The house I fell in love with, sadly, will never be mine. Part of the problematic road to my first time home ownership was through the valley of the shady Realtors.
During summer and fall of 2009, I placed offers on 16 homes. I only wanted to purchase a single home, but Realtors in the area had other plans for those seasons. A scam was going on in the business with single family starter homes to drive the market back up. The scam was that a Realtor would list a client's or bank owned home for an asking price below market value, reflecting the change in the economy. The price listed would not simply be a couple thousand dollars under market value, I put offers on three and four bedroom homes in the Chino, Pomona, Claremont, Walnut areas with asking prices between 160,000 and 180,000.
We were naive. The homes seemed too good to be true, and they were. The Realtors were countering our offers by jacking up prices by 60,000 to 100,000 in some cases. The scam was to start a bidding war. The Realtors were trying to fake an increase in the market. I can't blame someone for trying to make ends meet, but for a middle class American like myself, this was very disheartening.
I found home after home I could see myself living in. Every time we put an offer in to a place, I had my heart on the line. Eventually, after nearly the sixth home we put an offer on, I gave up. I stopped going with my parents and our Realtor on the searches. I didn’t even want to look for a place anymore, I was content to wait for the market to start going up again and save our down payment until then.
Thank goodness my parents are more patient than I. Our Realtor was tenacious and hard working: she swore we would find a place very soon. They kept putting offers on properties, with my blessing, even though I didn’t attend the showings with the team anymore.
In September, my family took a vacation to the Colorado River, one of our favorite places to be together. While on the trip, we visited a Chinese restaurant and had a meal together to celebrate the last night at the river. Chinese restaurants are known for ending the meal with a small cookie with an inspirational message, and this restaurant was like any other in doing so. My fortune was one that to this day, I will never forget.
The fortune read, “By the end of the year, you will live in a beautiful new home.”
I couldn’t believe it. My faith was restored. I had a new attitude about the process, and I believed the fortune wholeheartedly. I have always been a believer in the power of positive thinking, and I am a semi-follower of “the secret,” which is a lifestyle program that preaches that if you believe something hard enough, you can make the thought a reality.
The next day, we were packing for home and received a call from our Realtor. One of the offers my parents had placed on a home had been accepted.
More next week. ☺
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
the search for my piece of heaven continues
This blog is directly related to my last post.
I didn’t get a chance to fully describe the search for my home. I hope to give a better mental picture this time around.
We left off with the seemingly endless search through valleys of unlivable homes. As stated before, I have seen things done to perfectly good homes that are simply tragic. We searched for months before we found a safe, large, affordable, manageable home that was worth making an offer on.
I was so in love with the place. The kitchen had an island and beautiful, new, marble counter tops. The backyard was overgrown and in serious need of some landscaping, but under all the foliage I found a living, producing avocado tree. The backyard was large enough to have my dog be very comfortable, and there was an attached sun room to the master bedroom with a doggie door. The living room had a fireplace, and the entire wall facing the backyard was a glass pane with a sliding glass door to go out to the covered patio.
Needless to say, I salivated over the prospect of this place truly being mine.
I didn’t get a chance to fully describe the search for my home. I hope to give a better mental picture this time around.
We left off with the seemingly endless search through valleys of unlivable homes. As stated before, I have seen things done to perfectly good homes that are simply tragic. We searched for months before we found a safe, large, affordable, manageable home that was worth making an offer on.
I was so in love with the place. The kitchen had an island and beautiful, new, marble counter tops. The backyard was overgrown and in serious need of some landscaping, but under all the foliage I found a living, producing avocado tree. The backyard was large enough to have my dog be very comfortable, and there was an attached sun room to the master bedroom with a doggie door. The living room had a fireplace, and the entire wall facing the backyard was a glass pane with a sliding glass door to go out to the covered patio.
Needless to say, I salivated over the prospect of this place truly being mine.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
1st time home buyer
Professor Lynch thought my in class presentation was so interesting, he voted for a round two. Almost exactly a year ago to the date, I bought my first home. After the honeymoon year, I think it is only fitting to reflect on the process; as well as pay homage to the lessons I have learned through home ownership.
The best way to begin the story of my journey is to describe the events, which took place during September of 2008 through May of 2009. I had been living in a home in Rowland Heights, owned by a friend’s parents. I lived that the home with my boyfriend, my best friend, and another roommate who turned out to be a complete psychopath. In a nutshell, during the time period described above, I had thousands of dollars stolen from me, learned a lot about California landlord/tenant laws, broke up and made up with my boyfriend countless times, went through a long process to evict the roommate from hell, and found out that after all the turmoil that the owners were selling the house we lived in and I had thirty days to pack and leave.
Thirty days is not a long period of time, especially during the final weeks of a spring quarter. After much debate, my boyfriend moved into an apartment in Fullerton with a friend, my best friend moved back to Temecula with her parents, and I moved back home to Yorba Linda until we could regroup and figure out what the next step would be for our living situations.
Spending more time with my parents, after a tumultuous high school life with them, was a blessing in disguise. We came up with a plan to purchase a home together, to start the new Landfield machine, a company built out of a family to cement a prosperous future through real estate. We started looking at homes immediately. The search began with a bang, we spent an evening every week touring homes with our amazing and supportive realtor. It was fun at first, but the constant barrage of non-livable homes was hard to stay positive for.
It is hard to describe the types of homes that we viewed. I could have sworn some of the properties had to have been previously used as drug houses, brothels, and hideaways for illegal aliens. So many homes that could have been beautiful single-family dwellings had been changed into unusual and frightening new structures that I would not feel comfortable in. The previous owners had added on strange rooms that seemed endless. I have seen two bedroom homes that had been turned into 7 bedroom homes, on 2100 square feet.
Finally, we stumbled upon some properties that were worth making offers on, and we started the process and paperwork too begin our ownership. This was a whole separate process and was equally nightmarish in comparison to the selection of homes to make the offers on.
I’ll take to my next blog to illustrate the next part in the route to my ownership status.
The best way to begin the story of my journey is to describe the events, which took place during September of 2008 through May of 2009. I had been living in a home in Rowland Heights, owned by a friend’s parents. I lived that the home with my boyfriend, my best friend, and another roommate who turned out to be a complete psychopath. In a nutshell, during the time period described above, I had thousands of dollars stolen from me, learned a lot about California landlord/tenant laws, broke up and made up with my boyfriend countless times, went through a long process to evict the roommate from hell, and found out that after all the turmoil that the owners were selling the house we lived in and I had thirty days to pack and leave.
Thirty days is not a long period of time, especially during the final weeks of a spring quarter. After much debate, my boyfriend moved into an apartment in Fullerton with a friend, my best friend moved back to Temecula with her parents, and I moved back home to Yorba Linda until we could regroup and figure out what the next step would be for our living situations.
Spending more time with my parents, after a tumultuous high school life with them, was a blessing in disguise. We came up with a plan to purchase a home together, to start the new Landfield machine, a company built out of a family to cement a prosperous future through real estate. We started looking at homes immediately. The search began with a bang, we spent an evening every week touring homes with our amazing and supportive realtor. It was fun at first, but the constant barrage of non-livable homes was hard to stay positive for.
It is hard to describe the types of homes that we viewed. I could have sworn some of the properties had to have been previously used as drug houses, brothels, and hideaways for illegal aliens. So many homes that could have been beautiful single-family dwellings had been changed into unusual and frightening new structures that I would not feel comfortable in. The previous owners had added on strange rooms that seemed endless. I have seen two bedroom homes that had been turned into 7 bedroom homes, on 2100 square feet.
Finally, we stumbled upon some properties that were worth making offers on, and we started the process and paperwork too begin our ownership. This was a whole separate process and was equally nightmarish in comparison to the selection of homes to make the offers on.
I’ll take to my next blog to illustrate the next part in the route to my ownership status.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
CLA BUILDING CAUGHT FIRE-class assignment
At 3:00pm, the CLA building suffered a fire damaging 19 million, and killed two and injured 41 from smoke inhalation. The fire was put out at approximately 4:40pm.
President Ortiz’s dog, Fluffy, was found dead at 3:00pm in the rose garden yesterday, following its abduction from the Kellogg manor. ASI President Ismael Souley has been apprehended for the crime.
President Ortiz’s dog, Fluffy, was found dead at 3:00pm in the rose garden yesterday, following its abduction from the Kellogg manor. ASI President Ismael Souley has been apprehended for the crime.
showers and flowers
The last week has been a blur. For those of you who don't already know, I work full time as a counter manager for philosophy cosmetics at Nordstrom, and I am currently carrying a load of 16 units. Juggling such a heavy load is never easy, especially with the crazy weather in southern California lately.
This rain has been cumbersome in so many ways. I now need to carry an umbrella on my person most all of the time. I need to leave 20 minutes earlier to get to work, changing my commute time from the average 30-45 minutes to a cool hour; sometimes an hour and a half. I have to run my heater at home every night, which raises my gas bill considerably.
People keep telling me, “this weather is so beautiful,” and, “thank goodness the heat wave has stopped.” I could not disagree more. Why in the world would anyone live in southern California and wish for rain? Southern California is a land where tourists come to enjoy our weather. If somebody was looking to vacation in rain, I assume they would choose somewhere like Seattle.
I wish I could happily splash through puddles and pretend the rain was beautiful and fun. Thinking back to my earlier posts, I see the rain as only another situation to spend the days worrying upon. I fear getting into a car accident in the rain. I fear leaks in my home. I wish I could see only the beauty, but the rain in my life is nothing but a new challenge.
I need to ground myself in knowing that the rain will pass. If I can survive the traffic, the cold, and extra weight of an umbrella in my bag, I will see flowers. What happens after the rain is the true beauty of this weather in my eyes. I can find myself nostalgic in the thoughts of rainbows, flowers, and the greenery that comes directly from the rain.
In southern California, we are supposed a land where, “the grass is really greener.” In that case, I guess the rain will help. I'll just bundle up and wait for the flowers.
This rain has been cumbersome in so many ways. I now need to carry an umbrella on my person most all of the time. I need to leave 20 minutes earlier to get to work, changing my commute time from the average 30-45 minutes to a cool hour; sometimes an hour and a half. I have to run my heater at home every night, which raises my gas bill considerably.
People keep telling me, “this weather is so beautiful,” and, “thank goodness the heat wave has stopped.” I could not disagree more. Why in the world would anyone live in southern California and wish for rain? Southern California is a land where tourists come to enjoy our weather. If somebody was looking to vacation in rain, I assume they would choose somewhere like Seattle.
I wish I could happily splash through puddles and pretend the rain was beautiful and fun. Thinking back to my earlier posts, I see the rain as only another situation to spend the days worrying upon. I fear getting into a car accident in the rain. I fear leaks in my home. I wish I could see only the beauty, but the rain in my life is nothing but a new challenge.
I need to ground myself in knowing that the rain will pass. If I can survive the traffic, the cold, and extra weight of an umbrella in my bag, I will see flowers. What happens after the rain is the true beauty of this weather in my eyes. I can find myself nostalgic in the thoughts of rainbows, flowers, and the greenery that comes directly from the rain.
In southern California, we are supposed a land where, “the grass is really greener.” In that case, I guess the rain will help. I'll just bundle up and wait for the flowers.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
caught between a rock and a hard place.
My life is constantly in a state of being caught between a rock and a hard place. I am always being forced into decisions where I am expected to make the best choice for my future; which is usually a choice between the lesser of two evils. In my professional life and my personal life, I find myself stuck with choices I do not want to make.
In my professional life, I am faced with a choice to stay in school, or to join the ranks of my colleagues and commit myself to my career exclusively.
Both prospects could benefit my future. If I stay in school, I could gain more of the knowledge and contacts I will desperately need in my highly competitive field of choice. If I chose to continue working full time and to discontinue going to school full time, I could potentially get a promotion and start reaping the rewards of professional success at a very young age.
Staying in school is something I have always wanted, but the simple fact that I am doing so well in my current employment situation makes my thoughts run to the haunting words friends and some family members have been mumbling for years, “being in school is holding you back.” If I abandon my schooling, or push back graduate studies for a few years, I fear I will never make a master’s degree become reality. I don’t want a reality without higher education.
I do want to live a life of contentment. I want to do well at work. I want to be able to provide for myself and eventually I would like to be able to provide for my parents when they age. I fear if I do not get myself into a position of power in a company early in my life, I may not be able to make my dreams a reality.
Worrying is a part of my everyday reality. I am always worrying myself into a position between a rock and a hard place. I don’t need to make these choices at the immediate moment, but there are very tough choices in my future I don’t necessarily know how I will answer yet. Hopefully working my thoughts out through a blog will better orchestrate my thought process to help me make the right decisions.
In my professional life, I am faced with a choice to stay in school, or to join the ranks of my colleagues and commit myself to my career exclusively.
Both prospects could benefit my future. If I stay in school, I could gain more of the knowledge and contacts I will desperately need in my highly competitive field of choice. If I chose to continue working full time and to discontinue going to school full time, I could potentially get a promotion and start reaping the rewards of professional success at a very young age.
Staying in school is something I have always wanted, but the simple fact that I am doing so well in my current employment situation makes my thoughts run to the haunting words friends and some family members have been mumbling for years, “being in school is holding you back.” If I abandon my schooling, or push back graduate studies for a few years, I fear I will never make a master’s degree become reality. I don’t want a reality without higher education.
I do want to live a life of contentment. I want to do well at work. I want to be able to provide for myself and eventually I would like to be able to provide for my parents when they age. I fear if I do not get myself into a position of power in a company early in my life, I may not be able to make my dreams a reality.
Worrying is a part of my everyday reality. I am always worrying myself into a position between a rock and a hard place. I don’t need to make these choices at the immediate moment, but there are very tough choices in my future I don’t necessarily know how I will answer yet. Hopefully working my thoughts out through a blog will better orchestrate my thought process to help me make the right decisions.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Pets are a privilege, not a right.
Some people should not be allowed to have animals. I understand the stigma behind having pets. They comfort us. Some pets are a status symbol. Some pets are even economically useful. That being said, some of us are still incapable of giving back to the animals in our lives that give us so much.
Too often are pets abandoned. Our shelters are overcrowded, under funded, and frankly unacceptable to harbor man’s best friends in their time of need. Every time I hear those tear jerking Sarah Mclachlan commercials to donate money to shelters, I want to pull out my wallet and cry uncontrollably at the same time.
I buy my dog’s food at Petco, and at the front of the line to pay, there is a tray of treats, food, blankets, and toys to purchase to send to local shelters. I always grab a pack of puppy treats and occasionally a few toys to send to the local organizations. The donation costs me an average of five dollars a month, and I like to think the money is well spent to keep an animal more comfortable in its time of need.
Lately, more and more people close to me are mistreating their animals and it makes me sick. If you love your pet and you want the best for the animal, you must be able to properly take care of it. Without money for veterinary bills, food, toys, bedding, or any other reasonable amenities, people have no business owning pets. If you can’t provide for an animal, it definitely cannot provide for itself. Without the means to treat it correctly, you don’t deserve its company.
There are many alternatives to giving a pet up to a shelter. Organizations specializing in certain breeds are nearly always accepting rescues. There are also other kind, loving folks out there looking to foster neglected and abandoned animals you could reach out to. The most important thing is to ask for help when under pressure to give up an animal.
I think the best way to keep animals out of shelters is to think before taking an animal into your family. Think about the commitment you are making. Can you afford the animal? Can you promise them that you will treat them as a dependant and never let them go? Are you ready to fight tooth and nail to protect them and support them? A pet is like a child, with less paperwork. They have needs and expectations, and if they are met, the rewards are limitless.
Pets are a privilege, not a right. They need to be treated as such.
Too often are pets abandoned. Our shelters are overcrowded, under funded, and frankly unacceptable to harbor man’s best friends in their time of need. Every time I hear those tear jerking Sarah Mclachlan commercials to donate money to shelters, I want to pull out my wallet and cry uncontrollably at the same time.
I buy my dog’s food at Petco, and at the front of the line to pay, there is a tray of treats, food, blankets, and toys to purchase to send to local shelters. I always grab a pack of puppy treats and occasionally a few toys to send to the local organizations. The donation costs me an average of five dollars a month, and I like to think the money is well spent to keep an animal more comfortable in its time of need.
Lately, more and more people close to me are mistreating their animals and it makes me sick. If you love your pet and you want the best for the animal, you must be able to properly take care of it. Without money for veterinary bills, food, toys, bedding, or any other reasonable amenities, people have no business owning pets. If you can’t provide for an animal, it definitely cannot provide for itself. Without the means to treat it correctly, you don’t deserve its company.
There are many alternatives to giving a pet up to a shelter. Organizations specializing in certain breeds are nearly always accepting rescues. There are also other kind, loving folks out there looking to foster neglected and abandoned animals you could reach out to. The most important thing is to ask for help when under pressure to give up an animal.
I think the best way to keep animals out of shelters is to think before taking an animal into your family. Think about the commitment you are making. Can you afford the animal? Can you promise them that you will treat them as a dependant and never let them go? Are you ready to fight tooth and nail to protect them and support them? A pet is like a child, with less paperwork. They have needs and expectations, and if they are met, the rewards are limitless.
Pets are a privilege, not a right. They need to be treated as such.
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