Birthday candles.
Don really had a great day – he had calls from friends and family, a friend stopped by with a box of goodies from his vegetable garden, Rick and Doug stopped by for a few minutes with a birthday card, lots of birthday greetings on Facebook and on IG and this blog. He decided that he wanted a birthday pie, so he made one in the afternoon. I made sugar-free chocolate chip cookies the night before – a test run. (We call them Scookies, as they have a consistency that is more like a scone…Don loves them.) We had dinner, then it was time for presents and a round of Happy Birthday with candles to blow out.
We also had a great chat with the other birthday boy, Little Z, who turned 10 years old. Don got a birthday kiss via FaceTime, as did Z.
All in all, a lovely day celebrating a great guy.
We’re tired today. All the energy that goes into celebrating all day long – it’s wonderful – but I’m wiped out the next day! And we have our first visit/service call in over a year on the docket this afternoon. Our alarm service is upgrading something or other and they have to come to the house to do it. We put it off for a long time, waiting until we were fully vaccinated.
The other day, I went to Target for the first time since before the pandemic. Another first since being vaccinated. I still wear a mask when I’m in a store. Many people were also wearing masks, but there were also many without masks. No confrontations, no people asking why you’re still wearing a mask. That seems to be a non-issue around here – at least, so far.
I haven’t painted in a few days and I hope to get back to it today. I also have a lot of weeding to do – all that rain resulted in an overgrown garden.
Here’s a question for you. Yesterday, I noticed this car in front of the house and the driver was clearly taking pictures. I got up and went on the porch to give him the ‘evil eye.’ He kept on taking them, from across the street and from the next door neighbor’s driveway. Don, hearing what was going on, came out and joined me. The driver eventually pulled in our driveway to let us know he was a real estate appraiser taking pictures for a local bank. I said they didn’t have permission to do that. He said if we had an issue, we should contact the bank. Don countered with a ‘No, you tell them we have an issue.’ It’s not illegal, of course, and the guy was perfectly nice, but what the heck? We have nothing to do with that bank. We have no accounts there. Our mortgage is not with them. Why would they be taking the pictures of our house? The only thing we could come up with is that the real estate frenzy that is everywhere right now, including here, with lots of people moving upstate and paying big bucks for houses, is resulting in offers to sell your house if you want to put it on the market. Maybe it has something to do with that? We bought our house too long ago for it to be a ‘comp.’ The guy wasn’t taking pictures of any other houses on our street (at least, not that I know of) just ours. Or maybe they want to get our business through an offer to refinance?
Any ideas?
Somewhat disconcerting, though Don (from a family that works in real estate) seemed to think it wasn’t a big deal.
Hmmm.
Thank you for all the birthday greetings for Don! He’s going to read them later today.
Stay safe.
Happy Friday.
An ordinary mistake on the part of the photographer (taking pictures of the wrong house)?
Or your mortgage is part of a parcel of mortgages your bank wants to lay off?
I’d call that bank, just to be sure, and tell them that you’re not amused.
I contacted the bank’s headquarters via a direct message on twitter and it’s being looked into.
Stay safe, Petra!
glad don and little z had nice birthdays!
birthdays are extra-special and hopefully extra-fun, but can still be exhausting so good if you both have an easier day today.
about the guy taking photos of your home … no ideas why except those you mentioned. i think i’d have gone out there and asked for a business card, taken photos of him and his car to let him know how it feels … kind of unsettling (to me).
hope you can get back to painting soon … you’re doing such beautiful work! think i mentioned “portrait artist of the year” here before … a wonderful, gentle-seeming competition of painters, sketchers, etc. they, of course, paint portraits, not pottery or cats, etc., but it is so much fun and inspiring to watch and hear about their processes and styles. there is also a “landscape” version of this show. haven’t found all years or episodes, but found a lot on youtube courtesy of cherzo and reel time productions. these are british shows from sky tv or sky arts productions … something i’d like to get on dvds (but they aren’t available here). anyway, from one painter to another, i hope you’ll give them a peek and enjoy them.
happy friday and stay safe !
kathy in iowa
I contacted the bank via a Direct Message on twitter and they’ve promised to look into it.
Appreciate the info on the competition, Kathy!
Stay safe.
Probably just using your property for a comparable for appraisal of another , either pending sale or possible refinance. Typically appraisals for either purpose require three minimum comps to help determine fair market value, although most comps, must also have been sold w/in the most recent 12-mo. period. Then again, this ridiculously over-inflated real estate market does require appraisers to somehow make magic, with tremendous pressure from realtors, buyers and sellers. We will experience another housing bubble that by all accounts, will well surpass that of 08-09 based on even more extreme, overinflated selling prices. And worse, local county governments are salivating at the mouth, looking forward to their next tri-annual or standard 6 or 7-year reappraisal. Watch your real estate taxes sky rocket at that time folks. Oy.
Yes my husband will retire in Sept and we are pretty sure with this real estate frenzy the taxes will be going up again. We finally have our house paid but there are still taxes and always home maintenance. I would call the bank anyway it can’t hurt.
We were just assessed a year or so ago, so it will be a while until we come up against that.
I have a feeling it’s more to do with the current crazy market. We have lived here for almost 16 years, so I can’t imagine we’re a comp.
Stay safe, Chris!
100% on all of this. I used to work for our county government assessment’s office.
I’ve also appealed our own property assessment twice. I used comps and went around my neighborhood taking photos of similar houses.
Think you got it right as well.
I’m not sure what to think about your experience with the picture-taker. I don’t know much about the real estate business. I don’t understand why a bank is involved either, or why just your house??? The other day I noticed a car parked on the side of the road across from our driveway. I have no idea what they were doing, and they left after a few minutes. I want to think they had to stop to answer their phone or get a babie’s pacifier off the floor, or something.
Granddaughter update: they spent hours in ER yesterday. Verdict after a head CT, lots of blood work, another covid test, and a lumbar puncture is viral meningitis. Not much treatment for it beyond what we’ve been doing…it should run its course. They were pretty confident it isn’t covid. I guess we take it one day at a time and hopefully this will resolve soon.
I’m glad Don had a good birthday. Have a relaxing day today.
Stay safe
Banks have real estate departments and they work with realtors.
Well, now you know what is causing this and your granddaughter is on the road to recovery, Marilyn. I know that’s a small comfort, but now you can move forward.
Stay safe.
Well, Marilyn, an answer, though. Whew. I remember when a high school friend of mine’s mother had bacterial meningitis. I don’t know how they think she got it; her immune system might have been weak or maybe some other medical problem; when she was in her 20s, I know she had gotten polio (and recovered spectacularly) as a young mom. Anyway, her bout with the bacterial (not virus/viral) form of meningitis was a long time ago now; definitely serious, and she was in the hospital; but, today, she is thriving at age 94. All best wishes to your granddaughter for a speedy recovery!
Thank you Vickie. Bacterial meningitis is much more deadly than viral so that is a relief.
Finally a diagnosis. So glad of that. Your granddaughter has been on my mind a lot since I’m a born worrier. May she come out of it quickly. Will continue prayers for the swift passage to good health.
Thank you Martha. I’m a worrier too. Your prayers are appreciated.
hej, marilyn …
glad you all have answers and that time and treatments will help your granddaughter.
will keep praying!
hope you have a nice, easy weekend.
and you stay well, too.
kathy in iowa
I suspect the fella photographing your property has something to do with the unsolicited offers many, many folks are receiving from real estate companies and mortgage lenders across the country. Each time I receive one of those offers I call the number listed in the letter/postcard and firmly inform them I am NOT interested in selling my home and to remove me from their mailing list. I’ve also received unsolicited offers by phone… again, I firmly inform them I am NOT interested in selling my home and request that they add me to their Do-Not-Call list.
The real estate division of banks work hand-in-glove with many realty companies… banks are in the business to make money as my father (a banker for 40+ years) said many, many times. I’ve queried a number of friends & family members across the country, and the trend seems to be that only those of us a bit older (60+) are receiving the bulk of these so-called offers. Interesting, eh?
Glad Don had such a wonderful birthday!
Stay safe & well.
I suspect the same thing. Interesting about 60+ getting the bulk of those offers!
I contacted the bank via twitter so I hope we’ll figure this out.
Much appreciated, Amy!
Stay safe!
Too true, Amy.
DOUbt banks or real estate agents would do that
Sounds weird to me
I would not like that
Every time I go to fewer about recall on car…they r really upsetting me..they want to buy my car
Can’t get parts to build new ones easily
As to the picture person who knows where the pictures end up
Sorry
As an educator we were warned about so much
Yes, they do do that.
Brenda, you do know that everyone’s house is now on the internet thanks to Google and Google Earth?
there are already pictures of my house on the internet because of my blog – I posted them.
I’m curious and I’ve contacted the bank, but I refuse to dwell in fear and negativity.
Stay safe.
Did you know you can block out the photo of your house on Google? I don’t remember how I did it…but I did! Read about it somewhere, so I’m sure you could find out how by just a Google search.
I’ll look into that, Melanie!
Thanks so much.
Stay safe.
Yes
I live in condo development now
However I would be upset if someone isn’t sat there and took pictures and posted them
Casing the area
Hope you find out something
Hardly ‘casing the area’ when he actually drove up our driveway to tell us who he was.
Let’s move on.
Aww Happy Birthday to your Hubby! One day I arrived home from work and a guy on a motorcycle pulled into my driveway telling me he wanted to buy my house. I said it’s not for sale. He said check Zillow and claim ownership of your home and mark it not for sale. So I did. My only experience near what you experienced. However, he wasn’t taking photos. Hope you get it sorted out.
xo Mo Nigro
I contacted the bank and hope to hear from them.
Interesting about Zillow.
Stay safe, Mo.
Yeah it is probably comps for an appraisal for another house and company. Where we live insurance companies come by and take pictures of your house. In California houses get their insurance canceled all the time due to fires. Then they come out and take a picture of your house to see how fire safe it is.You can’t sweat the small stuff because your house is on Google Earth anyhow.
Except that we bought it 16 years ago – seems too long ago for a comp.
Yeah, I know it’s on Google Earth. I was trying to explain that to another commenter.
Stay save, Janet.
Well, I would definitely think it was a big deal and I would totally be confronting somebody if they were doing that obviously at MY house. I suppose it has happened and I was unaware, since I don’t spend a whole lot of time in my front yard. (We had a fire on the dry/weedy riverbank yesterday afternoon and I was clueless since I was staying indoors due to heat; this was on the other side of the freeway but totally at the end of my cross street!!)
What I can tell you is that solicitations in the mail inviting us to sell our house have increased enormously in the last six weeks; postcards and letters from realtors we’ve never heard of; and I imagine that could account, too, for an escalating number of robo calls that still come through on our unlisted (what a joke) phone number/landline.
Don’t you just hate that kind of thing needling at your brain?! Yesterday I had a guy at my front porch with a clipboard (the dinner hour) and I could see how he craned his neck to write down our house number. My husband wasn’t home; I wasn’t going to open the door; not interested in what he was inquiring of, or selling. Of course the dog was barking like mad on the other side of the door. What was unnerving was that the dude just wouldn’t leave. He stood there FOREVER. After he (finally) left, I looked to see if he’d left a note or door-knocker thing; but, nothing. We’ve escaped door-to-door sellers and others (such as religious organizations) for a long time due to the pandemic but I guess it’s starting up again. They get a lot of bang for their buck as I live in a tight neighborhood circle of closely-spaced houses numbering 50. These types of people can cover a lot of ground in a short space of time in one location.
Yes, the wild real estate market. Our friend just sold his house virtually. I’d never do it, but he did. It was all done online. He just walked them thru the house and yard with his phone. Somebody was hired at one point to look at the perimeter but he never saw them or interacted with them. He got SO much money over what would have been his asking price. And he didn’t have to do anything. No For Sale sign on the lawn. Not in the realtor listings. No “Open House” to have to deal with. No buyer demands to repair this or that before sale. Couldn’t have been easier. A completely hassle-free/contactless sale of the house he’s lived in for over 30 years which, by the way, needs a ton of work although it’s in the best neighborhood of my town (4 bed/3 bath custom-built home in the 80s, 2500 sqft on 3 levels, hillside/valley views). My question is, who are these people doing this sort of thing … buying up houses across America? Who’s the money behind that sort of buyer transaction? Could they even be from outside of the U.S.?
I wonder. Why would someone buy a house without having seen it in person and agree to ‘as is?’ It’s mind boggling.
Don and I briefly had a fantasy about someone offering us lots of money for our house – enough to pay off the mortgage and bank the rest. But that’s just fantasy…
Are the same people buying up Manhattan real estate?
Stay safe, Vicki.
Well, what I’ve imagined will happen is that whatever/whomever this company is who buys out a homeowner like our friend, will flip it; at least do the cosmetic work like exterior painting, make it look ‘pretty’ and then they’re probably in the business of re-selling the property to an individual buyer in a quick turnaround. We have groups of people in my town doing this even now, especially the entrepreneurial guys who know how to do the necessary labor of remodeling, like they’ll work tirelessly all weekend (and evenings after their already-long workdays of their dayside/’regular’ jobs), to gut a cheap, old house they’ve bought, of its aged bathrooms/kitchens; put in new floors, replace windows, maybe a roof (they usually don’t do much to the yards, leaving that large task to the buyer). Sure, they invest a good chunk of money; but, then, on resale with an improved property, they make a killing/profit in this crazy real estate market.
But I agree with what reader Chris was saying: This bubble is going to burst. And it’s gonna get ugly.
What I worry about too in these ‘flips’ is what’s underneath so to speak; what about the wiring of old houses? What about the foundations? What about the entirety of its plumbing? Have the flippers brought in a chimney sweep; does the unsuspecting buyer/next buyer even KNOW if the fireplace they see is functional and safe, or does that buyer then get a big, unpleasant surprise after the flipper is long gone?
I guess because I’ve been-there-done-that with an old cottage built in 1923, a licensed contractor on hire by us for months, I full-well know what you can start to uncover in an old property; just layer after layer of issues. We renovated because we thought it was our forever home and we didn’t leave stones unturned; however, in one of these fast ‘flips’, you know they’re not doing that; they have no emotional investment in the property, only how they can make it presentable for sale to somebody else. I worry they cover up too much stuff; and, believe me, home appraisers/home inspectors often miss things (my husband’s and my first fixer-upper [gosh, over 30 yrs ago] had a cracked slab foundation and the inspector sure missed THAT one; we were homeowner novices, so there was no way we could’ve known; we newlyweds had both come from pier & beam/raised foundation, single-family dwellings).
Our former neighbor (house before the one we’re in now) has put up their house for sale as of two days ago. It will sell in a nanosecond, because they all are! Plain house; built in 1947; just a bath and a half with three small bedrooms (1200 sqft home); corner house on the hill with detached garage. Neat as a pin, though; clean as a whistle; home has always been maintained for as long as I can recall (and I’ve been in this town most of my life; mostly here than not). I remember when they bought it; was a dozen years ago. They got it for $350,000 and, get this, their asking price is $640,000, and all I can see that they might have done since 2009 is upgrade the tiny kitchen somewhat. At the time, they’d wanted turnkey, move-in ready, wanted nothing to do with home maintenance or improvement. It was just a place to live, not fall in love with. They really haven’t changed it at all, so it’s not that the house has had some huge overhaul to warrant the high asking price; it’s simply the out-of-control high home values in this market, and we’re also short on inventory (so, there’s demand). But think of that profit, because they might even get over their asking price in this nutzo market. They’re right at retirement age now, are probably moving out of state with the exodus of other Southern Californians, will still be able (maybe) to invest in a home that’s less expensive and pocket the rest of the money for old age from that mega profit on their Calif home. Their timing is spot on. It’s all in the timing when it comes to buying/selling. And a good future plan for oneself.
Even if it’s flipped, it still has to pass a house inspection, where most, if not all, of those concerns would be addressed. Our house was flipped. The wiring was redone, the plumbing, as well, structurally it was sound. Where I found issues – later – were in things like a molding trim not being fully painted, a bit of baseboard not nailed to the wall, etc. One coat of paint sprayed on the walls in every room. Things like that.
Our neighbors down the street are selling their home – they’re divorcing – and it’s relatively new. Built by them, up on a hill with a couple of acres – about the same acreage as we have. They have a big garage as he’s an electrical contractor. It’s been priced at $750,000. I’m sure the interior is lovely, but oh my heavens! That’s the kind of crazy going on here. The guy who bought our house in 2001 after it had been flipped, got it for a song. Four years later, we paid much more than he did, and now? Who knows what it would go for?
xo
I missed the day! I thought today was Don’s birthday. Happy Birthday a day late!
My husband was an insurance adjuster for two years while we were saving money for him to attend law school. As part of his job, he had to take photos of homes used by the insurance companies his firm represented to determined if they were in good maintenance and warranted their insurance amount. He used to do his on evening or weekend hours, his off time, and I would sometimes ride in the car with him as it wasn’t “paid” time. He always had his business cards ready to hand over to anyone who happened to be home and inquired why he was parked in front of his house and explained cheerfully what he was doing. That doesn’t sound like what this guy was doing, does it?
No, he said he was a real estate appraiser working for a bank.
Hopefully, I’ll find out more.
Thanks, Linda.
Stay safe!
Sounds like a lovely Birthday Day! I find any day with lots of activity just wears me out these days. Aw getting older. I still wear a mask and so far don’t get many looks. I would say as the summer goes on it’s become more like 2/3 no mask 1/3 mask. Happy Weekend.
I just read a warning from WHO recommending that, due to the Delta variant spreading, those who are fully vaccinated should still wear a mask in public.
Stay safe, Linda.
Happy birthday to your hubby.
We had someone wanting to take pictures of our house once but they called first.
Have a super weekend.
HUGS and Blessings
Much appreciated, Kim.
Stay safe.
I’m so glad Don had a great day! One should on their birthday and Iknow you made it extra special.
Someone just posted this same thing on our neighborhood FB page. Lots of ideas but no answers — some related to insurance; someone said, “Maybe it was for neighborhood appraisal” purposes, someone offered the idea that it could be a former owner who was in town (or someone’s grandchildren who used to live in the house.
Go figure…
He identified himself as a real estate appraiser working for a local bank.
A bank, by the way, the we have absolutely no interactions with.
Ah well. I’m letting it go.
Stay safe, Jeanie.