BS: A house! A house!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amergin
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 01:11 AM

so...when can we move in?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Melani
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 11:51 PM

Congratulations on your new abode! The painful part, of course, is that here in the SF Bay Area, the price you paid for your red-carpeted palace might get you a roofless doghouse in a bad neighborhood. Oh well. Enjoy being a homeowner!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Bobert
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 11:05 PM

Yep, except Deckman missed some of the smaller print. Actually, you have signed off on telemarketers to harrass you for up to 50 years after yer, ahhhh, death. Sorry... Brings new meaning to "Rest in Peace"...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Deckman
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 10:34 PM

Hey ... Rapaire! I know that you are thrilled with your new house ... and all. but I guess that someone has to break the BAD NEWS to you. You've just signed 11 teen million papers, right? On the lower right edge of page 1,333, did you notice the FINE PRINT? You have now given permission for ALL of the telemarketers in ninteen countrys to call you, 24 hours a day, for the next next 17 years! Welcome Home! Bob

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Bobert
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 10:15 PM

Well danged, Rapster! Two kitchens? Man, that's gonna be hard to top but me the the Wes Ginny slide rule is gonna get workin' on it.... We think we can squeeze three into my 2600 ft. house if I can learn to sleep stanndin' up and If I send the P-Vine to the YWCA... But to have three kitchens??? Well, that's a no brainer since you got two...

Awww, jus messin' wid ya'...

Congrates...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 10:11 PM

I think a party is called for as soon as he's in the place! One of those virtual ones, where we can dig up the yard as we bring in the equipment and it won't show the morning after.

The electrical work can be expensive, though if it is just changing out the ground fault breakers that's not too bad. I have to deal with some ventillation problems in my house also (better vents from the bathrooms so the ceiling doesn't fall in from condensation). And my kitchen fan is supposed to vent outside, but the pipe is a tad short. I have a collar thing to put on it (now that the attic is cooler again) that should solve any vent problems there.

I'm crossing my fingers that I can keep the squirrels out this year. And you be careful in an attic that has had birds. Histoplasmosis is a real health hazard around dried bird and bat guano if there is any to speak of.

Too bad about the hot tub. You could mull a lot of cider (and several Mudcatters) in there on a cold winter night (the night of the party, of course!).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 09:34 PM

A party? At Rapaire's house in I-dee-ho-ho-ho? Whoopee, let's all go!

Happy House-HO-HO-HO!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 09:19 PM

I just got back from a 5 and half hour long home inspection. I'm exhausted.

Basically, the place is in pretty good shape. The roof is at the end of life (EOL) and so is the water heater. There are some settlement cracks to be taken care of, and there is evidence of old termite infestations without treatment (none active were seen). The gas furnace needs to be serviced, the chimneys swept, and GFCIs installed outside and in all areas near water. The kitchen stove exhaust fan only goes into the attic, as do the bathroom exhaust fans (this was okay when the place was built, but not now). A couple of toilets are loose and may be leaking, and the master bathroom shower needs to be recaulked and regrouted. Some flashing has come off and birds have gotten into the attic.

Radon monitoring is going on now and will finish on Monday. Nothing like buying a house and finding that glowing in the dark makes lightbulbs unnecessary.

In short, nothing money won't fix.... And some of it needn't be done now; even more is "monitor and take action if warranted."

I AM going to have the stump of a satellite antenna and its attendant wiring removed for the backyard -- or I may just modify it and turn it into a vertically oriented spud gun.

Sorry gang, the hot tub was removed a long time ago, the pool table's gone, and they're taking the gun safe.

I forgot to mention the books on business, computers, humor, literature, poetry, quilting, pottery, quilting, novels, quilting, domestic architecture of the US, military history, feminism, philosophy, libraries, and did I mention quilting? I'm looking forward to seeing some of my books again -- some have been boxed for three years. It'll be like renewing old friendships.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 06:25 PM

I have a friend who built some wonderful shallow bookshelves calculated to just fit paperback novels. And frank as she is about reading, she put them where they needed to be, in the bathroom. :) The shelf is where they won't get wet, and it isn't like they're read cover to cover in there, but it was a good use of blank wall space!

I agree with some of the calculations above. Even here in Fort Worth where we have some of the lowest housing prices in the nation, I predict that you still couldn't get that much house and that location unless you put down a $100,000 more than you're paying there.

SRS

(The ads are coming up for golf vacations in Ireland now--interesting!)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,pdq
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 02:44 PM

In coastal California cities, the house would cost about $85 per square foot.: 4400 sq. ft. (add says this, not 4200) X $85= $370,000 for structure; Add $240,000 for a lot (that is 1/4 acre in the burbs) and you get $614,000. That does not get you a view of a golf course or landscaping.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: annamill
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 01:31 PM

Rapaire, a house like that in New Jersey would cost half a million. I think it would cost that much in San Diego too, wouldn't it Amos?

Nice job, Rapaire. Best of luck and much happiness.

Annamill

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Tinker
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 01:28 PM

I am so jealous of the new shelving!!!! All of the above would easiy find a comfortable home with like minded bindings somewhere around here, but my husband is not a libriarian. He works on Wall Street so we add the business management, economics, oh and 15 or so translations of the Art of War...

This old Victorian with nooks and cranies doesnot lend itself to long stretches of shelving, but we are definately working on it... Good luck.

Kathy

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 12:50 PM

Mine'll say a lot about me, all right!

"Looky here! Those paperbacks are so old that they're all tatty. Slob!" "The 'Psychopathia Sexualis' -- well, we know what sort of person HE is!" "And here -- both 'The Fifth Gospel' AND 'The Acts of Jesus' right there next to 'Lamb'! Blasphemy AND heresy! Let's burn 'im!" "Wait, wait -- he's got 'Get Tough!' and 'Instinct Shooting'. Let's think this over a bit." "Nah, he's also got the Bible, the Book of Mormon, 'Doctrines and Covenants', the Bagadha Gita, Lao Tzu, and other sorts of books -- and here! Copies of the 'Anarchist's Cookbook' and the Constitution and Karl Marx and the Declaration of Independence and the 'Federalist Papers' and the writings of Thomas Jefferson! Git the rope boys, we got ourselves a Commie Atheist Anarchist Pervert!"

And this is before the music books chime in (pun intended).

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amergin
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 12:35 PM

i like snooping on people's bookshelves when i visit them....i think a bookshelf can say alot about the person who lives there...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 09:19 AM

I am a librarian. My wife is a librarian. We are both on a twelve-step program to help us overcome our addiction to printed paper. That is why we are buying this house -- to overcome our addiction to paper printed with numbers and portraits of famous, but dead, Americans like Grant, Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson.

We have books. LOTS of books. New books, old books, common books, scarce books. SF, mysteries, history, medicine, reference, humor, art, quilting, Irish stuff, music, computeres, politics, law, pottery, travel, and other things expressing the eclecticism of our lives and interests. We are having more bookshelves built before we move it. One entire wall of the lower level will be bookshelves -- about 10 cases of 36 inch long shelves, probably eight to ten shelves per case -- and if you're not counting, that's about 300 feet (100 yards, 91.44 meters, 9.144 x 10^11 angstroms, 18.18181818 rods, 9.904243705224361 x 10^-15 light years [I found this neat converter]) of new shelving. It probably won't be enough.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 06:58 AM

should the thread title be " a house a house my kingdom for a house"

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 11:43 PM

pdq, have you ever got that right! If you have the packrat tendency in the family genome (I get it from both sides!) then you're just giving yourself the proverbial rope to hang yourself with.

I'm figuring out all of the places to put shelves and that should help in my house (2400 square feet plus a 500sf garage). Once I get books out of boxes, there will be a lot more floor space. Something I think our friend with the new house is more than familiar with!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,pdq
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 07:24 PM

Trouble with buying a big house is that "junk expands to fill all space available". Good luck!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 07:09 PM

"Oh mother, dear mother, I'm stiff and I'm sore
From sleeping six nights on Rap's basement floor..."

to paraphrase an old song from the CND days.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Alice
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 04:29 PM

Congrats on the house. I'm only a few hours away in Bozeman, MT. When is the Mudcat party? Next summer? You're in for it now, Rapaire!! Folkies will be sleeping on your basement floor. What is the reason for the Mormons to have an extra kitchen? We have a lot of houses like that here because it is a University town and many rent their basements out to students.

Alice

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amos
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 03:33 PM

Embouchure is the art of forming one's mouth for optimum sound in playing a brass instrument. It usually requires extensive development and practice to maintain a good embouchure. The word comes from the French feminine noun "bouche", mouth, for obvious reasons.

A

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 03:31 PM

"Embouchre" is the shaping and moving of the lips (and tongue) when playing a brass or other mouth-played instrument instrument. I have to get my embouchre back, which means that I have to play so that I exercise the muscles that are used in playing trumpet, learn again to coordinate the fingering of the valves the the "tightness" of the lips to the specific note, and so on.

Woodwind players also have embouchres. Pipers don't, usually. Once you learn it you don't forget it, but you have to rebuild old roads in the brain (so to speak).

Trumpeters who can double or triple tongue when playing are often very popular for some reason....

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: brid widder
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 02:56 PM

we call that a loo!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 02:48 PM

Ha! Can't answer the brass question, but can answer the bath question. Here a "full bath" consists of a bathtub, a toilet, and a sink. If it has only a shower it is sometimes called 3/4, or in some way distinguished as not having the tub. A half bath has only the commode and the sink.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 02:47 PM

"half bath" in the US usually means WC with no bathing facility (don't forget over here they are usually in the same room)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: brid widder
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 02:44 PM

congratulations Rapaire... I'm not sure about $ & £ exchange rates but it looks a bargain compared with UK prices... and it is gorgeous!!

Please please please tell me ... what is an 'embouchre'... the word cropped up in a song I am learning & I've no idea... except that it has something to do with playing brass instruments... oh and what do you do with half a bath?.... just the bottom half?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,amergin
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 12:33 PM

don't forget the mudcat hordes ready to descend on you're lovely oasis in the desert of Southern Idaho...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 08:05 AM

Well, it's more money than I've ever spend on anything in my life. Even after the downpayment it's more.

But it's buying a nice place (at least, from what I can tell). And it will have room for Pat to quilt and for me to do whatever it is I do. I can have a garden (there's already aspargus growing), and I can build a spud gun and shoot potatoes across the golf course. We've already gotten friends and family lined up to visit next Spring and Summer ("Oh, Boy!" said nephew Danny, "I can go fish for trout in Idaho!" "So, where are you going to take me elk hunting?" asked brother Tony. "Where are the quilt shops?" asked Pat's friends.)

Brings up a song:

There's a hole in my wallet, dear Liza, dear Liza,
There's a hole in my wallet, dear Liza, a hole....

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: rangeroger
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 11:22 PM

Well, I'm ready to head south and visit. I'll even bring my golf clubs along with assorted string instruments.

Mike, if you're going to be with inspectors on Sat.,does that mean you're not coming to Post Falls this weekend?

rr

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 08:46 PM

Looks like a lot of money to me! (I know I posted to this thread before, but it's not here.....gremlins ate it I guess) Congrats, Mike!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 08:33 PM

On Saturday I'm going there to inspect with the house inspector and the pest inspector and the radon inspector. I'll know more about it by late Saturday afternoon, perhaps more than I care to know.

We might be able to to closing yet this month, so we can have the necessary alterations done before we move in. So...if anyone wants to shovel pigeon poop around the middle of November....

Actually, if anyone does want to come visit, just let me know a day or so in advance so I can get out of...er, clean the place up a little.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amos
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 07:55 PM

LOL!! Watch out Rapaire!! We're comin' to visit!! Can you play golf with a banjo?

A

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amergin
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 07:33 PM

sure thing, amos...just let me put the pacifier on my bottle of black bush.... and i'll be set... ;)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 07:25 PM

Thanks for the explanation, SRS. I found the one we bought on Realtor.com, in fact I never saw it in 3D until after the purchase when Rog went back to Wyoming to move me and our household down here! Of course, he was here and saw it in person and signed all of the papers with power of attorney, but I guess we could say we bought our house on the internet!**bg** I love browsing through their site.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: C-flat
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 06:26 PM

Looks like a lot of house for the money! I hope the deal goes through without a hitch and you have many happy times there.
Good luck.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Stilly River Sage (watching the front desk)
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 01:54 PM

Kat, I pulled up the place on a map search and plugged in values slightly under what he'd told us about the house, because the Realtor.com software has gotten pretty good at filtering out houses that don't match your specs if you name them. And perhaps one of those bedrooms is the type that is either/or bedroom or office. We had one of those in my first house, a bedroom with French doors off of the living room. I put up nice curtains and it was a bedroom, but I also used it as an office at one time (before the second kid came along).

I almost bought a house in New Mexico a few years ago, and had narrowed my search to it on the internet before going to see it. And the house I'm in now I also first found on the internet. The photos are typically like looking through a keyhole--a very small impression of a much larger place, but it's a great start. And it looks like you found a wonderful property!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 01:08 PM

but now you don't have to send up pictures.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amos
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 01:06 PM

Bill D:

I thought that sort of color scheme was peculiar to Southern California!! lol

A

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 12:57 PM

But he said theirs had five bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. Otherwise that looks like the one. :-)

Congratulations, Rapaire and mathematician/librarian/attorney/numbers wiz wife! That's kind of the way I felt when we bought this place...our first since 1983!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 12:55 PM

Good Lord, but it's hard to keep anything from you people! Yes indeed, that's the very place.

The red is going, probably be replaced by a nice tan berber or something similar. Or a heather blue. Or something other than that light-sucking red.

The backyard is nice, and backs up to the golf course (2nd hole, about 80 feet off the tee). I plan to get a water balloon slingshot. They put a golf ball in my yard or through my window, SPLOOSH!!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 12:22 PM

throw out the red? all you need with a red carpet is some purple furniture, yellow drapes and green lamps, and you have a room for YOU!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 12:03 PM

Did you notice the bit about "RV parking"? nice to know...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 12:00 PM

Yeah, I had that thought about the red carpet also. Maybe he could cut it into strips, sew it together end to end, and have one helluva red carpet entrance to his first house warming? :)

Isn't it nice what we can do with the internet? Perhaps we should send him to some sites for carpets, furnishings--we'll have that house ready to go by the time he's ready to move into it!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amos
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 10:59 AM

Well -- if that's the one, the red carpet has got to go!! Everything else looks great!! (Rap, I hope you don't mind me flaunting anopinion here and there. Nothin' personal!! :>))

A

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 10:32 AM

well - it certainly matches his descriptions - including the golf course out back.

Lovely fireplaces!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 10:00 AM

Okay, I think I found it. If there is an offer accepted, this link won't stick around for more than a few days. Sometimes they leave them up until closing to hedge their bets.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 09:54 AM

So where is this house exactly? I wasn't thinking back to earlier conversations and did a search in Boise. You're in Pocatello? Proper, or environs? (It's a marvelous price, by the way, all things considered).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 08:55 AM

Trumpets bother people when you're working to restore your embouchre. It's like learning the play the bagpipes, only restore your embouchre can actually be accomplished.

Once we get this and are settled in, anyone want to pass through and do house concerts? Pocatello is actually on the way to nowhere in particular, unless you're going to Blackfoot or Idaho Falls or Missoula, or, in the other direction, Inkom, Downey, Mccallum, Malad Summit....

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 08:26 AM

Trumpet "bothers" people? yeesh!

Enjoy the new house...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 08:22 AM

Books: about 3,900 pounds (1769.010243 Kgs.) of them. Fabric for The Quilter: there must be a thousand fat quarters (quilters will know). Clothes: yup, got some of those. Furniture and assorted crap: A lot. Guitar: one, and it has to be restrung and retuned. Trumpet: one, and it doesn't need any new strings AND I've recently had the spitvalve recorked, so it doesn't drool.

Cost (yeah, I'll tell): USD 185,000, less whatever we put out for a downpayment from the money we made on the sale of our house in South Bend, Indiana. Ultimately, I think it'll come in that we need a mortgage for about USD 140,000. Obviously we have to get some stuff done at the house -- bookcases, fabric shelves, and replacing the red/black 1970s-look carpet in the lower level (too dark, and it makes the stairs dangerous), adding a water heater....

'Twas built in 1968.

Librarians don't make terrific money (our rewards are in the smiles of the people we serve), but my wife's a mathematician/librarian/attorney. If she says we can afford it, I believe her, since my own math skills are somewhat less than hers.

And we don't have it yet...the offer we made was accepted, but we haven't paid for it yet.

Actually, it's effectively two houses. This is LDS (Mormon) country, and many of the houses are that way because of their beliefs (no, they don't need to have a separate kosher kitchen). There's also a "wet bar" which is like a kitchen but without a stove.

We're still in shock about doing this. Me, a poor, shy kid from the Great Middle West, buying a house like this, one which backs up to a golf course where I can shoot them golfs as they whiz by.... Golf's like polo, but played without horses, isn't it?