Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Miss @farmerjan,

This is GREAT NEWS on the house! Finally it seems that you are going to have your own place and not have to deal with a crazy landlord again! Any idea how long it will take to get the survey, loan, and a closing date?

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Bruce]

Great news on the house!

On the re-plumbing the place, have you considered pex plumbing?

I think that is all the plumbers use now. Fast and easy. Cuts fast and clean with a tube cutter, connect fittings with a special ratcheting plier thing and a clamp. No sweating, no flux, no plumber's putty. And it is cheap, like $0.20/ft in rolls. Copper is about $1.50/ft.

 

[CntryBoy777]

The only caution with it is...check the local and state code laws as to the "approved" use of it....some states are only allowing certain applications for its use....especially if a resale in the future takes place, ya sure would hate to replace it just so ya could sell.... ...I do like it and plan on using it here...when we get to some inside stuff....

 

[farmerjan]

Things for the house situation will be sorta on hold as I try to get appointments with lenders and all that stuff. Owners are going to get the plot "registered" with the county or whatever they have to do to make it legal and the surveyor is going to come back and mark the boundaries and I asked to have t-posts driven next to the pins in the ground with a piece of surveyors tape so they can be seen. Told the owners I would pay for it if extra and they said it would benefit them also so not a problem.
At least I made a smart move a few years ago and moved about 75% of my retirement into a SAFE investment so it has not lost so terribly much in this last downturn. Doesn't pay but 2.25 % but cannot lose anything with the volatile market either. I still put some into the more risky "regular" investments so can make or lose ( as this last quarter) but that is part of it. So I should have ample to take out to make the 20% down payment that I want to make, and still have a little left in there. Even with paying the taxes on what I take out. That is a relief.

I will have to do the bathroom so am going to have to start looking at tub/shower stuff and am going to do some perusing online first. The upstairs ceilings can wait and the upstairs can be closed off for now if need be, or while the ceilings are torn down and the dusty mess is made. But I definitely want to see about the possibility of extending the pipes into the upstairs for a small bathroom, for future resale value and use. I could even rent the upstairs to someone if they had their own bathroom.... with kitchen priviledges or something if I needed to. Maybe have someone live in, in exchange for house cleaning and a cheap rent? Students alsways looking for housing and am 1/2 hour from Lexington Va with 2 colleges and little over 1/2 hour from Staunton Va to the north and another college.... Even a grad student looking for cheap housing in exchange for some work and a little rent? Possibility to think about even though I think I would prefer to be quietly ALONE.... some students aren't looking for party central and I know someone who has had a couple that were great and they got a little rent and some work done and it was great. Sure they aren't all wonderful.... but something to consider. Some possibilities but even just to have a small upstairs bathroom that would definitely add value. The downstairs one is between the kitchen and "master bedroom" so is accessible to easy use from being outside.... and there is an extra sink in the "mud room" so to speak for general wash up messy hands and such so not a problem.
Anyway, some stuff to look at as I want to be ready to start stuff, if I can get it. The guy who has been helping at the farm some would be a good one to pay a bit to to tear out the old bath/tub surround and all. He just put the new carb on my mower and got it running and did all the lawn and most all the weed eating and did a pretty good job of it. He's on disability, can't drive truck anymore due to severe diabetes and all.... so I think he is glad to just get some work. All under the table stuff too; he has helped with the cows a few times, and they have been working on fences and such. a a jack of all trades from what I see and does a decent job. He likes to do the mechanical work and did quite a bit from what I have heard. Says he is a fair carpenter and can fix/rebuild my 2 portable chicken pens (tractors) as the one has plywood that is getting rotten. That would be great.
He doesn't have any transportation right now and I have a truck that needs a transmission, so my son and I think that it would be a good truck for him to fix and then do some sort of a "trade off" for some other labor..... It's another ranger that I had that the transmission went bad in several years ago. The one I got now only cost 1100 and it gets better mileage and I have been driving it for nearly 5 years, so was a good deal at the time. This other one was supposed to be fixed by a mechanic that is very good, but she just never would seem to "get to it" and I am tired of it. I gave her a check 2 years ago as a downpayment on the work, and after a year I stopped cuz I hadn't heard from her and she gave me the check back as she had never cashed it.... but said she was going to get to it. Now her mom is sick and she is closing up the shop she had bought and was operating, so just recently I called her about it and she said to just come get it back that she hadn't done anything and since she was cleaning out the shop to sell, it would need to be moved away.
Pain that it has sat all this time, but might work out good if he can get it up and running and I can maybe trade off a "cheap selling price" for other work around. I would probably sell it if I paid someone else to get it running again.... I like the 95(96?) I am running now and it gets better gas mileage anyway. I might even look for another like this one to have as an extra down the road. So since I haven't had the other one, I won't miss it if it is fixed and "sold/traded".....with no more financial input from me.

So I am going to get him to continue to do the weed eating here and even the mowing if he wants extra money, and then I won't have to deal with the landlord anymore.

I expect that I will have to "stay here" for a couple months after actually getting the other place, in order to get things done that need to be done, bathroom, painting, things like the septic emptied, and all that. I want to basically move a room at a time so that I am not overwhelmed with boxes all at once too. It will be worth it to get things all put into place as I go, instead of looking at a ton of boxes all piled everywhere. I don't expect to actually get moved into it before fall because we also have haying to do, and this ankle will be somewhat restrictive too. But that will be okay too, as then I will be able to dig up and move the peach trees, and the flowers I have planted here that I want to take with me, like the peonies from an old homestead that are looking just gorgeous coming into bloom now. Also to figure out where I want the chickens and to do some outside work there. There are some HUGE boxwoods that are behind the house that I want taken out and some "sapling trees" that have come up that I want to remove too. I want to get a feel for where the sun comes up and how it moves across there and how it will affect growing stuff. Not that I want to make "MAJOR" changes, but some stuff has been let go so long that it is way over grown, like the boxwoods. The one sister remembers being able to jump over them when she was a kid...... 50+ years ago.... and she says they were not trimmed or shaped much that she can remember. They are nearly as tall as the house and very dense and hold alot of damp air behind the house. If they were gone then I think the house would lend its self to alot more looking nice. The owners are going to severely trim back the forsythia that is along the fence along the road. It is a hazard to see up the road and I would probably take it completely out.... but being cut way back will do for now. I like it so would probably move it, or some shoots, to another side of the property as it makes a great hedge for privacy. Just not where it is.
There are 2 other ways to enter the property off the road so might make one or both more accessible as I don't like coming out on the main road with all the traffic.

All sorts of possibilities. Just got to get the financing in place, get a lawyer to represent me with the paperwork, since there is no real estate agent involved...... So waiting on the financial institutions.....

 

[farmerjan]

I will ask Glenn, the friend that looked at the ceiling.... he does this for a living so to speak, so would know what is legal, as far as the type plumbing allowed... and what can be done without getting into a big "todo" with the building departments and such.

It's raining again. Has been warm the last few nights, but nothing like the 90's that @Bruce was talking about. Kinda glad that we don't have those swings.... I don't want all that cold anymore and then up into the 80's and 90's ..... bad enough we get from the 20's/30's to the 80's and sometimes 90's.....don't want ZERO temps. I mean we do get it on occasion, but it will only last for a few days and then go back to the normal 20-40 swing..... Not for the last few years though... we get the warmer end of winter time temps; then these crazy warm ups and chill downs then really warm, for what is supposed to be springtime.

 

[Mike CHS]

Maintaining two places has a lot of advantages, especially if your are renovating the final destination. We did that for almost two years and the only drawback was the fact that one place was in Charleston and of course the other was here. That gave us plenty of time to get it where we wanted it and let me continue to draw a paycheck until we were at the point that we didn't need. it.

 

[farmerjan]

Luckily for me @Mike CHS , these 2 places are within 5 or so miles of each other. I will obviously have to pay rent for a few extra months, as well as whatever the mortgage payment is, but don't foresee that as a huge problem for just a few months. So thinking about what @CntryBoy777 said about taking the mortgage for the longer time frame, with the smaller payment, and then if things get tight I won't be scrambling to make a payment, that might be the very best thing to do, make the "smaller payment" while trying to do what I want done, and paying the rent while I get things moved into a "completed" room as I go. Then after getting there and not having to make the rent payment, can put extra to the mtg pay't and have it all go to principle and pay it off quicker. The rate for 15 yrs is less than the 25 or 30, but if you pay it off quicker, it ought to figure out. And I will continue to test, for as long as I feel okay with it, so that will be money to go towards whatever as it has been here all along. I just don't want to move in with 5 rooms worth of boxes, and it is close enough that I can do things there at a little more leisurely pace. Of course, we will get into hay here as soon as the weather calls for more than 2 days of sun/partly cloudy...... it is raining again tonight. So my time will be somewhat limited anyway for a few months.

The goal is to be out of here before cold weather..... and I only have to give him a months notice that I am leaving.... that is what he told me a year or 2 ago, when I asked as I told him that there was a possibility that I might move to my son's place if he couldn't find a renter.... of course I really wasn't planning to move there, but wanted to get a little bit of a feel for the way things were.... I have ALOT of stuff to move.... and will be going through some more to get rid of but I also have alot that could be yard sale stuff.... and this new place has a very good location as it is on a fairly busy road. But then again, I might want to just take it all down to the local Drive In Movie theater that has a once a month "flea market" with you paying for a spot and selling stuff..... Rather than have people stopping at the house.... so some pros and cons.... I have some furniture that I probably won't take with me either..... and after this ankle and the future knee replacements, a recliner will be in my future. Never had one so maybe ought to treat myself to one.

 

[farmerjan]

I am not telling him that I am leaving until I have most all m y stuff moved anyway.... I will get the chicken runs and all moved as he hates them here anyway..... clean up the outside like he wants it to look like,; then move the inside stuff as I go up there after I get it painted etc......
Yeah I am really hoping and anticipating this all works.....

 

[Mini Horses]

THRILLED for you on the house news!! I know it will work out. Then "YOURS" will have a new meaning.

My house is larger than I need but, like you say....rental is possible. In my case, I have a septic & mobile home DD lives in at the rear of the farm. I have thought that at some point I may put a small house there to live in, cut way back on animals & rent this house, barns & 10 acres. Rates they get now I'd make out well. Only grand goes to college this Fall & within 2 yrs, I expect DD will move. Lives change. She's been a devoted single mom for many years.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Having been in the young man's "shoes"....recently...I can assure ya he would be "tickled pink" to fixing up the truck....and a very gracious "gift" on your part..... ....I certainly wouldn't say a word to the landlord til I had to.....and get proof of any "agreement" ya have with them to....don't need to see ya on a future episode of Judge Judy.....