The postest with the mostess

Hello, thank you for coming.
Thank you....
Thank you....
Both of you.
~Hedwig

First off, sorry to Aaron for not returning his call. I left my cell phone on at the movies and he called during the flick. Jade and I saw Batman Begins, 4 words.....best batman movie evaa. It was a lot less comic-booky than the others. The dialogue wasn't half bad either, for the most part. There were some cheesy moments...but that's to be expected. Liam Neeson and the guy from 28 days later make the movie in my opinion. However, I don't buy Christian Bale as Batman.....I always think of someone with a more square jaw and blue eyes. Also, Batman is supposed to be part detective and hyper intelligent....they didn't really play up that part of the role. In my mind there is only one true Batman.....Adam West baby!!! Do I smell a comeback? Batman: The Golden Years. As for posting on houses.....partly I didn't have time, partly I didn't want to jinx things, and partly my internet connection was down all day yesterday. Long story short: Over the course of a weekend Jade and I either drove to or saw about 15 or so houses. Some of the ones on my list turned out to be complete shit. There was one listed that didn't have much information about it. We drove to the house and the entire backyard was in shambles. It once had a nice deck, but it was broken in pieces and falling apart all over. Also, it claimed to have a fenced in yard. Well, if fenced in means it has an aluminum gate leaning against the house attached to nothing than yeah.....it had a fence. The outdoor lighting was not even attached, it was hanging by it's wiring. That one was obviously a winner. Then there was the other turd that I liked from the picture. It was older, but had a lot of square footage. The location was excellent. The yard was also heavily wooded/shrubberized. Actually, very nice yard. The house, however, was a different story. Think fight club crossed with a crazy old pack-rat lady. The place was falling apart: cracked tile, cracked walls, thousand year old paint, stains everywhere, moldy nasty basement. The plus side was it came complete with my very own Jesus shrine. They wanted 105k, I don't think I would have bought it for 50k. In the middle price range 80-95k, there were some fixer uppers. Some needed a lot of work, some didn't, but all had major shortcomings such as sinks didn't drain, holes in walls, no appliances, no closet space, bad neighborhood, heavily traffic on streets, etc. On to Jade's pics. There was one that she thought was cute, but I thought was too small. We saw this house with an agent. It was built in 1920, but had totally been renovated. It actually had good space: 2 big bedrooms, office space, good size kitchen, 2 full renovated baths, a front porch, shed, and a kick ass closed in porch with lots of windows. It was pretty good.....except it was in the ghetto, worse than where we live now. Her other house was pretty kick ass too. Good neighborhood, close to a lot of conviences. The inside was all hardwood. The entire place was renovated. I'm talking new paint, new light fixutures, new tile and counters in kitchen. Super nice. The dishwasher was only half the size of a regular one. Also, there was no fridge. No patio or deck either. The basement was frickin' awesome. There was a huge carpeted room that could fit a pool table, foozeball, and darts....easily. I about came in my pants. That's when I saw the unfinished part of the basement....the foundation was hell. All the walls were literally collapsing inward. I stopped counting major cracks at 20. It had been buttressed with steel rigging. The realtor said that it would hurt property value in a big way, and would be hard to sell. They were asking 112k for it, and that was way too much for a house with that bad of foundation....I mean, really, it was about to collapse on itself. I have pictures and will try to put them on the blog. I saw another house with the same agent on Monday. It was okay, but also had foundation problems, water leakage, and it smelled of dog. Strike two for that realtor. Third pitch to the realtor, and what do you know? She hits a home frickin' run. This house wasn't even on my list, never came across it. First off, it's across the street from a very nice golf course. I look out the living room window and see rolling fairways and trees. It's a split foyer, looks alot like Sean's parents old house on Crooked Rd. Inside: all new carpet, very nice fridge, nice stove with flat burners, microwave, and dishwasher. The bedrooms are small, but 3 of them....offices for both of us. Now for the good stuff. Off the kitchen there is a monstrous deck. It's about 15 feet off the ground, two levels, roofed, and two ceiling fans. There is lattice work all the way around it. There is also bench seating for about 15 people. I mean this thing is huge. Underneath it is storage space. The yard is huge, with a firepit and wooden fence. There is a shed. Back inside, attached two car garage with opener. Family room downstairs. Large laundry room downstairs with rods for hanging clothes. Off the family room, get this, octogon shaped doorway....pure 70's baby. It leads into a bathroom with 2 sinks and a JACUZZI!!!! There is even a wall mounted tv stand so you can watch tv in the hottub. Needless to say, I was enthralled. The only disadvantage is that it is faily far from downtown. Easy access to 63S for Jade to get to work, but it will add at least 15 minutes to my drive. There are conviences 1 exit west on 70. This house is a foreclosure and they only wanted 104.5k....which is a steal for this place. So, after Jade agreed to it, I bid 100k. Now the bad news. The realtor called me yesterday and said that the paperwork didn't go through fast enough on the other end and somebody else bid on it. So, now we both have a chance to give our "best bid" and the winner gets the house. The problem is, I don't know how much they bid....or even if there was another bidder....it may be a ploy to raise the bid. The house has been on the market since March, and it's awfully fishy that two bids occur within a couple days of one another. I'm pretty pissed about it, and I think something is up. However, it is a kick ass house....so I bid a shitload...probably more than I needed to. So, she calls me back today and says she had talked to the seller (a lending company, since it's a forclosure) and says that my bid should be enough to get the house. However, I won't believe it till I see it, which won't be until Monday or Tuesday. I also had already had the home inspection set up, which then had to be cancelled until this bullshit works itself out. Hopefully, everything will work out and I will have the house in mid-July or earlier. There are a couple of other options, but this one is the best I've seen so far. The good news is that I've learned a lot about the process and will know how to handle myself better in the future. Key point....start early enough that you can walk away easily. Allright, enough for now......Jade and I are going to dinner. Pictures hopefully to follow. I'll keep everyone posted (pun intended).

Captain Pellican signing off.
-J