or rather, the reason to write one. now it's time to order books, get my parking pass, and prepare to teach and be taught.
*hug*
to say the least, it has been an adventure. my dad and i worked with three different brokers, two of whom were absolute shit and one who occasionally deigned to throw us scraps of information regarding the contract and potential sale. one of them actually told us, "i have bigger fish to fry." eff you, real estate agents. especially those who represent large organizations that profess to have codes of conduct for this sort of thing. every customer receives equal treatment? not my experience at all.
so that process definitely could have went more smoothly. there was about a month of negotiation and addendum-drafting, after which i closed on june 17th. now, for those of you that know me, you might be saying to yourself, "how the fuck did josh afford a condo?" an excellent question. the place was a fucking dump, man. everything, and i mean everything that could have leaked was leaking. kitchen sink, garbage disposal, main water valve, hot water tank valve, washer and dryer hookup valves, toilet valve, showerhead and tub faucet. i got a crash course in plumbing and soldering, to say the least. my dad's ability to fix anything was exhibited more times than i could count, and i was reminded of his humanity only by the frequent chains of obscenities he ripped off when things didn't go according to plan.
we also tore out and replaced about half the drywall in the bathroom (which was so soft around the toilet beforehand that it gave like cake batter) and ripped up the linoleum floor. that was replaced, but heavens to gandalf...scraping that floor clean was some of the hardest labor i've ever done. it has to be scraped completely clean in order for the new glue to stick (and also to prevent lumps in your new floor), so we used ice scrapers. they apparently have adhesive removers that can dissolve the linoleum glue and have it roll up like butter, but they can leave oil residue on the floor that prevents new glue from sticking as well. so we did it the old-fashioned way. anyway, it was fucking hard, homeslice!
oh! and don't forget the woodlice infestation! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse) their corpses lined the baseboards and covered the bathroom floor when we toured the unit, so we sprayed outside like motherfuckers three times and i bought a dehumidifier to suck the life-giving water from their undeserving gills.
we scraped all the walls clean (the last painter sucked ass), and patched dings and holes with drywall mud. then we painted the whole house. my bedroom is a really deep blue, the living room, hallway, and small bedroom are a retro-looking green, and the bathroom is an off-white. and the furnishings! mwahaha! i'm hard pressed to think of anything i bought new. the chairs, tv stand, end tables and coffee tables (pier one!), lamps, lampshades, and lighting fixtures were all scavenged at yard sales. a newer subdivision near valpo had their first community garage sale and everything that the contractors put in that the new owners didn't like they ripped out and sold. so as a result, i got next-to-new stuff for a handful of knuts.
we were able to salvage the fridge after a good deal of scrubbing, but the stove sucked. i got lucky on finding a new stove, washer, and dryer, though. my uncle had bought them for next to nothing off the people he bought his house from, but since they were electric he couldn't use them. he kept them in his basement, and was glad to be rid of them.
all that work took about three weeks straight through, and now the place is pretty livable. i still see the occasional woodlouse and gigantic spider, but i have renounced my earlier hatred for their kind. i would even go so far as to say that, were i a power ranger, the woodlouse would grace my morpher. anyway, i'll guarantee that, if you come to visit, there will be at least 20% fewer bugs than on a camping trip.
so. i suppose that's a decent summary of the last few weeks. it's certainly given me enough to write a memoir about. or rather, the reason to write one. now it's time to order books, get my parking pass, and prepare to teach and be taught.
*hug*