<p>"DStark – At least that didn’t happen while strangers were walking through. Or a week before closing. "</p>
<p>true…</p>
<p>VH, I’ll also be thinking of you; it is good that you are close to exceptional medical care. That is one drawback to my little corner of the world.</p>
<p>Monday’s buyer requested utility usage records and the sellers’ disclosure. He said he will have additional questions, but was tied up with work the remainder of this week. We have someone else coming through tomorrow.</p>
<p>Novelisto, thanks for that tip. I think.</p>
<p>1MoreMom – Better you should know.</p>
<p>That’s exciting about another viewer. Bidding war! Bidding war! Bidding war!</p>
<p>Yeah, right. (From your lips . . .)</p>
<p>VeryHappy - best wishes to your husband.</p>
<p>1more - that’s exciting news! </p>
<p>dstark - remember what Rosanne Rosannadanna said: If it’s not one thing, it’s another thing. I feel your pain. My sprucing up and purging of stuff has gone on for too long! Tell me how you managed to get rid of all your stuff. I’m having separation anxiety :)</p>
<p>VH- You and H are in my thoughts. The house will still be there after the more pressing issues have been addressed,</p>
<p>I am in the mist of the cleaning-out phase prior to putting the house up for sale and I am exhausted. We worked all day for the last three days on the garage and sorting books to keep or donate. </p>
<p>I tossed a 20-year-old book in the give-to-library box last week, and then just by chance, happened to see it listed in a reference book as worth $150. Grabbed it back out of the donation box, checked online rare book site, only one perfect first edition listed: $195. Guess I’ll keep that.</p>
<p>We’ve been in our large house for 20 years and haven’t gotten rid of much. More frequent moves might have been a good idea…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I know, damn it. I wish that weren’t the case!!</p>
<p>Thank you all for your good wishes.</p>
<p>Oh dear!! And I thought I was being reassuring! </p>
<p>But I get it. Really, I do.</p>
<p>Best to you</p>
<p>Oh mafool, you were reassuring. I’m just – overwhelmed right now. My week/two vacation days/weekend/next Monday are not turning out to be anything I thought they would be.</p>
<p>Loss of control is something I’ve never been especially fond of. Sorting through the house gave me the fantasy of control.</p>
<p>that was tongue-in-cheek. Of course you are overwhelmed, damn it (to quote an estimable figure)</p>
<p>RE: pulling out the valuable book. Hey, at least it was small. I am a real history/genealogy buff and several years ago I had a cast iron stove phase. Now I have 3 cast iron parlor stoves, in addition to my cast iron kitchen stove (retrofitted).</p>
<p>I warn you: do <em>not</em> collect cast iron things. They are very heavy and hard to find new owners for them. Regardless, I decided it was time to part with the parlor stoves. Too bad I then went to a reputable dealer site and found out my excellent shape Kalamazoo stove I bought for $40 was retailed for $4000. Yeah, I kept it. Any cast iron fans out there, please pm me :)</p>
<p>That raises the interesting issue of what someone says it is worth vs what you could sell it for without a ton of effort. I’ve been listing a bunch of my antique furniture on Craigslist, and have had to settle for far less than what I “know” the piece is worth. Still, it feels great to get rid of a few things that had begun to feel like an albatross, given their size and bulk. Do I really want to upgrade to a larger storage room just to keep that lovely oak sideboard? Uhh, probably not worth it.</p>
<p>FauxNom – It’s supply and demand. A lot of people are unloading their precious pieces for cash right now as various ‘safety nets’ run out. </p>
<p>Now if anyone has any Chinese antiques (and they don’t have to be all that ‘antique’), that market is apparently going full bore bananas right now as the Chinese citizens have cash burning a hole <em>and</em> a fervent desire to bring national treasures home.</p>
<p>FauxNom…it was easy. I asked people who have worked for me what they wanted and gave it to them. Gave stuff to charity. Bought large garbage bags and threw away almost everything else.</p>
<p>So…my chimney…looks like it is going to be between 3 and 4,000 to fix it and seal it up so it won’t leak.</p>
<p>That gives me about 5 years of no leaks…and then the sealer is applied again for about 800.</p>
<p>I am staying in a hotel for a week why my floors are being worked on.
It’s a 4 room place.
I love it. Very efficient. I am two blocks from a grocery store, restaurants etc. We can walk everywhere. I don’t know why we need a house. The only thing missing is a garage. </p>
<p>My wife has other ideas. ;)</p>
<p>Where is it leaking from? $4K seems like a lot. And any fix should last longer than 5 years.</p>
<p>800 is for sealing. The rest is for power washing… fixing cracks…putting in a new chimney cap…and building something to move the water away from the chimney ( i don’t believe that is a big deal).</p>
<p>I am getting another bid or two.</p>
<p>And this won’t be done before I put the house up for sale so I have to disclose it.</p>
<p>It is leaking from the fireplace openings.</p>
<p>The bricks are saturated and can’t hold anymore water. So water is coming out of the bricks and down into the fireplace. Plus…it was raining sideways so water was getting under the ceiling cap.</p>
<p>I am not the only one with this issue. My next door neighbor has the same issue. I don’t think the potential buyers are going to like this situation though without a plan to fix it.</p>
<p>Ouch. Not a happy thing to have to spend $$$ on at this point in your life.</p>
<p>This has ever happened before? How old is your house?</p>
<p>I don’t know that much about brick, but I do know that if the brick is properly constructed, sealers are unnecessary. There are brick building hundreds of years old, there were no sealers back then!</p>
<p>Masonry is something of a dying art these days. Try to find the oldest guy you can to look at your chimney. IME most of the current generation do not have the experience or training.</p>