A while ago, when Amazon introduced their interesting block-by-block street-level photo map, I noticed with amusement that our sun umbrella was open and on the deck of our current apartment when the photo was taken.
Yesterday, I happened to zoom in very close to a satellite view of our deck – the same view that Google Maps uses – and there was our sun umbrella. I squinted but couldn’t make out our deck furniture.
Hard at work.
Holding forth on the subject of mattress copy.
Pointing out a possible error in historical attribution.
One cat:
Several golden plums:
The tree has fruited this year more than any since we’ve lived here, over ten years.
I was amused on zooming way out in the satellite view of Google Maps to note a possible reason for my having left Indiana as a young man.
Well, after a very intense six weeks of househunting (I estimate we’ve now viewed about one hundred separate homes), other obligations require us to take a break for a week or two. For those keeping score, we bid on two houses, the one I blogged about that was located in South Park, and another I have not yet mentioned here.
The Redfin listing for the South Park house can be seen here; I believe it’s still on the market, and considered simply as the house, it’s quite a deal. However, the combination of South Park’s specific urban challenges with the introduction of PCBs to the mix really rules it out for us, despite our conclusion that the home itself is unlikely to be directly affected by the chemical.
The other place we bid on is located in South Seattle near a new development called Othello Station, to the South of Seward Park. It is a lovely home. We understand that the seller has accepted another offer.
There is a certain incredulous desperation to my personal feelings in this hunt, sparked and confirmed by the year-by-year evidence of resale prices so easily accessed via a neighborhood search of prior sales. In Capitol Hill, for instance, a cursory examination of prior sales to the South of Madison, near Seattle University reveals multiple large homes form the first three decades of the 20th century which sold at prices between $150k and $250k as recently as five years ago.
Here is an example of just such a home that Vivian and I considered at the time of its’ prior sale, in 2000. It had been a rental, and was a wreck, but reasonably affordable at $250k. Today, the home is just in the process of closing at a projected $475k. Kudos to the foresighted persons who purchased and renovated the house. Knowledge of impoverished failure tastes alkaline in the mouth; impending exile looms like a freight train in the night.
I literally feel as though I am obligated to conduct this search in order to avert actual death by violence, as though I am hunted by men with guns, and I awaken in the night with soundless screams dying in my throat. Adding to my personal sense of horror at the situation is the clear evidence that the housing market here is direly inflationary, a direct result of the dramatically increased liquidity of capital for this purpose. A recurring image in my dreams is a photograph of a starving urchin in the Weimar Republic, carting the proverbial a wheelbarrow full of marks.
It will be a relief.
…and we’ve submitted an offer on a house. More details later.
My drive test is scheduled for July 23.
Chloe just knocked my after-work martini to the floor, thankfully not breaking the glass. But alas for the gin!
Another day, another five houses.
We saw two really pretty places, relatively close in, each well under 1000 square feet. Both were presented as two bedroom homes but realistically they were one bedroom places. In each case they were priced at $300k.
We also saw two more places a bit further out which we will be seriously considering. One is just over 1000 square feet and very nicely remodeled with a deck and a pleasant, non-maze like interior. The other is larger but underwent a misguided 1970’s makeover that has got to go. Viv and I will be discussing both seriously.
This week, we have looked at thirty houses. It’s getting to where I’m confusing details in my head. I have been taking a camera and snapping my fool head off in an effort to replaces actual remembering, but it’s not a completely satisfactory solution. For one thing, I don’t take pictures of homes I don’t like at all. For another, often, if it’s a place I like a lot, I get too interested in looking at the place to think about shooting.
This weekend, I will be borrowing the camera we just got at work, a D70, and trying to shoot with vigor in order to learn the camera. It will be interesting to see if that experience teaches me to think systematically about shooting during a house visit.
June 30, 2005
To: Mike Whybark, Seattle
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WITHHELD has been notified by FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WITHHELD of a theft of records from a third party credit card processor. … Unfortunately, your card number is among those potentially at risk.
Please note that no personal data, such as your name, address, social security number, or member number was involved in the theft of data.
To protect your account, FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WITHHELD will block your FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WITHHELD card from further transactions effective DATE REDACTED. On that date a new FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WITHHELD card will be issued to you.
Unfortunately, there will be a time delay between blocking your existing card and receiving a replacement card. If you have pre-authorized transfer or payment arrangements, you will need to propagate the new card number and expiration date.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WITHHELD regrets the inconvenience.
Sincerely.
NAME WITHHELD
Manger
POSITION DELETED
FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WITHHELD
(Abridgements, exaggerations, redactions, deletions, and withholdings by me.)