Anything you can do I can do better, I can do anything better than you

So, realtors.

I have told you guys about Keith already. He's a wonderful down to Earth sort of guy.

Well, Keith hadn't gotten back to me all of today, so I inquired myself about one of the houses I was looking at, and lo and behold, another realtor pops out of the box.

Hi there, Heather.

She emails me, calls me, and then emails me a listing of houses she made for me. Gracious.

I was looking through Heather's list when Keith emails me (Heather emailed me at 7, and Keith at 9. It's crazy, these people never stop working). He apologizes, it's been a busy Monday for Keith, and says he'll be emailing me a list of properties shortly.

 

They're both super nice people. I'm sure that's part of the job, to be nice so that people will choose you over someone else. To go with Keith, or with Heather, that is the question. Man, why can't realty-ing be as straightforward as other things? You officially hire someone, then they work for you. Not all this "I'll-work-for-you-without-knowing-if-you-already-have-a-realtor" thing. 

Maybe Heather assumed that since I was digging around on my own, that I didn't have one. Gracious.

 

Game plan. I will see what Keith comes up with, and then see which one's list appeals more to me, and then go with that one? But I'd feel bad about dumping Keith. But I'd feel bad that Heather's done all this work already.

Honestly, the person I got a better vibe from was Keith, even though Heather has worked harder already, maybe Keith will come through. Because Heather referred me to her guy to get pre-approved from, saying how banks are not that great, and Keith has not done anything like that... yet. 

Gah, realtors.

That is all.

you wanna be where everybody knows your name.

127 was a gorgeous house. It really was. I wanted to move in immediately, it was perfect....

except it had maybe a ten square foot backyard and it was right next to the next house (literally with less than a foot between) and the neighborhood isn't great.

But omg, that house. It probably won't be the one I pick at the end, but it's easily the nicest house I'll probably get to see at my price point.

So I've made a friend of the realtor that showed the house to me, so he's going to be working with me now. His name is Keith. I like him. He's a friendly guy, and he seems really real and down-to-earth.

He's going to help me in my search.

Because I've decided, fuck everything, it's time to build my empire. Even world dominators gotta be lonely sometimes.

 

My mother and sister and I went out shopping today. Fun fact: I hate shopping with a passion. Add to the mix that it was my mother and sister, who are both stick-thin, and they were going around, "oh, let's get Sara a slip, so they can't see her underwear" when what they meant was "let's get her a girdle and then pretend like that's not it!"

So consequently, there I was, wandering the mall behind my mother and sister, and just wanting to punch everyone in the face.

That's...about my day, in a nutshell. Time to drink more apple pie moonshine and read more game of thrones. moar, I say. Tomorrow, the Avengers. I'm so excited.

 

Annnnd I've just stayed up until midnight looking at houses. I regret nothing.

If someone said three years from now, you'd be long gone, I'd stand up and punch them out, 'cause they're all wrong

One thing can be said for me and those of my clan. When we make up our minds to do something, it is then as good as done. My mother wanted a Cadillac, so she saved the money in a separate account and then bought the Cadillac. My father wanted to take out our existing flooring. He went out and bought the laminate wood and started tearing up our kitchen the next day.

I decided I am going to go ahead and look for a house. After @Samspeeps said last night, basically "those that mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind," I realized that emotional decisions are not always the best way to conduct life. I'd eventually get resentful of putting life on hold.

So any interested parties can object, but if they don't, I'm going to do what I want in this circumstance. I've come up with a compromise that I can live with, even if it isn't ideal.

So I've got a good idea of what my mortgage would look like, I've got a price range and a head filled with words like "amortization" and "equity." And I'm going to go see a house with a realtor.

It's house number? 127. 

That was crazy this afternoon. I was looking at houses on the internet with my financials in mind, and I saw this victorian style house, and it gave me butterflies, and then I saw it was house number 127. 

Obviously, I made the appointment to go see it in person immediately. Friday. I'm so excited. We'll see if it looks half as good as the pictures of it. And the neighborhood... we'll see.

This was all while I was out sick from work today. Now, I'm having a hard time sitting to blog this as I really effing want to read Game of Thrones right now.

Goodnight everyone.

I'll go wherever you will go. Way up high, or down low, I'll go wherever you will go.

I've been thinking a lot about houses.

Fiscally, the decision to buy a house makes sense. For every year I'm not living in a house, I'm basically throwing away $12,000. Twelve thousand dollars is a lot of money. It's a tenth of the cost owning an okay house, and a twentieth of the cost of owning a nice house. It's about 1/80th of the cost of a mansion. Anyway.

What I'm saying is, fiscally, I should go run down a real estate agent right now and go buy a house. Right NOW.

But for a few little things, that is.

Namely:

-I'm single.

-I have no boyfriend, fiance, or prospects.

-Did I mention I'm single?

I realize that by now you guys realize that I am unmarried. And many of you might say, SO WHAT CHRISTINA LOTS OF PEOPLE AREN'T MARRIED.

That is true.

However.

The plan when getting married is to live together (generally speaking). And I know if I were a dude, and I was marrying a girl with her own house already, I'd be all "look bitch, we're picking out a house together." Except I'd put a few "sweetheart"s and "I love you"s in there, because I know how girls work, you see.

Anyway.

What I'm saying is, one of the big parts of being married is making these big joint decisions together. Like buying or not buying a house.

 

No problem, my mother says, you just sell the house when it comes time, and then you can pick out another place to your heart's content!

Sure, mom, that is if the real estate market has a sudden boom in the next couple of years when I'm looking to sell my alleged house and trying to marry my snookie-wookums-cuddly-marshmallow-bear-of-choice.

Because, let's face it, the market's crap for a seller right now. The news makes every little baby step look like things are awesome, but the truth is, the real estate market is not suddenly going to recover anytime soon. Not without some shady dealings with the banks and whatnot. 

 

So what I'm saying is, in this market, it is completely unworthwhile for me to bank on (no pun intended) being able to sell a house at will. It's not going to happen that way. So my buying a house would be for keepsies, as far as the nearish future is concerned.

And there's where we get into Christina-the-old-cat-lady territory.

 

If I were to buy a house right now, either I'd be 

a) finding a suitable mate with a house of his own and then attempting to sell mine
b) finding a suitable mate who is willing to move into Christina's Barbie Home Du'Jour
c) living ALONE FOREVER IN MY HOUSE WITH A DOZEN CATS
d) moving to Eastern Europe and buying a mansion for me and a subsistence farmer to live in (since the dollar goes so far in those places not converted to the Euro)
e) crying into my chardonnay every night in my amazing pad as I realize how I am FOREVER ALONE and it's BECAUSE OF THE HOUSE. 

Which brings us back to Christina-the-hypothetical-dude. Christina-the-hypothetical-dude says, "BITCH we are BUYING A HOUSE TOGETHER." 

So let's do some quick math.

Christina + (a suitable mate comparable to Christina-the-hypothetical-dude) + Christina's Barbie Home Du'Jour = Christina - Christina's Barbie Home Du'Jour + (Christina-the-Hypothetical-Dude)

Since I don't like the prospect of being alone, I think the choice here is pretty obvious.

Christina can't be buying a house right now. Because the market for selling sucks, and contrary to my mother's wishes, I'm not going to be single with a dozen cats when I turn thirty.

Or maybe I'll find a commune with one of these puppies and become someone's bloodrider. It could work. Look at that monstrosity. That is a contiguous tent. Tell me you don't want to be in there. You're lying.

So I guess it's time to sign my ass up to throw at least another 12 grand down the toilet in the interests of shelter from the elements. And in the interests of an eventual man in my life. (Yeah, Christina, right.) And I need to quit looking at houses. Because there's no use in going to a sex party when you're a eunuch. (Or something like that.)

I'm forever yours-faithfully. Drove home today while that song blasted on my radio. Mrrr. Having one of those nights where I go back and forth trying to convince myself of something or its opposite, back and forth and back again. I am, always have been, my most formidable opponent. Where the heck did my weekend go, that's what I really want to know. Time to sleep, and tomorrow I'll work out and read. Mhmm. It's a charmed life I lead, sometimes.