November 20, 2009 – 6:00 am
My brother Joel arrives tonight. We are going to do the rest of the updates on my house this weekend.
November 17, 2009 – 6:00 am
I have done a pathological amount of research, but feel like I am honing in on what I’d like to buy!
I am really attached to the 2000-ish Winnebago Journey, so hope I can get something like this or very close.
What I like:
Diesel Pusher
36 feet
Has that Cummins Engine that all the guys have told me I [...]
November 9, 2009 – 6:00 am
I worked hard on my house. Joel worked extremely hard on my house. (And I did pay him his daily rate and for materials – about $1,000 total.)
But I don’t know if all of our work was a waste of time.
After all the scraping, sanding, and repainting, I’m not sure the exterior of my house [...]
November 6, 2009 – 6:00 am
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My real estate agent told me that if I want to list my house for over $300K, I have to have my house and garage scraped, painted, and re-roofed.
In my new era of self-reliance (and with the help of my builder brother), I decided to do the home improvements myself.
I felt like a bad ass [...]
October 17, 2009 – 6:00 am
At 2:00 pm. Ruth Ann walks through my front gate, her eyes on the peeling grey paint and overgrown landscaping.
“Jennifer, how are you? Have you finished your PhD?”
Stepping into her hug, I glance self consciously at my neglected yard, “Uh, well, no, I quit.”
I met Ruth Ann while crashing open houses for homes I couldn’t [...]
October 15, 2009 – 12:00 pm
My appointment with my real estate agent was rescheduled for today. She will be here at 2pm to see the remodel as well as to show me comparable sales for my neighborhood.
Please be close to $300K!
October 12, 2009 – 10:34 am
My real estate agent, Ruth Ann, is coming by tomorrow to check out my house. I am wondering if she thinks the appraisal is a bit high at $323K. My house is only 880 sq ft!
Almost all of the value is in the lot. I think my county tax appraisal has my lot valued at [...]
October 3, 2009 – 12:12 pm
As everyone who is trying to make this leap to a simpler existence knows, one of the first challenges is trying to significantly decrease your out of pocket expenses. For me, that means getting out from a mortgage that is too big and paying off credit card debt.
I currently spend more than I take in [...]
September 18, 2009 – 7:48 am
I seem to have convinced David of my plan. It involves renting out my (much adored) central Austin house, upgrading his gulf coast home to be our ‘home base’, and, here’s the best part, the purchase of a van for me to live and travel in! (Duration, undetermined.)
I am up late obsessing what kind of [...]
I spent this summer cleaning up a 1970s trailer to serve as my summer abode. Quite a bit of work, especially since racoons had taken up residence a few years ago.
In any case, here are some before and after shots of my new summer home….
