So... Part 2

[southbiochem]

I have until spring - when that is exactly I don't know Around here in Mirkwood, spring is February, other parts of the world its March or April

Try September-October :tongue:

It is adobe (mud brick mixed with asphalt). Its electrical systems fall just a wee short of being up to code as in the last electrician said that he will over look it this time, but next time he must report it. Its plumbing is shot, no Insurance company in California will insure it due to its inability to withstand an earthquake. No fire coverage will ever cover the value of the house as the Spanish tile inside is irreplaceable. full of lead, but still irreplaceable. Asbestos, mold mildew, water damage, the unusable fireplaces (do to cracks in the brickwork)l

I know what adobe is, thank you very much, it's still prevalent over here in the old part of towns and the country...they're slowly beggining to dissapear cause you know, every 10 years or so we get a massive earthquake that takes them down one by one..

ok, so, burn the shit down....

no, seriously...stay, don't stay, whatever..

all I'm saying is take care of not ending up in the streets...lovely as the weather in Cali maybe..

Shitty shaft and all, it's still a place you can live in the meantime..

no one is suggesting you become a vulture, but Tinkles is right..you need to look after yourself, sir...

[partis]

You have 3 or 4 months with pay, maybe you could buy the property yourself ? Is that possible, as it is a grey garden ?

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Um me buy this place. Look I was born at night but I wasn't born last night.

I'm a handy person and while I can see the potential in almost any abandoned, condemned structure I know that ultimately the main house has got go. The gable wall is splitting as the roof pushes the tops of the side walls slowly apart. All the plumbing, inside and out is old, in order to keep the shower working we have to have the plumber come in and he has to snake the shower line due to the build up of sand, mineral deposits, corrosion.

He let the roof leak for ten years. The pantry ceiling which was cedar wood or red wood is now rot, old mold and I don't what to know. I saw the house with roof off, they didn't bother with the squirrel or raccoon's nests (plural) when they replaced joists and rafters and then sheathed it all with OSB.

The beams in the Living room are about 4 inches lower than they were when installed - oh yeah and they have pulled away from the roof/ceiling structure. and are pulling the ceiling down a little.

Carport roof, leaks and rotted out. When I clean it off I have to be very very careful of where I step or I might end up on a car. the well pump is finicky, but can't be replaced by new laws which insist that if your well goes out you have to hook up to the city to the tune of 20,000 just to run the line from the middle of the street to the property line - that doesn't include from the street down the 250' of driveway to the house.

This applies to the septic system. While I got the leech line guys to do us a solid and install new leech lines a few years ago, the reality is that by law the house should have been hooked up to the new sewers they installed oh 12 years ago.

Lead - lead pipes, lead paint, lead floor tile, lead wall tile. Asbestos, around some pipes, and the floor in the laundry room is an asbestos based product. It is possible that the attic insulation may have asbestos in it (installed 1939-1940). It has squirrel and raccoons nests along with the debris of decades of occupation by small mammals. They don't eat much, and they stay in the attic - thus they were not a 'problem' in Bob's mind.

All three fireplaces are useless, all are compromised and not safe for fires. All of the electrical wiring needs to be replaced. There are currently 4 circuit breaker panels and two fuse boxes.

oh and the edge at the back of the property is being eaten away by the river. The North east corner of the dining room used to be 20 feet away from the bank when the house was built. its now 8 feet from the bank.

Exterior, the fences are resting on the ground - most of the posts are termite eaten. Many of the posts I have driven iron wire fence posts into the ground to strap the fence up.

All 13 of the water faucets around the property need to be replaced, the line that feeds them all is at the point where it is breaking and I have spliced, and spliced and spliced some-more.

The Pool may look nice, but three of its 4 exit jets are clogged, now its intake from the skimmer is clogged. The retaining wall that holds the 3 feet high earth at the front/back of the carport is completely rotted out and I have to shovel up sand and throw it back on top in a slowly losing battle. Think hour glass that counts off the hours faster and faster as time moves on.

Carport floor, concrete, so cracked and broken and heaving from the Oak tree to the West and sinking into the land fill at the east that the whole thing should be ripped out and a new one poured.

Two ancient gas lamps that still hooked up to live gas lines. Their glass globes smashed in the last century even before I moved in. the only think keeping the gas from flowing is brass shut offs at the top of the lamps which were not designed to sit in weather for two decades outside of their protective globes.

Trailer (where I live) termite eaten, the bow starboard side is hanging on a wing and a prayer and the aluminum siding. Her axle broke as they placed her here. Underneat the vinyl flooring there is asbestos laced lino. so having the breakers come out to break it up to remove it (they can't tow it out) would require hazmat to deal with that.

What we have here is a what he calls inertia - everything is going perpetually toward chaos - oh what ain't that entropy?

Buy it? No - I know this property a little too well, I like construction and fix it projects, but this is beyond a mere fix it project.

[MisterTinkles]

Time to do what exactly?

Sink to their level and become a vulture myself? learn them a lesson they will soon forget, or worse, given yet more demonstrable proof that there is no humanity and compassion in the world and everyone is out for money?

Yes I know, I will finish last. I'm one of the nice guys, nice guys always finish last.

They will pay $240 a week for my services. yes yes, I am well aware that is way under the 300 I asked for which is way under the 400-500 that is commonly paid for this service. I know this. Starting now and going to the end of march that is 3840.00 - I guess I need to plan my moving expenses to be oh about $3840.00

What is the ultimate price in fighting them on this? Bob dies a bit sooner from the stress? I get what a couple grand more?

What value is life to a human being - just a moment of life, not a whole life? A hundred, ten, a thousand - Sorry I don't know the going exchange rate on time.

Technically, or maybe I'm totally wrong on this, but when a person volunteers to help out temporarily one offers something for that help as gratitude. That is how I play this sort of game. My having to wait 168 days and then ask for payment seems a bit way off the course of human social politeness for 'helping out'. If they are too blind, deaf, dumb or greedy to even think along those lines then what more should I really expect other than the bare minimum and a boot to the rear soonest?

Well, no.........you arent becoming a vulture, you are just asking for a rightful share for all the work you have done, all the money you have spent, all the time it has taken out of your life, and for all the stress and anxiety you have had to go through in order to keep someone else's property, life, and home from crumbling down on them.
That is not being a vulture. You arent waiting for this man to die. If you were, you would have just let him drown in his own crap a long time ago.

Nice guys DO get fucked over, taken advantage of, and used and abused. But if YOU dont fight for YOU, then nobody else is going too.....and everybody else is going to see you as a doormat and the lines of shitbags walking all over you will keep getting longer.

I used to be a "nice guy" and just blindly do stuff for people, because thats how my granny raised me. But then after years of giving and helping, and never getting any in return when I needed it.......it hit me like a brick wall at 60mph, I was being used and abused. So I stopped. Now I either get paid, or if I do it for free, its because I WANT too, not because you EXPECT it from me. And I only help people who I KNOW will appreciate it, whether they pay or not.

I understand, for you, money is not the "game", but you have put in too much of yourself to end up being abused and fucked over, just to have your home sold out from under you, with no place to go, and no money to go somewhere else.

As Charlie Brown has stated a few times, "I don't ask for much, but my fair share".

Ok Charlie Brown......you need to ask for your fair share. And unfortunately in California, the ONLY way to get your fair share of anything is to get a lawyer.

And if you have to end up wearing a cat costume and scratching at my front door.......so be it. I will keep a saucer of milk out for you.