Category: real estate
08/18/05 05:31 - 80ºF - ID#36594
Email to my mortgage broker
property at 23rd Street received a whopping 41 offers, with the winning
bid in the $1.8M range. So if Steve and I each shacked up with a partner
and ransomed our firstborns do you think we can swing it? (Just kidding!)
$1.8M. Yeah right! That's roughly twice the asking price. Even I'm not that delusional!
Back to the real estate listings.
p.s. - Did I mention that the latest strategy had been for me & Steve to move into the top floor flat together and find another partner to buy the middle flat (thereby dividing the cost by 3) while we collected $2000/mo rent from the bottom flat to go toward our share? I thought that was a brilliant plan, if I do say so myself. Not quite enough in the end, though.
Permalink: Email_to_my_mortgage_broker.html
Words: 148
Location: San Francisco, CA
Category: real estate
08/16/05 09:22 - ID#36593
high finance snack food
Permalink: high_finance_snack_food.html
Words: 5
Location: San Francisco, CA
08/18/05 04:32 - 67ºF - ID#36592
multitasking
Damn this yin/yang role reversal! I won't even go into our breakfast table conversation about strategies for eliminating tea spout drips. I suppose if I'd been leading the conversation it would have gravitated to my looming real estate transactions. So just as well I wasn't.
Speaking of which, my intended Tenancy in Common (WIKIPEDIA - Tenancy_in_common)partner and I are scheduled to sit down with our respective realtors to write up our offer this afternoon. Offers are due on my place tomorrow at noon, and on the 3-unit in SF tomorrow at 5PM. Barring any last-minute surprises, cold feet, or objections from persons present, looks like we'll be throwing our lot in together, at least on this one. We probably won't know whether our offer is the winning bid before Friday. I still think it's a longshot, but you never know.
I'd better double-check those numbers again. Ay yi yi. Speak now or forever hold your peace.
p.s. - holy crap! My mortgage guy just asked me if I saw the front page of the today's Chronicle:
Breaking barriers in S.F.'s housing market
Marin bank first to lend to individual owners in TICs
Permalink: multitasking.html
Words: 408
Location: San Francisco, CA
Category: real estate
08/14/05 07:13 - 76ºF - ID#36591
If 99 Californians jumped off a cliff...
So, I put my house up for sale last week after I found a gorgeous 3-unit Victorian in a great neighborhood in SF. The catch is, the 3-unit building is so "reasonably" priced it's sure to get multiple bids way over the asking price. In other words, their ploy worked. Once you're hooked, the next thing you know you're making rationalizations like "this is like buying three houses in one, each with 3 bedrooms, double parlour, 2 fireplaces, rounded bays, ornate trim..."
Come on (e:peeps)! Doesn't anybody want to go in on this one with me?
So, why not just buy a single family home, you ask? Same reason you can't buy one in Manhattan. Here the footprint where everybody wants to live is bounded by the Ocean and the Bay. Thankfully in San Francisco that just means most buildings are 2-4 unit Victorians, not the more modern skyscrapers common in Manhattan. Sure, there's the occasional multi-million dollar mansion. But that is sadly out of my price range.
The other alternative, condos, are expensive for a variety of complicated reasons. So the best value (just trust me on this) is to buy a building either alone, or with partners for each unit, and go through the lengthy condo conversion process yourself.
Since I can't wait around for a few dozen more of you (e:peeps) to move out here to start an (e:commune), I turned to the usual resource for any deficiency in the Bay area: craigslist.
Oh crap. Somebody's coming to see my house now and I still have to make guacamole for the monthly pot-luck BBQ this afternoon. Much as I would like to skip this party, I've got a lot of explaining to do to all my friends who are royally p!ssed that I'm making life decisions without consulting them first. At least I'll get plenty of chances to fine-tune my story before my weekly phone call with Dad tomorrow. Oh boy.
To be continued...
Wow. That went amazingly well. I didn't get to explain all the details, but most everybody is onboard with the gist of my plan. It's just weird that the more I convince everybody else the less convinced I become myself. I hope I haven't outsmarted myself this time.
p.s. - the first reaction across the board has been to fix me up with the guy I'm partnering with. I just met the guy on Thursday! I'm not that crazy!
Permalink: If_99_Californians_jumped_off_a_cliff_.html
Words: 428
Location: San Francisco, CA
Category: work
08/13/05 02:36 - 83ºF - ID#36590
biz cards
Permalink: biz_cards.html
Words: 49
Location: San Francisco, CA
07/23/05 05:49 - ID#36589
wild berries
Permalink: wild_berries.html
Words: 5
Location: San Francisco, CA
07/23/05 06:05 - 81ºF - ID#36588
Cameo role?
If the craziest thing happens to you in the forest, and there's no high-speed connection by which you can document it ...
The Joy of Self-Exposure
Ok, obviously this whole p:mobl thing was just a ploy to get me to post. How am I supposed to resist that kind of pressure? (jk!)
(e:Mike) - you can't leave us with a cliffhanger [inlink]mike,359[/inlink] like that for long! I'm dying to know what happens. Maybe you can write in a part for Shana's long-lost cousin, once-removed, last seen heading West but never heard from again. Unbeknownst to her friends and family back home, she has been keeping tabs on them from afar. She hears of Shana's plight, and racked with guilt for abandoning her loved ones in their time of need, decides to make amends and unequivocably show her loyalty by sacrificing the 6 months she has left to live due to a fatal but non-communicable disease that thankfully does not affect any of the organs Shana needs transplanted in order to survive. In a heart-wrenching video enclosed with the bio-packed organs, the cousin professes her love for Shana and the others and assures them she is certain this was meant to be her destiny ever since she and Shana found out they were a perfect match when they registered for the bone marrow donor program when that kid in second grade was diagnosed with leukemia.
It's just one way you could go with it. I'd be happy to moblog the audition in for your consideration. Oh yeah, feel free to harvest some eggs from the dead cousin since obviously Shana's accident left her unable to conceive. That'll give you a few more twists for the next season. haha!
Permalink: Cameo_role_.html
Words: 297
Location: San Francisco, CA
07/23/05 01:07 - ID#36587
xtra quaint
The catch? The only way to get to the kitchen is to go down that outside staircase. I am not kidding!
Permalink: xtra_quaint.html
Words: 27
Location: San Francisco, CA
Category: web
07/23/05 04:27 - 83ºF - ID#36586
Already behind the curve
The 5th Internet Dating Conference (San Francisco 2005) event will cover Mobile and Wireless Technologies to the Dating and Social Networking industry. Topics included will be new and existing technology and business management for Dating and Social Networking businesses that are entering the mobile/wireless space.
and
New mobile dating services allow people to browse profiles via cell phone and message potential matches -- even on the spot
(as long as I'm already in the top 12 might as well post again.)
Permalink: Already_behind_the_curve.html
Words: 108
Location: San Francisco, CA
07/23/05 03:45 - ID#36585
this is why i can't move to buffalo.
(Cell phone pic does NOT do it justice)
Permalink: this_is_why_i_can_t_move_to_buffalo_.html
Words: 9
Location: San Francisco, CA