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13525. Macnas - 1/26/2005 6:00:14 PM All good Mago. How's Flexi? 13526. Magoseph - 1/26/2005 6:06:44 PM He is just fine, thanks, Mac. His blood-pressure is under control and he lost weight. 13527. Macnas - 1/26/2005 6:08:56 PM Good for him. 13528. Ms. No - 1/26/2005 8:48:34 PM Once again I am blissfully happy with the IRS Telefile system. Less than 20 minutes and my taxes are done.
Wheeeee! 13529. thoughtful - 1/26/2005 8:52:43 PM Your taxes are done!!! Wow!!
We've only just begun to receive the paperwork for ours. We're not usually able to do it until sometime in March because of the late coming forms. 13530. Ms. No - 1/26/2005 9:17:03 PM Yeah, well, mine are easy. I get a single W2, have no dependants and don't make enough money for my few deductions to matter. My house is only going to cost real money for next year's taxes so things may be a bit more complicated next time around, but I honestly have no idea. Fortunately I've got a year to figure it out. ;-> 13531. thoughtful - 1/26/2005 9:21:29 PM Well if you bought the house in 2004, and you got a mortgage, you can deduct the points... 13532. Ms. No - 1/26/2005 9:48:08 PM Nah, got in in 2003. Even so, the mortgage was so small it wouldn't have registered. My car cost more than this property --- and I do not drive a fancy car.
By this time next year, however, the place should be worth about 3 times what I paid for it and put into restoring it.
Which still wouldn't even buy a condo in LA. ;-> 13533. thoughtful - 1/26/2005 10:24:25 PM Got it.
It is crazy what house prices are doing in some areas. Around here people pay over $1 mil for a teardown.
Another nice old neighborhood i go through in the a.m. is very quaint...nice mid-century houses with older trees, good sized yards and such giving it quite a cozy and comfortable feeling. Someone is 'redoing' one of the old houses and rebuilding a mcmansion. It looks so out of place...makes all the other homes look like garages and it is very outsized for the yard. Most unattractive. Rather than the larger home building up the neighborhood, it's a detraction. 13534. resonance - 1/26/2005 10:36:17 PM Yeah, it is absolutely crazy what a house will cost you in the DC Metro area. 13535. Ms. No - 1/26/2005 11:02:55 PM The neighborhood my shack is in was pretty much crack-central a few years ago. The guy I bought my lot from, however, went in and bought up most of it (I think about 30 lots total) and there were a few others who came in as well and have restored some of the houses. There's a really nice B&B about four doors down from my place. So, with the renovations and the new construction going up the place is really appreciating.
The coolest thing, though, is that the major property owner there has a very distinct idea of what he wants the neighborhood to look like --- homes that fit. So he's building on these lots and trying not to tear out any of the trees and suiting the homes to the site rather than working from just a couple of pre-fab footprints.
They're nice homes and good sized but they're unique and they look right in the area. My place is the only true eye-sore right now with the exception of the only other two original structures in the neighborhood.
Hopefully that will all be done by next Christmas, though. I'll most likely rent it out rather than live in it right away. My thought was to get it done and then move in, but If I rent it out for a couple years then I'll be able to pay off the cost of the renovation, have full equity in the place and be in a position to do it all over again.
Nice to have a carpenter for a dad. I've seen friends try to get into the real-estate turn around thing and just sink themselves in renovations they had no idea how to do correctly or cost-effectively.
Scary stuff, but I'm feeling pretty good about this. God knows I'd never attempt it if I had to hire a contractor. 13536. thoughtful - 1/26/2005 11:18:34 PM Nice dad!
I remember hearing of someone whose full-time job was buying disaster places and renovating them for sale. They bought a home of an old woman who died...place in serious need of maintenance. No one touched the place after she died. Said they had to wear gas masks to be able to stand cleaning all the rotten stuff out of the freezer! Yikes.
But there's something wonderful about seeing something run down turn into something wonderful. Very exciting. Be sure to take before and after shots. You'll really appreciate them! 13537. Ms. No - 1/26/2005 11:48:38 PM Most definitely. I've got before shots and we'll take more as well as plenty of "during". What I'd like to do is to be able to eventually offer a catalogue of my father's work.
For the time being the shack's website just sits looking as if we've done nothing to the place since I bought it --- which isn't far wrong. There's been a lot of clearing out and hauling off but none of the major demolition has been done yet. Once that's done and they pull off 10 tons of roofing, we'll lift the house and pour a concrete footprint under it and then the real renovation will begin.
My dad was so amazed when he started inspecting the roof he called me right away. He could hardly believe the house was still standing under the weight of all those shingles. "At least we know the frame is rock-solid." 13538. alistairConnor - 1/26/2005 11:55:13 PM God knows I'd never attempt it if I had to hire a contractor.
Amen sister!!
I do believe I've officially finished the "renovation" of the former stable which opens off the hall here at the Moulin.
Nobody's ever lived in it before, other than stable boys who stayed close to the cows to keep from freezing in the winter.
but it's a damn nice biggish one-bedroom apartment now. It's absorbed all my free time for the last year... I was going to sign a rental agreement on Monday night, but it snowed... the roads are a bit tricky...
I hope the tenant doesn't get cold feet. 13539. Ms. No - 1/27/2005 12:26:51 AM Congratulations!
Do we get pictures??? 13540. alistairConnor - 1/27/2005 12:29:34 AM I'm thinking I should do some pictures. A couple of historical progress shots, plus a few finished-product things.
This weekend most likely.
The thing about the stable boys is true, I've met one of them. 13541. Ms. No - 1/27/2005 12:39:46 AM I believe it. There are plenty of people in the world still living through winter thanks to the heat of their stock animals. 13542. Macnas - 1/27/2005 10:56:20 AM I think some pictures would be good too.
If only so I can laugh at your handiwork. 13543. Ms. No - 1/27/2005 6:32:39 PM ooooh, cruel! 13544. The Summer Woman - 1/27/2005 7:57:35 PM Ms. No - that sounds really exciting.
Alistair - You live in a windmill?
I have always had a fondness for decayed and rotting things. I feel at peace in a landfill, looking at the detritus of other people's lives.
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