Adam and I are big fans of the show. A couple of times now I have seen some of the PPA people that have been profiled on the show. Adam even got a parking ticket from one of them while he was double parked grabbing some booze at the liquor store on 19th & Chestnut.
Yesterday, I actually saw them filming outside of our apartment building. I realize the photo isn't the greatest, but it is proof nonetheless. I didn't want to be creepy-stalkeresque and get closer for a better shot.
So, we got a referal from a friend for a PA 'burb realtor. I traded phone calls with him for about a week until I reached him (including a wacky call that Adam received at 9pm on Saturday night when I was in FL - who calls at that hour?). Finally, last Wednesday or Thursday, we spoke in person. Weird guy, but I can't really put my finger on it.
It took him until Sunday afternoon to get around to sending us some listings that met our criteria. He sent about 27 and there were 5 good ones and another handful of places that we could have an open mind about. I sent him an email at 9am this morning with our selections. It is now 7pm and I have yet to hear from him. What the heck? We told him we were available on Tues & Thurs evening this week to see places. Since I haven't heard from him yet, its probably safe to assume that seeing places tomorrow is out of the question.
We have dealt with two other realtors from our last house-search-stint. Both were extremely prompt in sending us listings (its not like it is a difficult task) and quickly responding once we communicated the places we were interested in seeing.
Not getting a good vibe from this guy. Zero reason for him not calling or responding to my email during the business day. Since we didn't get a good vibe from him to begin with, I think we are just going to bail and find ourselves another realtor.
Got a phone call from the student we selected to be our summer intern. SHE'S BAILING ON US!
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING - It's freakin' deja-vu -- this is exactly what happened last year... After an insane amount of work to hire everyone interns, I end up with the strongest candidate, who then bails at the last minute and I am left with nothing. UNBELIEVABLE!
You are not going to believe this.... I just dug up the post from when my intern did this last year and it is dated on the EXACT SAME DATE - down right freaky!
I have lots to share today. Let's start here......
My current intern has been a nightmare - I have ZERO luck on this (more to come) - lately, she's been completely useless and "checked out" so I stopped giving her any *real* work. Today was her last day and she gave me a card thanking me for the experience. In the card, she said wished we had hit it off better (she's a little, shy chinese girl that we could barely get to talk) because I seemed really nice, if not intense..... the card was full of wacky grammar and word choice and I never really thought anything of it.
My Associate read the card after she left today and kind of snickered when he got to the part where she called me intense - I said I thought it was funny too and he asked, "you are being sarcastic, right?" To which I replied, "I'm not intense" and he said "Yes you are!" What! Me??? I don't think I'm intense.... he tried to backpedal his way out of it with an explanation that only pseudo-worked...
Adam thought the whole thing was comical.... he said he totally thought I was intense at work - not that it was a bad thing.... Am I?
Adam went to check out that townhouse in Ardmore on Sunday, but the Open House, which was supposed to be going on, was cancelling that morning. Lovely. Also, Adam said that the place didn't really look like the photos - so it seems there is some real estate mis-representation going on. How is it that our business is so regulated and in real estate its not unethical to put photos up for a place that aren't the place that is being sold???
Adam liked the neighborhood and thought the place was still worth checking out.... Looks like my dream of the process being easy this time has already crashed and burned.
Got home from FL trip today around noon and went to vote (in the lobby of my building - how convenient). Turns out, I'm registered as an Independent, so I couldn't vote in the democratic primary... such a bummer. I had planned on cancelling out Adam's Obama vote from this morning - Sorry Hillary!
Such a freakin' pain in the neck... the last election I attempted to vote in - I think it was in November - my address was wrong and I couldn't vote (Mayor Nutter swept, so it didn't really matter). I was surprised that I even got past the part of submitting my name this time around....
Don't know if i should even bother making the change. It won't matter for the general election, and it's unlikely (FINGERS CROSSED) that we will still be living in our current apartment by then anyway....
Stumbled upon this webpages from the NYTimes that tells you the song that was #1 on the Charts on specific days.
The day I was born it was Shadow Dancing - Andy Gibb
The day I graduated from college (had to go look up the date!) it was Maria, Maria - Santana.....
The day I started this job (the first time) it was Aint it Funny - J.Lo feat Ja Rule (I don't even know this song!)
On our wedding day.... We Belong Together - Mariah Carey (ugh)....
OK, that was fun. Back to work!!!!
I just had to share... ENJOY!!!!
I never know what to make of things like this..... we're not really looking at new construction anymore, so it doesn't directly impact our house hunt... facts like this make the market even more skittish though. THEN, I read something like this, that gives the opposite viewpoint - who the heck knows!!!
U.S. March housing starts down 11.9% to 947,000
Last update: 8:30 a.m. EDT April 16, 2008
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - New construction of U.S. houses plunged to the lowest level in 17 years in March, the Commerce Department estimated Wednesday. Starts fell 11.9% in March to a seasonally adjusted 947,000 annualized units weaker than the 988,000 pace expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. This is the lowest level of starts since March 1991. Starts are dpwn 36.5% year-on-year. Starts of new single-family homes fell by 5.7% to 680,000 in March, while starts of large apartment units fell 24.6% to 267,000. Building permits, a leading indicator of housing construction, fell 5.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 927,000. This is the lowest level of permits since April 1991.
I CAN"T LIVE IN THIS APARTMENT ANYMORE!!! I've been feeling this way for awhile.... the last time I reached my breaking point was in February and with the CFA looming and the big water conference ahead of me, we thought it best to put off any decision for the time being. Well, now the conference is over, I'm not sitting for the CFA (a whole other story -- have I mentioned my workload recently?), AND we are getting slapped with a $300/month fee for being month-to-month. Time to move. I'm sick of the noise, the location, hassles with the loading dock/security people... It's over..... AND, with summer upon us, we're going to be dealing with the lack of A/C - incredibly hot summer air that suffocates us - we're already starting to feel it.
So, we decided we would start looking at places at Open Houses. IF, we found a place we liked, in PA, on our own - Adam's dad, who is a lawyer and has his realtor license, could act as our buying agent and save us the 3% fee. We (well, I) ended up feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of finding open houses to go to. The newspaper was awful, and didn't provide MLS #s or addresses, so you had to track the listings down online. Online, it wasn't easy to distinguish what houses were hosting Open Houses.
Also, we've been going back and forth between renting in the city for another year or buying in the burbs - PA or NJ. Tons and tons of options - almost overwhelmingly so. We decided to just bite the bullet and get a realtor. There's a reason they get a fee and it would be helpful to have someone tracking down stuff for us...
Murphy's Law - today, I'm procrastinating at work (REALLY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN!) and I stumbled upon a phenomenal townhouse that is hosting an Open House on Sunday and is only slightly above what we are willing to spend. In a perfect world, Adam checks it out at the Open House and falls in love with it, we ask his dad to help put a low bid in on the place, and we get it!!! I'm dreaming - I know... No way things will go that smoothy - with our luck? It doesn't hurt to dream - actually, if I'm going to dream, I wish we could have THIS house that is just a "SMIDGE" out of our price range (yeah right!).
