Iāll preface this post by saying, yes, I agree, Iāll call the āwaaaaambulanceā. Ā There are people really suffering right now with this housing crisis, so by contrast, our problems are quite insignificant.
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August 2016 ā Excited to move into our new house
Owning a house means space to build stuff, like this bench.
Work bench setup outside, even in the snow
what the back yard used to look like
We removed 2,000 lbs of blackberry, bramble, and debris from a small homeless encampment
The backyard is still a work in progress, but weāve been enjoying it
Pregnant cornhole at Summer Solstice
9 months pregnant ā good luck getting yourself out of that hammock!
New addition to the fam as of August 2017
I have railed in the past about how the real estate market is another bubble and how I wouldnāt make the same mistake I made in 2007 when I bought a house at the last peak of the real estate crazeā¦ well obviously Iām full of shit. We bought the worst house in the best neighborhood of Seattle in August 2016. This is the house in the neighborhood that is currently being torn down at a breakneck pace and replaced with a beautiful/modern/million dollar box. Itās small and beat up, but we love it.
When we bought it we didnāt have much leverage. To say it was a sellerās market is a massive understatement (we put 7 offers in before this and lost every single one). Sure the foundation was sloping 8 inches in the front; and in the words of our inspector, it had āthe oldest working furnaceā he had ever seen (in 40 years of doing business), but the sellers basically said, ātake it or leave itā and we took it. They on the other hand took a 160% return in less than 4 years of owning it.
Recently weāve been doing things to make it either nicer (adding an external dwelling) or routine maintenance that comes with an old house (backed up drains from years of buildup). In both cases weāve been dealing with a ton of ātake it or leave itā. There isnāt an opportunity to āleave it: when it comes to plumbing issues, so Iāll start there.
Fina called a bunch of plumbers and all of them are so busy that they either a) wouldnāt Ā commit to coming and giving a quote or b) wanted a ton of money just to come out and give us a quote. It was unpleasant to say the least. So she went on the Nextdoor app to see if there were any recommendations from neighbors or amateur plumbers looking to help us out.
Jimās wife contacted us letting us know that he was a recently retired plumber, doing a little daylighting and heād like to help us.
Everything started out fine. Jim came and checked out our place and was able to figure out that we were totally screwed, but fine, he could help us. This was after quite a bit of time spent by me trying to plunge the sink-in-question, and I was not about to try any more DIY. Fina is home on maternity leave so she had been dealing with him and there was something a bit off ā so she asked that he call me.
āJim hereereree. The plumber.ā
āSo, I fsjdlkfsdklfj took a looook. Loooook itās real bad. Itās gonna be $680. Take it or leave it.ā
āUh, hi Jim. Nice to meet you. Can you explain a bit more about what Ā you found out.ā
āOh, sure kaj;fjsdfkljsdaklfjsd (incoherent mumbling ā sound of a juke box in the background)ā¦. and the pipe is completely backed up. And you gotta lot of problems. So itās gone be a LOT more than $700.ā
āWait, Jim, you just said it was going to be $680.ā
āFine, Iāll do it for $675. Whaddaya want to do (more incohherent mumbling)?ā
I had been out of town on business the week prior and our bathroom sink had been out of commission for over 2 weeks, so I said: āJim, do you mind coming by so I can meet you in person and you can show me what you plan to do?ā
āsdjaflksdjfaklsdjflasdjklfajsdlf (which I took as an affirmationā
Jim and his wife, Sonja showed up reeking of cigarettes and only mildly less incoherent than he had appeared on the phone. For most people, that would have been when conversations ended, but I was feeling desperate and hired him anyway.
Fast forward 3 days, he appears to have done great work and everything is fixed. Sure, he may have left the job site both days by noon to go get drunk, but he fixed it for the price we agreed to, and after a couple of days feeling like Iāve made a huge mistake and endangered my family, it seems resolved. Not pleasant, but resolved.
Next, Iāll tell you about the time we tried to build a sleep shed/guest house, hired a āfixerā to get us the variance so we can keep it when we eventually tear down our house like everyone else, and it ended up costing 3 x as much and taking 5 x as long as our āfixerā said. We are still dealing with it, so those numbers are just preliminary estimates and will probably take waaaay longer. Again, I realize this is some first world problems.
āTake it or Leave itā ā Joys of HomeĀ Ownership I'll preface this post by saying, yes, I agree, I'll call the "waaaaambulance". Ā There are people really suffering right now with this housing crisis, so by contrast, our problems are quite insignificant.
