Cliff and I have just returned from an amazing two weeks in Italy. We began in Venice where we took a cooking class in a professional chef's apartment, joined the Backroads gang for an exceptional e-biking trip through the lush valleys and meandering rivers of the Dolomites, and finally finished in Lake Como at a stunning hotel on the water's edge, complete with a sweet balcony that overlooked the sparkling glacier-fed lake below.
All in all, it was a fantastic vacation . . . with the exception of one glaring misstep at Castel Fragsburg in the charming town of Meran on the first night of our bicycling journey. Defined as a "5-star luxury hotel," room 305 failed to meet the description.
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"Our guests arrive on Saturday!" I said to my contractor when I arrived at the cabin on Wednesday expecting to find the project much further along and ready for our finishing touches. (It was nowhere close.)
The floors hadn't been grouted, the plumbing wasn't connected in the primary bathroom, the room downstairs wasn't painted, the baseboards weren't attached, the pathway wasn't finished, and the entire place was covered in a coat of thick construction dust, We still had shelves to build, boxes to unpack, AND an entire house to clean and put back together before then . . . (WTF?!) "Julie, can you please send another check my way for the work that's currently underway?" said Alex's text message.
I can, but OUCH! The cost of repairs is really beginning to pile up. It turns out that owning a cabin in the mountains, especially when the snow has been significant for the last two years, can add up to major expenses. A burst water pipe, a cracked skylight, a failing roof, a crumbling pathway, and a flooded basement have created havoc at our little "dream cabin." As luck (bad luck?) would have it, one discovery has led to another and another and another . . . With full recognition that these are "gold-plated" problems, they're still problems nonetheless, and they require a rather LARGE financial outlay to fix the unfortunate damage. In short, like Alice, we have tumbled down the rabbit hole. When we secured the listing on Arroyo Avenue, it wasn't our usual quick refresh-and-sell project that usually requires just 3-4 weeks of intense activity. This home had suffered a good deal, and as a result, needed a rebirth that included gutting most of the interior, and virtually starting from scratch. In other words, we were looking at months - not weeks to bring this property to market in its best light.
It was all hands on deck to be sure. There are few sports I enjoy watching more than tennis. Having grown up on hard courts in Sacramento, I've followed the game religiously for years, and I try never to miss the BIG FOUR: the Australian, French, Wimbledon, and US Open. Even as a young mother, I found time to play fairly regularly on a ladies' team in SF and I LOVED it. (Although I am still a mother, sadly, I'm no longer young.)
It's wedding season. Having written last week about our quick trip to Minneapolis, I suddenly received notifications, text messages, and video links from long lost friends sharing their own kids' nuptials. (Lovely.) Makes perfect sense; my peers and I are now at the age where our grown children are beginning to create their own families, and so they should . . . .
In fact, I'm babysitting my son's pit bull this week while he's off in the South of France attending a high school friend's wedding. It's a fabulous destination affair with folks flying in from all over the world - c'est magnifique! Ahhh, to be young and in love (for better or for worse). The phrase "for better or for worse," has been turning over in my mind lately as my profession wrestles with new rules regarding the practice of real estate brought on by the DOJ's class action lawsuit alleging antitrust violations. (For the record, commissions have always been negotiable.) Last weekend, Cliff and I attended a wedding in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our dear friends' son and his fiancee walked down the aisle, reaffirming once more young love's commitment to partnership, unity, and hope (for better or for worse).
Unfortunately, it was a quick trip for the two of us as work was looming large, so we boarded the 6:00 am flight on Friday morning and returned early Sunday; in and out in less than 48 hours. Knowing nothing about Minneapolis, or Minnesota for that matter (the land of 10,000 lakes?), I expected the trip to be fairly perfunctory. It wasn't. "We're doing an article on the top 10 Agents in the Bay Area," the text said, "We'd love to include you in our article." (How nice.)
This sounded mildly flattering until the next text arrived a few days later saying "We haven't heard from you and we have limited availability . . . " (Hmmm, the tone had definitely changed.) May 12th marks Mother's Day this year and as one of six siblings, I definitely gained a whole new level of respect for my mom once I became a mother to my own two boys (now young men). How my mom managed six children on my father's modest salary as a traveling salesman is a mystery to us all, but she did . . . .
With the ongoing turmoil in the California insurance industry, some companies have started requiring a “4-point inspection" prior to issuing a binder. Going forward, these inspections may be mandatory when applying for insurance OR when renewing existing policies. (Ouch!).
Given that much of our local housing stock is 100 years of age (at least), these inspections will be shaking things up more than just a bit, so take heed; insurance companies have become the bullies on the block and they're not playing around . . . . |
AuthorJulie Gardner, has been writing The Perspective for 18 years and has published more than 750 humorous but always informative, essays on life and real estate. Categories
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