Some of you have been checking in on my Son, Gil (AKA Joko) over the last year. He has been teaching English as a second language in Thailand.
I'd like to recommend his latest post about a place called Muang Buran. I think he did a remarkable job on the video. If you go to see it, please tell him Mom sent you!
For those of you who do not generally have the ability to view videos, but are interested in a summary of the experiences of a first year TESL teacher, check out the post just before that one: Reflections on One Year of Teaching. Some of you who are retired teachers will remember those thoughts from your early years! He stuck it out, learned, and wants to continue.
On the Camp Driveway home-front, nothing much is happening. I started looking into planning an RV trip for early this week. We usually go down to dump the tanks on Tuesdays and I thought it would be a good time to just keep going! But then I realized it was President's Day week, and the Olympics are still on. We have been watching them on the computer during the day. Craig got a VPN thru which we can watch the BBC coverage in the UK. It's interesting to watch the coverage from the English point of view instead of the American. We get to hear about athletes who are not from the USA! We are also enjoying listening to the accents and the slang. "Huge! Brilliant! Monstrous! Massive!" Each sport has a different set of superlatives, and all of then are different from ours.
A quick note: Thanks for all the interest and comments on the house sale situation. One commenter reminded us that if we got the payment from the buyer as "rent" it would be taxable as ordinary income. Another mentioned how difficult it can be to collect deposit money if the deal doesn't close. We hope neither of these bit of advice will be needed. The payment mentioned has been contracted as rent to put it outside of the deposit already in escrow. This would be so that if the transaction doesn't close by March 25, this payment could be collected without the hassle of going through escrow. We would still be able to extend his escrow time, or go after the other deposit money if his house closes and he does not complete our deal.
We hope, and are confident, that neither of these situations will occur. We would much rather see our house sale close by March 25 so we can be on our way. If it doesn't and we have to pay taxes on the money, so be it.
All will be well in the long run. We have both settled down into a less stressed waiting mode.
So, visit Gil's blog and leave a comment. He would love to hear from you. (And to members of my family, you do not have to be a blogger to leave a comment, just use the anonymous feature.)
At the Camel Farm, Julian CA
Showing posts with label RENT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RENT. Show all posts
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
I named the tree lady, Trying to get a spot in the Florida Keys, and house sale news
Although fern is a good name for a forest person, it was not quite right for our moss head lady. When I woke up yesterday, I knew her name. Her name is Treesha. When Craig sees or hears some of the creative names the sports figures have, he often says: "Another example of a mother that could not spell when she filled out the birth certificate".
Tuesday was "dump the tanks" day again. We always breathe a sign of relief when we are back home safely. This time, Craig almost forgot to unhook the electric cord. Fortunately we caught the omission before pulling out.
When I read about the bad weather in the East, I am so glad we are here in California. I hope we won't regret leaving. Naah! We will deal with the weather as we come to it.
I have been trying to make reservations at Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida keys for over a month now. Reservations are thru Reserve America, and can be made up to eleven months in advance. They open the reservation window at 8:00 AM EST. every day, for eleven months in the future. That is 5:00 AM here. I have my clock set to go off at 4:55 AM. I get up, go to the Reserve America site and select the appropriate information. If you click on a reservation before 5:00 AM PST, it will tell you to come back at 8:00 am EST. At 4:59 AM there will be several sites open. I sit with my finger over the "book these dates" and hit it as the computer clock hits 5:00 AM. All of the open sites disappear and the message "inventory not available" comes up.
We do have a reservation at Long Key State Park for November 29 - Dec 13, and at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park for Dec 14 - Dec 28, but I really want to get a few weeks at Bahia Honda.
Right now I'm not worried about where we will be between Dec. 28 and whenever we get into Bahia Honda. I'll work that out!
Perhaps tomorrow morning at 4:55 AM I'll try calling. Can't be any less successful than I have been so far!
I've been thinking about trying to get a reservation at the Everglades National Park, but their reservation window doesn't open until June. I wonder if I will be any more successful trying to get a spot there!
The process of selling our house has taken an interesting turn. First off, the buyer's buyer has a signed offer from his back-up buyer for the commercial property at the other end of the chain. This is good. But it also means a big delay in the entire closing schedule since it is like starting all over.
It appears that the buyer's buyer's first buyer that pulled out of the deal paid a substantial penalty fee.
We only her about this as "scuttlebutt" and not in any official format. We do know that our buyer's buyer paid our buyer and his soon-to-be ex-wife a penalty fee of $26,000.
Our buyer first offered to "release" $10,000 from his escrowed deposit to us if we extended his closing deadline to March 25.
We read this as giving us our own money early, and the title company said it was not legal to do it that way because his deposit was tied to a damages clause and we would have to prove damages to get the money. Possibly in court.
I'm thinking he needs the $13,000 (his half) to cover his current mortgage expenses, and an extension fee for the lock on his loan.
Craig and I decided we did not need access to the $10,000 at this point, but if we lost the closure of our property we would want to claim it, plus a bit more to cover putting the house back on the market. We might need to rent furniture to stage it!
Our realtor and our realtor's legal department came up with a very clever, legal solution. We extended the escrow, but if it does not close on or before March 25, our buyer has agreed to pay us $13,000 as RENT for the storage space in the garage and house.
He cannot move in himself, this is just for his stuff.
This gives us a big leverage to encourage closure by that date, which is what we want more than the money.
So either the deal on the house will be closed, or we will have $13,000.
The ball is in his court now. Or possibly in his buyer's. But at least we are not stressing out about it.
Another couple was here this afternoon looking at the outside of the house. They had seen the sign.
Spring is almost here and I'm sure if this all goes away, we will still be OK.
Tuesday was "dump the tanks" day again. We always breathe a sign of relief when we are back home safely. This time, Craig almost forgot to unhook the electric cord. Fortunately we caught the omission before pulling out.
When I read about the bad weather in the East, I am so glad we are here in California. I hope we won't regret leaving. Naah! We will deal with the weather as we come to it.
I have been trying to make reservations at Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida keys for over a month now. Reservations are thru Reserve America, and can be made up to eleven months in advance. They open the reservation window at 8:00 AM EST. every day, for eleven months in the future. That is 5:00 AM here. I have my clock set to go off at 4:55 AM. I get up, go to the Reserve America site and select the appropriate information. If you click on a reservation before 5:00 AM PST, it will tell you to come back at 8:00 am EST. At 4:59 AM there will be several sites open. I sit with my finger over the "book these dates" and hit it as the computer clock hits 5:00 AM. All of the open sites disappear and the message "inventory not available" comes up.
We do have a reservation at Long Key State Park for November 29 - Dec 13, and at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park for Dec 14 - Dec 28, but I really want to get a few weeks at Bahia Honda.
Right now I'm not worried about where we will be between Dec. 28 and whenever we get into Bahia Honda. I'll work that out!
Perhaps tomorrow morning at 4:55 AM I'll try calling. Can't be any less successful than I have been so far!
I've been thinking about trying to get a reservation at the Everglades National Park, but their reservation window doesn't open until June. I wonder if I will be any more successful trying to get a spot there!
The process of selling our house has taken an interesting turn. First off, the buyer's buyer has a signed offer from his back-up buyer for the commercial property at the other end of the chain. This is good. But it also means a big delay in the entire closing schedule since it is like starting all over.
We only her about this as "scuttlebutt" and not in any official format. We do know that our buyer's buyer paid our buyer and his soon-to-be ex-wife a penalty fee of $26,000.
Our buyer first offered to "release" $10,000 from his escrowed deposit to us if we extended his closing deadline to March 25.
We read this as giving us our own money early, and the title company said it was not legal to do it that way because his deposit was tied to a damages clause and we would have to prove damages to get the money. Possibly in court.
I'm thinking he needs the $13,000 (his half) to cover his current mortgage expenses, and an extension fee for the lock on his loan.
Craig and I decided we did not need access to the $10,000 at this point, but if we lost the closure of our property we would want to claim it, plus a bit more to cover putting the house back on the market. We might need to rent furniture to stage it!
Our realtor and our realtor's legal department came up with a very clever, legal solution. We extended the escrow, but if it does not close on or before March 25, our buyer has agreed to pay us $13,000 as RENT for the storage space in the garage and house.
He cannot move in himself, this is just for his stuff.
This gives us a big leverage to encourage closure by that date, which is what we want more than the money.
So either the deal on the house will be closed, or we will have $13,000.
The ball is in his court now. Or possibly in his buyer's. But at least we are not stressing out about it.
Another couple was here this afternoon looking at the outside of the house. They had seen the sign.
Spring is almost here and I'm sure if this all goes away, we will still be OK.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)