Tag: house

Categories
life

Miracles On An Icy Road

We witnessed a miracle this evening. Actually, we witnessed several. At one point we had 5 vehicles and a FedEx truck stuck on the hill between our house and two houses down from us. Over a two hour period we had at least 10 vehicles slide into various snow banks in that 150 foot stretch of road. Even the snowplow got stuck in front of our house when it tried to turn down our hill in order to salt the road.

On top of that the most obvious miracle was watching as one out of control car slid down the hill through four other stuck cars without hitting any vehicles or people who could not get out of the way because of how slick the road was.

Eventually we got all the cars freed and the only damage sustained was one tire flattened on a UTA service vehicle that slid into one of the curbs quite hard.

Categories
life

Taking Posession

After a long weekend with no internet access I was not at all surprised at the long list of emails that I had to deal with. It was a very good weekend to be disconnected since I had plenty to do as we moved into our new house. After a good three day weekend we are pretty well established with most of the boxes unpacked (besides those that are sitting in the garage – which is mostly food storage) and the furniture arranged. I fixed a couple of doorknobs with dysfunctional locks but not before Savannah accidentally locked herself inside the upstairs bathroom (the lock was easy to lock, but unlocking it from inside the bathroom was too difficult for women and children). I also mounted a flag bracket so I can fly the flag here.

It’s been a very fun few days as we have been awed and surprised to watch all the birds and squirrels, to feel the mountain breezes, to see so many stars at night now that we are above the main part of the city, and to look out the window before a storm and realize that we are literally living in the clouds at times. After today I should have internet access again so I won’t have to wait out the weekend before sharing when fun new things happen in our new home.

Categories
life

Done Deal

It’s been more than a week since we received word that there were no more obstacles in the home sale and purchase that we have been working on. (As with selling my house, we completed our home purchase without enlisting the help of a real estate agent.) Despite all the assurances, I never feel fully comfortable until the money has changed hands and the sales have been recorded. Today was that day. It’s nice that no change of status can derail either of those contracts anymore. Now we just have to move the stuff.

Categories
culture life National politics

Established Patterns

After a week on vacation it is nice to have a bit of a fresh perspective on life. We are entering a moth where we have to close on our old house in Lehi and our new house in Bountiful so there will be plenty to do. Having taken some time off I am ready to dive deeper into my job and be more productive now that I have basically adjusted to the routine of going to work every day and the new dynamics of working for a large organization (Intermountain has 30,000 employees where the largest company I had worked for before had a little over 300).

My time off also re-focused my efforts here as I consider what I am trying to accomplish. (No, this whole site is not simply a personal brain-dump where I can ramble on about anything that I happen to think.) I am going to pick up with the federalist papers and other founding documents that have disappeared from my postings in the last couple of months and I am also going to be more consistent about sharing the vision and efforts of the Downsize D.C. organization.

The more I have read about Downsize D.C. the more I believe that it fits with my vision of what needs to be done to brighten the future prospects of our nation. Downsize D.C. is dedicated to shrinking the federal government – which I think is necessary – but even for those people who disagree with many of their campaigns (and they campaign for legislation – not for legislators) I would submit that their method of providing information and tools to encourage and support individuals in taking action and being involved and informed is precisely the course to creating a healthier political process and a more empowered electorate.

Maybe I am biased, but I honestly believe that an informed, involved, and empowered electorate will naturally lead us back to a system of limited government rather than the system of unlimited governing bureaucracies that we have created over the last century.

Categories
life

Family Vacation

I’m trying to decide if my expectations are delusional, or simply higher than necessary.

This week I am taking an extended family vacation for the first time since I got married. There have been a few gathering similar to this which we have been unable to attend, but mostly our extended family events are holiday gatherings that stop short of vacations for us (since they are often close to where we live). In planning for this vacation I anticipated that I would not do a lot of blogging, but since blogging really is invigorating for me I did expect to keep it up a little bit over the week.

Now I come to the end of Wednesday and I have not even glanced at the news or thought of something that I could write about. I had things to write on Sunday, but I was too busy getting ready. Since then, the only reason I have even been able to check my email daily is that I am trying to secure a lovely house that we saw on Saturday.

Were my expectations to high, or will other trips allow me to do some blogging during the vacation?

Categories
life

Sans Agent

I have nothing against real estate agents, they definitely have their place in helping to buy and sell houses, but I just have to say how nice and refreshing it has been to sell my house without working through an agent or two. I met a great young family on Monday as they came to look at my house and they chose to make an offer. We were able, without any faxing back and forth and delays of having an agent write up an offer which is delivered to another agent who delivers it to the other party to review and counter, to work out an acceptable agreement whereby my house will no longer be mine in the next few weeks. We have not yet signed the formal contract, but we quickly went through the negotiations without having any go-between and because we are not paying any agent commissions we both had the flexibility to arrive at a contract price that was mutually beneficial.

When I receive a written contract (probably tomorrow) it will not have any significant surprises for me because we have already agreed on the concessions necessary to make this deal work and so I will be able to sign it quickly and move this process along so that I am free to buy my new house and be back to living in my own space. I’ll know what address to give people without wondering if it will still be the right address six weeks from now.

Based on my experience I would suggest that even if you want or need to use a real estate agent to buy or sell a property, if it is at all possible you should get the actual buyer and seller to work directly with each other until a broad agreement is reached, then let the agents handle the minutia for a smooth transaction.

Categories
life

Selling

I’ve mentioned that I have moved to the Davis County area. We are currently in a temporary living situation with friends until the house sells. We have it listed on the MLS, but if anyone knows of someone looking for a place in the northern part of Utah County they could come look at our house. If anyone is looking for a house for sale by owner, I have priced the house with the assumption that I have to pay a buyers agent so if you don’t have a buyers agent I can be more flexible with the price.

I figure there’s no place too obscure to advertise and my readers have always been responsive when I talk about life changes such as new jobs and moving so thanks in advance for your well-wishes and/or referrals.