WoW........The realtor just called, and the sellers countered with $385k!
I had expected them to come back at $395k, but I guess they really do want to get rid of this property and avoid the financial drain of holding on to it until spring.
Now my wife is (finally) beginning to fret over the electric baseboard heat, where she's going to put the furniture (can't block or cover the baseboard units), where the big TV and entertainment center is going to be ("we simply can't put the couch there!"), blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.....
I mentioned these things the second or third time we looked at the house, and I might as well have been talking to a tree......blank stares from her. Nothing registered......
I suggested tonight that we go look at the house again so she could get all these "woman" things out of the way and she was "Oh, NO!!! That will look so dorky to ask to see the house again before we accept their counter offer!!!!".
DUH!
We have until 1700 on Thursday the 5th to accept or walk away.
I talked to the in-laws "Tree Guy" today and he told me that depending on if he could get his bucket lift to the tree, or if it would be a "climbing job", the cost to get rid of all the dead limbs could be anywhere from $1k to $2.5k, including clean up. He said you can burn Laceleaf Cotton wood in your fireplace once it's dried, but that it has "an odor", and is better suited to burning in a heater or stove in your shop or garage. Most people burn pine here because it's cheap, and when I asked him about pine's reputation for clogging up your fireplace flue, he said you "just burn a hot fire", and it isn't much of a problem.
A cord of hardwood goes for about $350 here, so I'm thinking the fireplace will not be used as a source of heat.
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Great to hear your long nightmare may soon be over.
ReplyDeleteI think your tree guy was being very polite when he said the cottonwood has an odor.
If it's anything like the stuff we have around here, it smells like cat piss when it burns.
The only nightmare part was the throwing away, giving away, and packing.
DeleteWe'll probably let the tree guy take it away then. Don't want to piss off our new neighbors!
Congratulations on getting such a good deal! We sold our house on the 4th. We are renting it back till the 15th to get moved out. We still have one intermediate round trip of 500 miles to take stuff to our new residence before the final haul there. I know the pain of moving. The best part is that we already have a place to live (a mobile home till our house is built). Maybe we can have a QSO when we have our new station set up (WD5HHH).
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bill.
DeleteI was about knocked over when they countered at what we wanted to pay, rather than $10k higher.
If you burn pine, burn coal every fourth or fifth time and there's no resin build-up. You can chop your own pine, throw it in the pick up and bring it home.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that!
DeleteThanks for the tip, LL!
Congratulations? I hope she decides if it is right before you sign.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
+1
DeleteConsider coal for your fireplace if your goal is to have another heat source if the power is out. Tractor Supply has sacks for around $6. Safe to use but....understand the dangers of disposing the ashes.
DeleteWe're very close to accepting their counter, Linda.
DeleteJust a couple of minor things my wife is checking on.
That's a great deal - congrats! And please tell your wife that despite my initial misgivings about baseboard heat, it turns out to be more efficient & cheaper to operate. Also, if it was installed correctly, you don't have to heat the entire house at once - if you don't want or need to. We love it.
ReplyDeleteI thought I read something on the electric company's website about 'all electric' houses getting a different rate.
DeleteSlowly but surely, it's all coming together for you. It's been an epic journey. I have been telling my wife about your trails and travails, as reasons why I don't want to sell out and move. But she says we can get through just as you and your wife have. I don't know about that...
ReplyDeleteI had a bad chimney fire in my wood burning stove in 2012. The firemen told me it was from burning pine in the stove. Maybe I didn't burn it hot enough, I'm not sure.
"Epic Journey" is a bit of an understatement, Harry, and I'd hate to have to go through it again.
DeleteI remembered the warnings about burning pine in your fireplace or stove from growing up in Illinois, but hardwood was readily available back there.
Great news! After all you've been through to get to this point the rest should be a snap!
ReplyDeleteLOL, I agree with Phil, cottonwood is crap to burn and smells really bad. We always tried to burn a mix of pine, cedar, & oak, or almond. With an occasional HOT fire to keep the creosote build up down. Don't know what the regs are in your area, but here you can get a permit to cut free fire wood.
Tell me your wife is a lovely woman, because if she lived in cow country... lol
She's on the phone with the realtor telling her we accept their counteroffer.
DeleteYou're the third person to say cottonwood is bad news for fuel, so we won't burn the tree limbs we have removed.
The tree guy said to get in touch with "Chainsaw Mama, LLC", as she's an extremely talented artist who can carve what's left of the trunk into a totem, or other yard art, which I think would be beyond cool!
Wife was born in Iowa, but moved to SoCal when she was six years old. She thinks cows are pretty cool when she runs into them while walking the dog, and still goes "OH!" when she sees a deer!
What did your tree guy recommend on the cottonwood? I would think he would suggest removing it entirely, as they can be nothing but trouble with duff, smell, and especially the roots getting into places they shouldn't be.
ReplyDeleteHe hasn't done an evaluation on it yet.
DeleteHe said it would be cheaper to leave a big section of the trunk in the ground and have a local artist carve it.
Provisional congratulations!
ReplyDelete>where she's going to put the furniture (can't block or cover the baseboard units)
Heh. On this end we're completely on the same page so far as that goes. There must be room for bookcases, lots of bookcases. Herself was taken by our present place in part because of a recessed area in the living room that turns out to exactly fit (with literally 1.5 inches to spare) five Ikea "Billy" bookcases, and no pesky floor vents or baseboard heating in the way. Incidentally, we've hauled these particular bookcases through 3 moves. To all those who say "just buy new ones when you get there" the answer is that the old crap is actually pretty good (much better hardware,for example), and durable, whereas the new crap truly is crap.
I had a bunch of those same bookcases at the house we sold in Long Beach.
DeleteI left them behind because I was afraid they wouldn't survive shipping.
My post before this one shows the built-ins down in the basement where I need them, and the "above ground" living space also has built-ins.
Had a very large blue spruce in my front yard. I have dropped larger and worse looking trees.
ReplyDeleteBut I wanted a pro to take it down as it was close to my house and the neighbors.
The pro's estimate was $600 to down and remove or $125 for him to put it on the ground.
Spent the $125 and cut and hauled it away myself. No truck just a small utility trailer.
Neighbor had a big soft maple that needed High Ranger boom truck.
Two guys and about 4 hours and he got away cheap at $800 as he kept most for firewood.
Without walking around and looking at your house, yard, neighbors and tree, I am not able to say anything about your estimate.
Big screen TV goes on the wall over the fireplace!
ReplyDeleteMy fireplace at "The Ranch" has a special insert that is super efficient and burns everything to a white crisp. It looks like a rolling boil of fire inside it and I haven't had to use even a cord of oak since moving in.