Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[RainMom]

At our new (old?) place, it's hard to beleive no one ever planted blueberries of fruit trees in 50 years!. There's one old apple tree behind our garage, and that's it. There's some challenges getting full sun in some areas, but removal of a evergreen tree here and there could fix that. We bought some raspberries and blueberries and put them in the ground, and need another gazillion more. The list of things that need done to make this in to a "home sweet home" is a mile long here- I am sure many can relate!

 

[Slinglings]

[COLOR=800000]Oh, I whole-heartedly agree. We got screwed over on the inspection on our house- the insectors passed off so many things it's nto funny. We found mold in the laundry room, found water leaks under the house, had electrical problems, plumbing problems, etc, etc- and one of our 3 toilets doesn't flush. There's nothing like "saving" $50K on your 30 year mortgage, and getting so excited you got a bargain------- only to have to find that money out of your paycheck- when it's a 9-1-1  emergency because somethign broke. DH just replumbed 100 foot of drain line here- in 25 degree weather!  We still love our house and we truly did buy way lower than this place would have been sold for normally, but we could have got the price down another $20K had we had a GOOD inspection team. The lazy jerks that inspected this place never crawled under the house- and this is a 50+ year old house. We should have spent the extra $450 and got a GOOD inspector.[/COLOR] [COLOR=FF0000]Ask a realtor for a referral to a man-eatin' inspector![/COLOR]

They will NEVER give you that information, it goes against what they are trying to accomplish -- the sale.  Sorry. 

Totally agree..don't have time to go into it now, but don't take an inspector referral from someone who is trying to sell you a house! They want to sell you a house and the inspector wants to keep getting referrals. It will not be an unbiased inspection.

 

[hallerlake]

FM. Disclaimer. Not an inspector. I have just witnessed over the years problems inspectors have missed.

Obtain an inspection no matter if you buying a 5 year old or a 100 year old home.
This is the step most people either don't do when buying a home or they get just anyone to inspect it because down deep in their heart all they can see is the house and all the plans for it.
Being in construction for over 30 years I've seen many money pits that have totally destroy people's lives. It is very sad.

It is so important to get a REAL INSPECTOR!

Ask to see his reports on other homes.

Examine them so you can see is he checking everything out?
How well is he describing the problems?

Ask him if he goes under the crawl space or is he just shining a light down it?

Ask his experience on older homes.

Last question is............ and when you ask this........................ make sure you watch his face and body language................... do you mind if we follow you around while you do the inspection?

I have no problem people watching me work.
It's their money and they deserve to see what they are paying for.

Notice I put we in bold?

That is because two people listening to what he says about the biggest investment of your life is much better then just one.
Two people will catch more.
Video tape the inspection so there is no doubt you understand what he is talking about.

Then, based on the inspection report, if you still want the house, you just got new cards to bring to the sales price negotiation table in your favor to either get problems fixed now, or compensated to repair later.

This step is sooooooooooooooooooooo important yet soooooooooooooooooooooooooo many people don't take the time to do it right because all they have is the lust for the home in their eyes.

We all been there.
Just like buying a used car not taking it to a mechanic big mistake.

May I add one more caveat? Be aware that the old parts of the house may have old plumbing and wiring. When we bought our 1916 house, most of the insurance companies wanted us to replace all the plumbing and wiring within six months. You can't get a mortgage without insurance. We only found one company willing to insure our knob and tubing wiring.

Make that two caveats. Make sure you understand every word of your contract, especially regarding things like easements. Better yet have a real estate attorney look it over. A real estate attorney would have saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars. Don't trust Form 17. It means nothing in a lawsuit.

 

[Sweetlilbaby]

I am cursed!! I haven't been able to sleep because of pain. I finally wasn't in as much pain today, took a vicoden then went to bed. As soon as I fall asleep my niece runs in with vomit dripping off her clothes saying "i accidentally throwed up" she felt bad cause i said a bad word really loud out of being tired. Plus she didn't just puke.... She said she sat up in the bed and puked is all. It was on the bed and all the way across the room covering the whole floor.
She has a sinus infection and i googled her antibiotics she's on for that to see if maybe she's taking to much of it or something.... Side effects are fever, chills, vomiting........ Pretty much her antibiotics give her flu like symptoms. This sucks. Now she's up for me to watch her for a bit and let her stomach settle and let her floor dry some. I ended up using almost a whole bottle of vinegar on it to get rid of the vomit smell.

Why do kids wait til you fall asleep to do this? Why couldn't she puke at 9 or 10? Why 1 in the morning?

 

[mikeyb]

Quote: Hey, I forgot to tell all of you I was originally owned by robj, a super cool guy himself with a gorgeous young daughter Mikayla (sp?)

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Quote: They are fairly new to the USA. They are Cream Crested Legbars. They lay a sky blue egg. And they are not cheap

Travis - I agree. The chicken math is out of control. and DH isn't even mad, which makes it that much worse!

I do plan to give the next broody some white egg laying chicks. I'm also not keeping all of my full grown hens or my chicks, once they're feathered and I know who I want to keep. I even have a friend who's already offered to take any almost full grown girls that I don't want (and she'll buy them; they want more layers but she doesn't want to do the work).

Nice. I may be in trouble myself soon, especially when my DW finds out what I am spending on the 4-5 chicks I am getting. I am not saying how much, but lets say it is more than I paid for the other 12 birds I paid for in my flock. But soooo worth it. These are quality rare birds that lay sky blue eggs

 

[robj]

congrats Rob!
How old are the Maran hens?

Thanks. We picked them up in July as chicks.

 

[TacomaFarms]

Quote:

Well when the rooster crows... hehe!
I have to say though... I would give anything to be able to stay home with my baby everyday. She'd get sick of me though!

 

[TacomaFarms]

**chirp chirp, chirp chirp** I feel so alone... haha!

This is my busiest week at work and also my busiest week at home. Someone please check on my on Saturday or Sunday to make sure I'm still alive! This weekend I have to plant all my indoor starts, and lockdown for the bator-eggs on Friday!!! WAHOOO!!!

When I go into lockdown, I just add the water and leave it alone, like, "no touchie!" What am I gonna do!? I will stare at it all day I'm sure. So I did notice that my air cell hasn't gotten much bigger in the eggs, is that going to be a problem? I only added water the first couple days until I realized it hadn't changed on most of the eggs. Also, I have a few that quit early on, do I take them out?

 

[Breshcandra]

Yes take out any that quite. Then add the water. It sounds like you did the dry incubate method. Which is what I do. No water till lock down. Good luck can't wait to see pictures.