Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

BTW, our agent is still showing the house to prospective buyers so is someone else wants to put in an offer, those people will have t either close or back our and we will go ahead with the next offer.

Good. Maybe the knowledge that others are interested and probably will make offers will light a fire under their tails and they'll stop being idiots. They should have just asked for additional inspections instead of being stupid about upgrades. I'll bet it's their first house.

 

[Baymule]

You can’t fix stupid. And what’s worse—they breed and make more.

 

[SA Farm]

You can’t fix stupid. And what’s worse—they breed and make more.

Ever seen the movie Idiocracy? It’s supposed to be a comedy, but it scares me because I can actually see it being far too accurate about the future of mankind

 

[Baymule]

No haven’t seen it. Just going to Walmart is enough for me. LOL

 

[Bruce]

!!!!!!! WHAT? !!!!!!!

Just tell them you'll do it all, adding the actual cost to the price of the house plus 50% for your work as the general contractor. And No, you WON'T hold a second mortgage on the house so they can afford it.

although I know they think they will just put the washer and dryer in the hall closet but don't want to pay to have the electrical run

They forgot to require you also run water and a drain to the closet.

 

[farmerjan]

I would tell them NO.....Period...... EXCLAMATION POINT.....!!!!!!!! You agreed to the inspection, we are not doing anything more. If this no longer suits you, find something else. If the agent is still showing, then let it go. And make sure that agent understands that YOU WILL NOT do any other work on it since it meets all codes. END OF DISCUSSION......
What do they not understand about AS IS ??????

 

[Ridgetop]

Both agents are tearing out their hair over these buyers. Luckily our buyer has never stopped showing the house.

If they back out we have decided that when the listing ends we will move in to the house temporarily. The hall closets will come out. 1/2 of the deep closet with shelves will become a closet for the small bedroom. The other half will become a new hall closet for storage and linens. A large Ikea closet will be added to the large bedroom. The hall walk in closet will become a laundry closet, enclose the hot water heater, and be a utility closet. We will add dual pane windows. These will be easy since the original antique windows lift out of their frames with a pin. I already have a buyer for the windows.

Next we will move on to the bunkhouse. Since learning that the septic system is large enough to handle a 3 BR house, we will attach the bunkhouse to it. It is so old we will not bother with a permit for that. We will run a water line from the pump to the bunkhouse and install a small hot water heater for the bathroom and kitchenette which we can carve out of one of bunkhouse rooms. Running electric to it will not be difficult - we will run the wires underground with the water line - and DH and I can wire the house ourselves. He will install a new panel. The "repair" permit, electrician, and inspector will only be needed to sign the electric off legally. Dual pane windows and a new front door will complete this new 1 BR house.

Now the property will have 2 good rentals highly improved for such small properties, improvements in the dual pane windows, and addition of a laundry room, etc. We will put it back on the market for a much higher price. If it doesn't sell, we will rent out both houses and consider a lot split to sell the vacant land. Either way it will work.

However, I hope it sells to these idiots without any more bother once they had had their electrical inspection.

Next item, Doofus has the opportunity to go to Oregon/Washington with his company for 4-6 weeks to work. They will pay him a lot extra, and pay for his lodging. I think they are sending a crew. He wants us to tow his truck up for him next week if we are going. Kassy will be staying here. We weren't planning to go so soon, but DH wants to detour into Idaho and visit his sister and brother in law outside Coeur d'Alene. I guess we will do it nd instead of going straight to the Yelm property go first to Coeur d'Alene for a visit. That way we are not dragging a refrigerator with us! LOL Then we will go back and check out Yelm, and if the sale has gone through finish removing any of our property from Yelm. Doofus is on his own to get back since we will be in TEXAS!!!.

 

[Ridgetop]

Today the wind came whistling in very strong. Every now and then large bangs could be heard making me wonder if another branch had fallen down. Then a large shrub blew down. It had been at the corner of the house for 25 years without any problem I went out and pulled it up and found that the main tap foot had been completely chewed off! Ground squirrels at work. I pulled out the dead rosebushes and did some weeding while I was outside. Beautiful day other than the strong gusty wind.

DH was weeding the "garden" on the other side f the house. He is moving the dirt out of our failed trough planters and putting it in the failed "rose garden". I decided to plant tomatoes in the narrow bed and squash in the round bed. They are the only things that survived although the ground squirrels ate all the produce. However we have ur trusty Squirrelinator and Ratinator traps so can make a start on pest eradication earlier. I am also looking into getting one of those electrified garden netting fences with the tiny mesh to go around the vegetables, I am looking forward to going out in the morning and finding tiny ground squirrel corpses hanging from the fences.

Of all the stuff that DDIL2 planted only some of the Rosemary bushes survived and one tiny Lavender plant. I am going to plant some more Lavender and some yellow Marigolds in that bed. They seem t survive, along with Plumbago which spreads itself. I like the Plumbago plants since they are always covered with blue flowers, are hardy, and survive in spite of the enormous dog caves dug out beneath them. I wish I could get the Lantana to remain but in spite of its drought resistance it doesn't seem to thrive. I used to spend lots of time caring for my yard and garden at the old house but that soil was excellent and here in spite of 35 years of tilling in manure, adding soil amendments and planter mix, nothing seems to stay healthy for long. I guess I just need to stick with the stuff that seems to go native.

Went to DD1's house yesterday and finally got the border up on DGD1's walls. Had it almost a year. Then hung her pictures on the walls and DD1 and I put up the stick on fairies and butterflies. Had a good time with her helping me. Surprising how helpful an interested 7 year old can be and how satisfying it is to do stuff for a child whose favorite words are 'It's sooo beeyootiful!" in a thrilled tone. LOL

One of these days she won't be so excited that I am doing this for her but for now . . . . Then she and her DGS2 begged e t stay for a while and watch them swim with "Larry". Not a friend, he is an inflatable floating dragon DS1 gave DGS2 for his birthday last year. Only a 10 year old could name a dragon "Larry" . LOL
I sent a pair of little china boudoir lamps over last night for her room. I had forgotten to take them to her when I went over with the border ladder, wallpaper supplies hammer, tacks, et. etc. I need to call and see if she got them set up in the room.

Hope to hear next week about the Yelm property and the electrician's inspection. We will not be towing Doofus up after all. He discussed it with DH and DH told him that it would cost him more to rent a trailer and tow the truck up than it would be to drive up. He needed to go up sooner than we wanted to go anyway. Also if these buyers back out of the sale, we won't go up at all. I need to check with the agent if we get to keep their earnest money if the electrician okays the electrical and they still change their minds. Best scenario is that the electrician tells them they have nothing to worry abut and they go ahead with the sale. DH said that they might ask the electrician for a bid on doing the extra work to run electricity to the bunkhouse and barn and then back out. Have to wait and see. Like I said, if we can't sell we will convert the bunkhouse into a second rental, change the closets around, put in laundry connections, and raise the price $100,000.00! LOL

 

[Baymule]

I hope Idiot Buyer's go through with the sale and close with no more idiot demands. But if not, y’all are prepared with Plan B.

 

[Ridgetop]

Our agent sent us a counter but I returned it telling him to rewrite it with my own wording.

His wording was:
". . . buyer proposes the following alternative modifications or repairs described below: Cost of restoring electrical power to the bunkhouse per appropriate code and to the acceptance of all parties".

To me this read as though we agreed to install the electrical power to the bunkhouse, after which the buyers could either accept or reject the work, leaving us swallowing the cost of the electrical installation. " . . . to the acceptance of all parties." sounded as though the acceptance or rejection would be made after the work was finished.

I told him to redo it reading:

" . . . buyer proposes the following alternative modification . . . " (delete repairs since this is not a repair) " . . . buyers will obtain an estimate of cost of restoring electrical power to the bunkhouse per appropriate code and submit same to sellers for their approval or rejection of estimate."

Another buyer came through the property, and their agent asked about a lower price verbally. I told our agent to follow up on this and tell them to submit their highest offer. I am getting really annoyed at the others and if we could get definite quick sale, would take a bit less. DH is fit to be tied over the buyers and their demands at this point.

I suggested to DH that we could move into the house and live there for a year thus converting it to our primary residence. I figure that since the property didn't draw any rent for most of last year, and it has been empty for 4 months of this year, we can move into it and claim it as our residence as of part of last year. Then when we sell, we can avoid capital gains taxes. It means no 1031 ranch, but you do what you have to do.

If we do this, we can decide if we want to run electricity to the bunkhouse, insulate, and drywall it for a living space or just leave it. I will have to cut back the sheep flock before I go but DS1 can manage it. We could come home to CA for most of the winter, see our grandchildren, and travel in our 5th wheel while claiming Yelm as our primary residence. Can you tell that I am starting to go insane over this house sale?!

Grandkids are here and DH and DS1 are putting them to work. They are emptying our failed trough planters and transferring the good soil into the old failed rose beds. These beds will be used for tomatoes. The tomato bushes did very well last year, they were about 8 feet tall and extremely thick and bushy. We just didn't get any tomatoes off them, and the tomatoes that did set were stolen by ground squirrels. I think I used the wrong amendment in the soil. Instead of producing bushes that set flowers and fruit the plants went to foliage. Probably too much blood meal. At any rate since it doesn't look like we are getting to Texas any time soon to buy anything, we might as well plant tomatoes.

DH had a really good thought too about us being able to go to DS3's house for Thanksgiving and staying for an extra day. He suggested our gardener could feed the sheep and dogs. They know him and like him so would let him in. He really doesn't do much here since we don't have any grass, and mainly DH kept him on when we sold the apartment building because at the time he needed the work. He does our neighbors on both sides, so it wouldn't be a problem and we would pay him. Too bad we can't take him to Texas with us. LOL

Got to go move sheep.