A Very Brady Return to 1941

Hey!  Happy Sunday.  

A few days ago, we talked about Jan Brady and the fact that we are a little OCD when it comes to certain events.  Well, today we are going to go back to that post and catch up on a few events (or lack thereof).  

First, the Hazel lot was not "scraped," or cleared.  The excuse was a chance of rain and a lack of silt fencing.  Not so sure we buy that one, but the good news is that the lot is supposed to be scraped tomorrow.  We are cool with this and not blowing a head gasket, while we look at each other with tears in our eyes and say, "Hazel, Hazel, Hazel!" Why?  Simply because the permit has yet to be issued.  

So, hey kids!  Want to get into the renovation game?  Just remember what Uncle and Auntie Box Bend say, "The renovation game is a waiting game."  (Why thank you, Capt. & Mrs. Obvious, that was really helpful!)  Seriously, if you are new to the game, what this means is that you have a cashflow issue.  Time truly is money.  And the longer things take the more money it takes to support the effort.  That is why we recommend buying War Bonds and supporting the War Effort.  

What?  

(Sorry.   1941 moment somehow crept into this very early morning Brady blog post.  We are blaming a lack of sleep and John Belushi/Capt. Wild Bill Kelso.)

At any rate, the city is going to do what the city is going to do.  We don't see an issue in getting the permit.  We see an issue in waiting for the permit.  In the meantime, it is a good time to reach out to our Construction Manager and say, "Hey, friend... did you know that the lot wasn't scraped on time?  Sir? Did you?  Did you know that?"  (Hint, hint, nudge, nudge.)   Which we already did.    It is also a good time to count your pennies.  

And that is where we have some good news.  The Moreland project closed Friday morn, and the proceeds have been banked and, most critical of all,  most of the profits have been removed from the table.  

Now don't get us wrong, or even bring us down, Bruce.  (Obscure ELO reference alert!)  We do believe in investing back into the business.  But we believe even more in taking a portion off of the table.  For us that means tithing, savings and taxes.  Uncle Sam is not going to care that things went bad later on.  At least under an LLC structure, they won't.  Instead, they will view the Moreland profit as something akin to a short term capital gain and ask for their pound(s) of flesh.  So, we bank that and wait for the tax man to cometh -on a pale horse... carrying a sword...  

Concerning tithing, charity, church, etc., well now, Nancy, (obscure Ronald Reagan reference alert!) if you can't give any money away, you will truly never be wealthy because you will never have enough.  (Just our way of looking at it.)  

Additionally, you will never, ever, ever infinity be able to diversify into other things unless you have a little cash saved and stashed.  As our father/father-in-law once said, "You've gotta save some of that stuff."  It is either that, or you have a cousin, who knows a guy, who has this thing -and his name is Guido.  (Good luck, pal.)

We also wrote an offer on a house (yesterday) and got out of a bid on a house by the skin of our teeth.  (Whatever that means.  Skin?  On teeth?)  No.  Really.  We made an offer on a tiny, little, wee bit of a bungalow masquerading as "Run-Down-Small-House," (a 2/1), but hiding a pot of opportunity at the end of that peeling paint rainbow.  Or so we think.  Now we wait for the acceptance, counter, or denial of that offer.  

We were also, fortunately, out bid on a different house that we were bidding on.  And, in the process we were taught a very, very, very important lesson about remembering our origins.  That is, when we started out we would always drive by a property before bidding on it.  Since that humble start to our house transformation biz, we have grown complacent.  Our mentality has been that if we buy the place right, then we will be A-Okay no matter what -even if it is a tear down.  Well, not so, friend.  Our preferred realtor (a personal friend) did a drive-by on this auction property for us.  He then did a drive-by-and-stop-and-put-it-in-park-so-that-one-can-fire-off-a-few-shots-with-the-camera.  And what did he spy with his little eye?

Brad Pitt.  

No kidding.  A River Runs Through It.  The backyard had a culvert filled to capacity with a rushing torrent of water, and our Realtor quickly explained things to us in a long-winded text message:  

OMG...nogo...nogo

He then followed it up and ended with this cryptic message:
The house sits alone  on a cul-de-sac of fill dirt piled over the top of an active creek.  One good hurricane away from no Mas Casa.  

We took that to mean that it was bad.  And then, like soooooooooooooooooo very often happens, no one bid on the thing.  We sat there as high bidder thinking, "Woah, woah, Scooby!"  Finally, hours later, someone out bid us.  Maybe they have a new stilt home planned.  We hope so.  

The good thing is that you usually have 2 days to back out of a bad auction deal.  You might lose your deposit ($2,500 in this case), but you can back off -and in a hurry.  But even losing the deposit makes the next transformation that much harder.  "Oh yeah.  I screwed the pooch on that auction.  Deduct $2,500 from my pocket."  That's the equivalent of a used Orange amplifier and a Gibson Les Paul Studio guitar -plus money left over for din-din.  Ouch!

There is a service out there that you can employ if you are completely introverted, don't know anyone, or take to wearing full camo and face paint during the day.  We will see if they are still in business, and/or can find the link and re-post it ---if we can find it.  But basically, these kids drive by any property for you and take a few shots.  For a nominal fee, that is.  And, least we forget, a simple Google Earth moment can put you into power-chord land with your sweet Orange amp head and cab, and the guitar of the day.

No need to get all bunged up like Greg Brady, or Jan Brady, or Capt. Wild Bill, or ELO, or...

​Have a great week! 





​

---