She's so mean, but I don't care; I love her eyes and her wild wild hair

[rolanni]

We've got some catching up to do here, so let's get to it!

First!  Quicksliver Chapter Five is now on the web, for your perusal.  Here's your link.

Second! The Science Fiction Romance Brigade Summer Blog Hop is on!  Talk about your favorite Science Fiction Romance, get suggestions for lots of great reading, and maybe win an Amazon gift card.  Here's your link.

Third! AsyouknowBob, Steve and I are looking to move out of our house here in the country (which is harder to contemplate in this season than in, oh, Deep Winter), and Into Town. Which town is still up in the air.  We have to seriously consider Waterville which is, after all, where our doctors and the vets and most of the people we know are.  On the other hand, I'm still trying to finagle, if not a $400,000 condo oceanfront, at least a move that gets us closer to Old Orchard Beach, Portland, the train outta town &c.  So, it's being a dance.

We have been talking to a real estate agent, who kind of ran us through how this was going to go, from the buyer side and the seller side.  One of the things she went over was putting down earnest money, when we found the House of our Dreams (which, honestly, we're not likely to do, but give her a break; she's never been to Liad).  And she said something like, "So, you'll put down a couple hundred dollars in earnest. . ."  At which point I looked at Steve and Steve looked at me and we did not laugh, even though we were recalling that when we found this house, we put down two dollars in earnest money.  Steve put down his silver dollar that he always carried, and I put down mine.  Our agent at that time had been a social worker.  He took the coins, and wrote us out a receipt as it it were perfectly unexceptional.  Shame he's long retired.

One of the things this agent said to us, when she came out to look at our house was something to the effect of how much STUFF we had.  A couple weeks later, the contractor echoed that.  Now, I don't disagree that we have stuff -- books and papers, mostly -- but I didn't think we were out of line for writers, really.  I said something to the effect that creativity is messy, and kind of got a Look.  Today, however, Trulia search service sent me this house as possibly of interest.  It's in Rockland, which isn't actually near Portland, or OOB, or the train, but does abut the Atlantic Ocean, and is home to several museums, and has a robust summer music program.  Here's the link.

By golly, creativity is messy.

Let's see, what else?

Oh!  I bought some socks (don't judge me! I had a coupon), which have, so Socks Addict tells me, shipped.  They have shipped via the United States Post Office second-day priority, with insurance, and will require an adult's signature when they arrive.  I mean, I knew they were stripe-y socks, but I didn't know they were as racy as that.

. . .I think that may be all the news that's fit to print at the moment.  Which is good, because I need to get to work.

L8R.

Today's blog title is brought to you by Escape Club, "Wild, Wild West."  Here's your link.

* * *

Progress on One of Five
70,000/100,000 OR 70% complete

"Our Rys bids fair to become a poet."

He laughed again, feeling his cheeks warm.

"I fear I am eloquent only on subjects dear to me."

"Well, that's as should be, isn't it? But tell me now, Rys Silvertongue, are these grapes jam or are they supper?"

Comments

[reedrover]

I visited Rockland last year, and enjoyed it thoroughly. It has a summer train, fwiw.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I thought that was an excursion line. . .

Ah, I see. In the summer, you can take the Maine Eastern to Brunswick, and change over to the Downeaster, for Boston.

Re: the house

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, we've been taking their input. Trooper and Sprite come from a house where the two-level back deck was screened in with cat-proof screen and was accessible to cats 24/365. That would like any new living arrangements to include that, please.

Actually, so would I. . .

Scrabble is indifferent to the possibility of a new location, though I expect she'll have something to say about having to travel to a new location.

I don't expect that Mozart will need to deal with a new house.

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

I can't believe the low house price. Out here, you couldn't buy an outhouse for that. Sure does look like a nice place for artists of any stripe, though. The idea of a woodstove without a blower makes me shudder. A blower makes a HUGE difference in comfort. When our power goes out and I have to heat with radiant heat only, I burn a lot more wood and never quite get the same degree of comfort.

OOB listing w/possible cat deck?

[mothadventures.livejournal.com]

What about this listing? http://www.newenglandmoves.com/property/details/701826/MLS-1098977/10-Ocean-Park-Road-7-Old-Orchard-Beach-ME-04064.aspx

One would have to see the interior to be sure, but one of the photos shows windows onto the back deck. If they open into a suitable room, a two level screened cat porch should be fairly easy to build.

Re: OOB listing w/possible cat deck?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we've been kind of looking at that one out of the sides of our eyes. It is right on Route 5, at the traffic circle, on this little triangle of land. The side street beside it deadends, so you have to use Route 5, which! Most of the year, not that much of a problem. In the Twelve Weeks of Summer? Yikes.

But we keep eyeballing it, because...yeah, we could kind of almost easily afford that, and...OOB.

Re: OOB listing w/possible cat deck?

[mothadventures.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a good reason to have to go to OOB this weekend -- y'know, to check out the traffic in the area real-time. Maybe arrange to spend an hour or so sitting on the back deck (if property is empty at the moment) to get a feel for the neighborhood. Does OOB allow fences or hedges? You could do a nice privacy hedge along the route 5 side.

house

[furballtiger.livejournal.com]

that's a beautiful, charming house. And the price seems incredibly low to those of us in Cali. That said, a house that old will have higher ongoing maintenance costs (and hassle). The odds of major reno being needed are nontrivially higher. But new ones have no soul (and smaller yards, worse locations, etc), so that's a tradeoff. And, as someone who dabbles in real estate, I'm not crazy about the market price or direction, but YMMV...Frankly, that's so cute, and if it suits you...and if you get in over your head you can just write *lots* more novels for me to buy! :)

Re: where to move

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Er. No. Bangor doesn't have a passenger train service. I think.

Hang on.

Nope. No passenger train. I can catch a bus and take it to. . .looks like Portland, and grab the Downeaster there.

The problem is that there used to be passenger train service all over Maine. They were shut down for Reasons back. . .20 years ago, I guess, and the track beds made into trails. Then people noticed that maybe that had been Kind Of Stupid, and they've been slowly bringing passenger trains back into the state. Right now, the Downeaster berths in Portland. The northernmost year-round station is in Brunswick (the train leaves Portland, runs UP to Brunswick, picks up passengers, goes down to Portland, picks up passengers and proceeds downcoast. Terminus is Boston North Station, where the Downeaster is the only Amtrak train to berth. If you want to continue on from Boston, you need to take a (frequently harrowing) taxi ride to Boston SOUTH Station and go from there.

It's really kind of hard to get out of state. Mostly what Steve and I have been doing, when we need to travel, is drive to Albany-Rensselaer, and starting from there. Right now, we're 2.5 hours from the New Hampshire border. Moving to Bangor would add another hour, at least.

It's too bad; I like Bangor.

housing

[nocal-kathyf.livejournal.com]

Wow! Wish I could duplicate the house here for $149,000. Actually, the first things I thought upon seeing the pictures were 1) What a charming place, 2) Room for a screened in cat area, and 3) Room for Steve to plant lots of flowers. I've loved reading his journal entries about the garden.
After living in the country myself I don't think I could take living with too much traffic or noise again, although I don't have to put up with the snow and winter storms you get. This place looks charming. I have a two dollar bill you could use for earnest money if you'd like it.
Enjoy the house search. I'm sure you will find the right place for all of you.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

property costs more here in Oregon... sigh.. but lovely accomodations.. for the cats..

but we do have Sock Dreams... http://www.sockdreams.com/

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I like Sock Dreams, too. But the coupon was for SmartWool at Socks Addict.

Some days, you gotta shop to the coupon.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

yes, coupons...

[gilraen2.livejournal.com]

This looks pretty great, Sharon. And remember that if you can see through THEIR junk and still like the house, then it's possible for people to see through YOUR junk and like your house. Also, many people get a positive feeling from seeing books and cats - surely you do. Don't let your real estate agent bully you into believing that only a perfect, decorated, fiendishly neat house is going to sell. Yes, you may make it easier for the AGENT (a quicker sale and less work for her) but it won't necessarily make a difference to your bottom line. Remember that when someone tells you to do something for your own good, then they probably have a financial interest in the results.

[liadan-m.livejournal.com]

You're storytellers. Think of it in this way - you identify with the proposed house because their story looks much like your story. And I see several tell-tales about how *their* agent has gotten them to work on cleaning things up and de-cluttering. A house is a setting for a story, and when selling, the goal is to have buyers see it being the setting for their story. But many people can't see past the personality and lives of the current owners and their stuff. In de-cluttering and staging, you make space for someone else to see their story in the setting of the house. We recommend 75% of knicknacks/books/pictures and 30% of furniture be packed up in order to make the space feel open, welcoming, and full of new possibilities. No one really lives like that - but we have to sketch it in for buyers, that they *could*.

We are trying to sell the tall Victorian house

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

and find a ranch style house in a KC neighborhood we used to live in (know the stores, have friends down there too, etc.). Our goal is to get it on the market by August 1, which means a lot of packing, storage, etc.

The only best part is we are taking a hard look at all the crap we have accumulated and are getting rid of rather a lot of the stuff we have not used in, what, ever?

The last major repair (we've had a plumber, smf our decrepit garage is GONE) is plasterwork. We took damage before we managed to get the roof replaced, and that needs fixing.

I am wishing I could click my heels three times and be moved. Damnit.

Best wishes and hopes that your finding a house goes smoothly.

[melita66.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, our house is around 1884 and we're currently spending low 5 figures to scrape the paint down to the wood on over half of it (plus the 2-sides porch), replace rotted wood, and replace 14 of the 20 windows. That was after spending low five figures when we moved in to replace the HVAC and main house roof (there's bathroom and kitchen extensions). Four windows and part of the 2nd story had already had this done a few years ago. Then we found out that the water pipes really need to be replaced, and the line from the meter runs 5 feet into a neighbor's property across most of theirs, then turns and runs through most of ours before reaching the house. Ugh.

So, how old are the windows and the furnace or whatever is feeding those floor vents? Was the mudroom, etc permitted? and the creation of the lower BR and bath? It doesn't look like it, since there's a discrepancy between the assessor and the MLS listings.

The "Barn" was used as a garage in the past...would you do the same? With the winters, I would think having a garage so you don't have to scrape off the car(s) would be good...When was its roof last replaced??

Like our house, inadequate closets/storage space thus leading to many shoe-horned in shelves, chests of drawers, etc.

And what's going on in the corner of the kitchen with one of the bottom cabinets? Is it cut away because there's another floor vent there? (see photo 4)

If you're interested, here's the assessor's online information: http://data.visionappraisal.com/RocklandME/findpid.asp?iTable=pid&pid=1293

(no login required)

Boy, I sound like a party-pooper, don't I? I am sure it's the reconstruction currently going on here. Sorry!

Melita

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Oooooh, assessors database. Thank you!

I've noticed that a lot of the old houses don't have closets. I, on the other hand, don't have a wardrobe, or a china closet, either.

Particular to this one, it also looks like she's been cooking a wood stove. I don't think I've cooked on a woodstove. . .ever. Unless you count soup on the basement woodstove, during the Great Ice Storm.

I also worry about insulation. Some of the old houses were insulated with newspapers. Which is fine for clement places, and better'n nothing, but I can't afford to heat the Great Outdoors -- and it looks like she didn't/doesn't either. I'm betting Winter is passed in the kitchen (woodstove) and the living room (woodstove), with the electric heat coming on only in the Direst Emergencies.

Our Unbreakable Rule of Thumb in re Places to Live: We must be able to move into it, set up, and work comfortably. We do not have the income for extensive ongoing repairs, and, being as we're writers, we already have a time-consuming occupation, so we don't need to renovate the house in order to fill our empty hours. Also, neither one of us is particularly handy. We can scrape and we can paint, and re-affix hinges and things, but that's about it.

All of that pretty much means that we're seriously looking at an old house only if the previous owners did bring it up to spec, which means that the price is immediately above our touch. This house, the house of a fellow artist -- she put up with stuff, did stop-gaps, and fixed what Absolutely Broke. We did a little better with this house -- gave it a new roof, and new windows all around, blew extra insulation in under the eaves, gave it (some) new rugs, and (were compelled by Circumstances to give it) a new bathroom -- but we didn't do nearly as much as we honestly thought we would when we bought it, and it's newer by about a hundred years.