So as I mentioned before, I've been looking for a house to buy, so I can stop throwing money down the drain on rent... I'm also in the arts, which translates to being relatively poor... These are two conditions which lead to looking for homes on the low end of the market... That in turn translates to one of several things... 1) move in to a ghetto 2) move in to a run down place and fix it 3) move in to some place further out, and deal with a commute...
Well having done option 1 for a while, that was right out... I've done option 3 as well, and that sucks... Leaving option 2... So I've been looking at places that need help... Let me give you an example... The first place I checked out actually had no roof... That is the level at which I started considering things...
The last place I checked out, and am now consequently buying (yay!) was one of the more "unique" places I've seen... Structurally, everything seems ok... It's listed as a one bedroom ranch, with a full basement... Just about right for me... The first time I looked at it, I was so overwhelmed by the clutter in the house, I immediately wrote it off... It took me 2 weeks and several other houses to stop and think about it again... I remembered seeing certain furniture in the place under the piles of clothing, and assorted crap... That furniture eventually started giving me the idea that perhaps the place wasn't so bad... Hell I could actually stand in the basement, rather than walking stooped over...
So I went back with my parents in tow to look again... The place was still a chaotic mess... There are unfinished home improvement type projects here and there that haven't been worked on in ages (dust tells a wonderful tale). I took measurements in all the rooms that time, so I have a solid idea of size now, and I'm pleasantly surprised...
Here's the catch... If these people hadn't been absolute slobs about their place when they were trying to sell it, they could have gotten at minimum $25000 more for the place... More likely $35-40000 more... As it was, I got them to back $20000 off their asking price... This house is selling for $30,000 less than the house that didn't have a roof...
All they had to do was clean...
They didn't...
I win!
There's this client of mine... (seems to be a theme here, no?) At any rate, they decided that since they would be out of town most of the week, they would have something they ordered for the show we do over the weekend sent to my shop, to make sure it got to the show... All very well and good, but they arranged for the shipment to arrive at my place Thursday. (that's today folks) Strangely enough, I didn't get a shipment today, and the client never answers their cell phone... So now, I leave a bunch of messages here and there, and hope someone actually checks them, such that they can chase down their equipment... I don't really feel any responsibility for their gear, other than to know it will be very strange to try to do a major video event with no projection screens because they just never showed up... I mean, my gear will be there, and in place, but since my gear is there to support the screens, how much point is there for me to show up if there isn't going to be any screen?...
The whole damn show is about projection, and they waited too damn long to get the screens in...
I can't wait to deal with this tommorow...
So after letting myself cool down for a while due to the insurance fiasco, I jumped in to researching other possibilities… I took about 10 minutes, and took a look at the NJ Workers Comp website, and there was a functional, if not elegant search option for the classifications… What do you suppose I found there?... A Stagehand classification!... My insurance broker is either an idiot, or there is something more nefarious going on… Either way, all that money that we owed is going to go away, and they’re going to owe me money… Not just a bit either… Enough that I may use part of it for a down payment on a house… Personally I’d like to haul the broker in to court, and sue his ass, but then the only winner would be the lawyer…
All and all, a very productive 10 minutes of my life…