Friday, May 23, 2008

Real estate woes

Are you tired of talking about my real estate problems? Me, too. But here we are again, on the same topic. Please, let's drop the issue after this. Deal?

We now have our house up for rent here. It is still on the market for sale, but it is also listed for rent on the military real estate site. Please send your non-smoking, pet-less, responsible-childrened friends over to lease or buy it from us. On this subject, do you currently own a house that you are renting to someone? How is that working out for you? Are you using a management agency? What all do you pay for and what do the renters pay for? I have never done this and am nervous as all get out.

We do not know if we have that house in Las Vegas. As much as banks seem to be in the news for owning unwanted homes all over the nation, they sure are slow to accept or decline offers from people wanting to take over the payments. For example, we still have a bid in on that house we liked the first time we were in Vegas. That was like 2 months ago. That crazy agent even told our agent last week that we are the only ones with a valid bid in on the house, but he couldn't do anything yet because of some weirdo lame excuse that made no sense to me. WTF? Whatever. We are keeping that bid open so that we can not-so graciously decline his generous offer for us to purchase it over the asking price, when he gets around to it in November.

Tim took Claire to the doctor and then to the hospital this morning. Another fun 2+hour visit. I hate going to the pediatrician here! It takes FOREVER. But then when we put it off, the kids invariably come down with something horrible and we end up spending ungodly amounts of time in the E.R. This time, we are worried about Claire because she sounds like she has croup. According to the R.N. we saw (twice) this week, she does not. She has allergies. But I have never heard allergies that sound like this. And the mucous. You don't even want to know. So she had chest x-rays today to rule out pneumonia and any other horrible illness like that, and they came back fine, so....back to the humidifier and benadryl.

I called Claire's swim teacher this morning to let her know we wouldn't be at lessons, and she told me not to worry because she was cancelling lessons due to weather. Her pool was too cold. It is late May and today it didn't top 72*. There was a winter-storm watch for much of northern Arizona.

On the topic of weather, I found this humorous: I received a packet of purple and gold viola seeds today from the UW alumni foundation. From the directions on the back:

"Keep soil moist during those three hot days in August (applies to Western Washington residents only). The flower will often reseed and spread like Husky Fever throughout your garden."

From better days:

Claire enjoys her meal at Blueberry Hill.


Disaster.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry this is such a frustrating process. I do understand what it's like to try to sell a home right now. I also understand what it's like to find a home in one day, as that's what had to happen when we interviewed out here. We did seem to be blessed that day more than you were in Vegas - sorry. Sorry to hear that Claire's not feeling well. Isaac, Noah and I are all sick and feel like crap! At least James is well and home for a long weekend - praise God! Love you all!

Andrea_Ben said...

Blueberry hill breakfast - yum!!

I will keep my ear to the ground to help you find renters. There are a whole new crop of IPUG guys coming in from Korea. Maybe some of them are looking to rent.

Anonymous said...

Sorry this is so frustrating for you guys! John and I have a house that we rent to a military couple in Fort Benning, GA. We posted it on the militarybyowner.com website as for sale/rent/option to buy. The couple decided to rent with the option to buy it and in doing so they are responsible for ALL upkeep of the house and if they decide not to buy it then they lose their deposit and the portion of their rent that goes towards the purchase of the house. We are hoping that they buy it but at least somebody other than us is paying the mortgage right now. You can go to JAG and get a copy of a sample lease and it will give you ideas of what you need to put in your lease or you can google it as well. We wish you the best of luck. If you want more info, let us know. We will be more than happy to share with you. Hope you guys are feeling better!!!

Talk to you soon!
Heather

wings118 said...

Hi everyone; blueberries how wonderful. It looks like both girls throughly enjoyed!!!!
Sorry to hear about Claire's illness.
Frustration in AZ and Las Vegas, I am praying for you all.
Keep me updated on your move, so I know how to reach you.
In His Loving Arms
Love Aunt Debbie