Various Items
Nov. 11th, 2006 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
c9We've been very busy lately with getting the condo ready for sale. Basically, we've done 90% of everything we ever planned to do, and the entire place is done except for fixing one screen which I plan to do in a few minutes. Woo! Anybody want a fantastic downtown Kitchener party pad? It's not on MLS yet (Mondayish) but is available to look at here. I hope he gets the pictures up ASAP. I hate non-picture listings.
Alcohol Addition
This morning when dropping Vin off at the airport, the security person working the “give people Ziplocs to hold acceptable liquids” table noticed I was saying goodbye and called me over. She asked if I wanted a gift, and handed me an unopened bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label. Someone had given it up, and it was either throw it out or give it away. *headshake*
Bus Beef
Taking the bus to Toronto yesterday and today (it’s cheaper than the train, and the timing is better for me to arrive in the classroom on time) has given me an appreciation for what Vincent will be going through starting on Wednesday. The bus ride isn’t that long (as long as the highway doesn’t get closed and no big accidents occur) or that uncomfortable but it’s a lot of time to be disconnected and away from both home and work.
Condo Capitalism
Last night we actually listed the condo for sale. It’s not on MLS yet, probably not even until Monday, which is unfortunate. We’re asking for significantly more than we paid, but significantly less than what a place in Toronto will cost us. No surprise there.
Our realtor is very aggressive, and seems to go beyond what a lot of realtors will do, which is awesome. If we were buying we would probably find the selling approach a bit too much – as Vincent said to me last night after the realtor left, “Ken is so tiring.” – but as sellers we are quite happy to let him do his work.
The last unit in the building sold in 13 days for a great price. That’s what we want – faster would be OK too – but the average time on the market is 57 days. Plus closing is usually 30-60 days. That would take us to February or March. We are NOT thinking about that possibility, thankyouverymuch.
I was pleased to learn that KW’s typical realtor commission is 5%, as opposed to the more common 6% in Canada. (Apparently in the UK the competition is such that 1-2% is more common!) It’s a nice number, simply because all of our calculations before we learned this were based on 6%, so it’s like winning a very small lottery. Sort of.
Wednesday Vincent starts work in Toronto. This means he’ll be leaving the condo around 06:20 at the latest, and will arrive home around 20:00. Looks like I’m cooking suppers for a while! The big challenge will be December. Work has two courses for me already, one in Toronto and one in Halifax, plus I have a couple days’ vacation I’d like to use up. Added onto that is the potential that we could, if we’re lucky, be moving during December, which means complete upheaval in everything we do, plus an extra day off due to moving. It would be really nice to know what dates to book off. As it is now, I can’t agree to anything at work, which drives everybody else nuts of course, since they need to make decisions on this stuff.
Renovation Roundup
I can’t believe how much we’ve done on the condo in the past couple weeks. It’s insane.
Master Bedroom: cleaned, organized, packed away a bunch of junk
Walk-in Closet: emptied, painted, organized, packed away a bunch of junk
Master Bathroom: empties, tore out vanity, mirror & sink, painted, installed new vanity, mirror & sink, cleaned, hid a bunch of junk
Living Room: emptied, steam-cleaned the carpet, organized, packed away a bunch of junk
Kitchen: emptied, tore out all cabinets and appliances, smoothed out ceiling, painted, installed new cabinets, replaced with new appliances (all in 2005), tiled floor, installed beautiful if I do say so myself transition strips between the kitchen and carpeted areas (three doorways), organized, cleaned.
Office: emptied, organized as an obvious bedroom for buyers to see, packed away a bunch of junk
Spare Bathroom: emptied, painted, cleaned, organized, packed away a bunch of junk
Laundry: tidied, packed away a bunch of junk, stressed out because we didn’t do more
So that’s where we’ve been lately.
Wireless Wonder
I’m sitting in seat 2F (if this was an airplane) of Greyhound Canada Route 5202. I’m about 300m as the crow flies from our bedroom. Bizarrely, my laptop can see my wireless access point, and in fact connects to it. Can’t surf, or this post would have been made at 05:53 EST Friday instead of now.
In Seattle they have wireless on some of the commuter buses. I think that’s pretty nifty. As long as it’s better than VIA’s slow system. I know it’s satellite and shared and all that, but still. Why can’t I have free 1-3 Mb broadband at all times, even when traveling at 120km/h? Is that too much to ask?
Alcohol Addition
This morning when dropping Vin off at the airport, the security person working the “give people Ziplocs to hold acceptable liquids” table noticed I was saying goodbye and called me over. She asked if I wanted a gift, and handed me an unopened bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label. Someone had given it up, and it was either throw it out or give it away. *headshake*
Bus Beef
Taking the bus to Toronto yesterday and today (it’s cheaper than the train, and the timing is better for me to arrive in the classroom on time) has given me an appreciation for what Vincent will be going through starting on Wednesday. The bus ride isn’t that long (as long as the highway doesn’t get closed and no big accidents occur) or that uncomfortable but it’s a lot of time to be disconnected and away from both home and work.
Condo Capitalism
Last night we actually listed the condo for sale. It’s not on MLS yet, probably not even until Monday, which is unfortunate. We’re asking for significantly more than we paid, but significantly less than what a place in Toronto will cost us. No surprise there.
Our realtor is very aggressive, and seems to go beyond what a lot of realtors will do, which is awesome. If we were buying we would probably find the selling approach a bit too much – as Vincent said to me last night after the realtor left, “Ken is so tiring.” – but as sellers we are quite happy to let him do his work.
The last unit in the building sold in 13 days for a great price. That’s what we want – faster would be OK too – but the average time on the market is 57 days. Plus closing is usually 30-60 days. That would take us to February or March. We are NOT thinking about that possibility, thankyouverymuch.
I was pleased to learn that KW’s typical realtor commission is 5%, as opposed to the more common 6% in Canada. (Apparently in the UK the competition is such that 1-2% is more common!) It’s a nice number, simply because all of our calculations before we learned this were based on 6%, so it’s like winning a very small lottery. Sort of.
Wednesday Vincent starts work in Toronto. This means he’ll be leaving the condo around 06:20 at the latest, and will arrive home around 20:00. Looks like I’m cooking suppers for a while! The big challenge will be December. Work has two courses for me already, one in Toronto and one in Halifax, plus I have a couple days’ vacation I’d like to use up. Added onto that is the potential that we could, if we’re lucky, be moving during December, which means complete upheaval in everything we do, plus an extra day off due to moving. It would be really nice to know what dates to book off. As it is now, I can’t agree to anything at work, which drives everybody else nuts of course, since they need to make decisions on this stuff.
Renovation Roundup
I can’t believe how much we’ve done on the condo in the past couple weeks. It’s insane.
Master Bedroom: cleaned, organized, packed away a bunch of junk
Walk-in Closet: emptied, painted, organized, packed away a bunch of junk
Master Bathroom: empties, tore out vanity, mirror & sink, painted, installed new vanity, mirror & sink, cleaned, hid a bunch of junk
Living Room: emptied, steam-cleaned the carpet, organized, packed away a bunch of junk
Kitchen: emptied, tore out all cabinets and appliances, smoothed out ceiling, painted, installed new cabinets, replaced with new appliances (all in 2005), tiled floor, installed beautiful if I do say so myself transition strips between the kitchen and carpeted areas (three doorways), organized, cleaned.
Office: emptied, organized as an obvious bedroom for buyers to see, packed away a bunch of junk
Spare Bathroom: emptied, painted, cleaned, organized, packed away a bunch of junk
Laundry: tidied, packed away a bunch of junk, stressed out because we didn’t do more
So that’s where we’ve been lately.
Wireless Wonder
I’m sitting in seat 2F (if this was an airplane) of Greyhound Canada Route 5202. I’m about 300m as the crow flies from our bedroom. Bizarrely, my laptop can see my wireless access point, and in fact connects to it. Can’t surf, or this post would have been made at 05:53 EST Friday instead of now.
In Seattle they have wireless on some of the commuter buses. I think that’s pretty nifty. As long as it’s better than VIA’s slow system. I know it’s satellite and shared and all that, but still. Why can’t I have free 1-3 Mb broadband at all times, even when traveling at 120km/h? Is that too much to ask?
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Date: 2006-11-12 07:49 pm (UTC)