Sell in May and go away!

 This whole economy thing is wild, isn't it? 

So many complaints that things were horrid under the last leadership--and now? 

I have to fess up. We made tons of money between 08 and 12 and just got out. Well, not completely, but enough to help me sleep. Yes, we missed this run up. My friend reported a 20% rise in her portfolio. We built a house instead. My tummy could not do it any more. 

We are well aware that corrections correct themselves. But once we decided that our need for growth was translated to ulcers, we just were done. We just could not find a good company that did not use the slave labor of China to make their money.  My obsession went to the poor (the actual poor) of the world and how my need for more and more impacted them. Sorry, not buying into that.

The up side is that he does have a pension and mine begins in a few years. Good old government pensions. If they dry up, we have a paid for house, a well and solar generators :)

So, in the past we HAVE sold in May, with our broker (who retired a wealthy woman in Alexandria VA) we took a few months off the market every year and enjoyed our profits. Now we just live life daily and enjoy not having ulcers. 

The move is on. A bit more then a month to a new and different life.

 A 28 foot, terribly high, Penske International Truck was in our driveway.

Our son came over last weekend to help bring things up from the basement. Our son in law came over today to help haul things on to the truck. I hung out with the dogs and brought water to the thirsty.

We have toooo much stuff. We just do. Most of the boxes seemed to be either stereo equipment or pantry. Why do we still have five center speakers??? Remember, I am the one with too much stuff....hummmm. None of our living room furniture is going. That does make me nervous since living room furniture is difficult to get. Should I include a couch, just in case?

Ramps, dollies, book cases, mattresses secured, the truck is off. Scott is in Nebraska and on his way to Little America Wyoming (a favorite place to stay on the long haul). I am still packing here, but it is the tough stuff to fit in anywhere. I have about five dozen canning jars full of fruits and veggies from my garden this year. 

We had some last minute disagreements between the cabinet maker and our builders. Which is more important- more storage or pretty trim. The storage won. 

The flooring goes in this week. Hopefully the septic will as well. I feel like we are just skirting the rising costs of everything.

The pessimist in me, I am really nervous about that pipeline hack. Let’s get our move over with! But first we have:

Daughter’s college graduation,

DisneyWorld

Two grands’ birthday 

Flight camp

Father’s Day

My husband’s 71 st birthday

And the African American History Museum

These six weeks will fly. 

Living in a house that you have already sold

 This, my dears, is a wild market.

We sold our house in two days.  We had 30 showings and turned away many more. The best offers, of the seven, were in cash. 

That still makes my head spin. We held one house for almost six months- twelve years ago. (It resold this winter at double what we sold it for). The lookers trickled in. It was painful. That did not occur this time!

This time we were asked to do this new system. We did the bookings of the house. The agent had no idea how wild it could get. Our neighbors reported the revolving door--during a pandemic. It was CRAZY!

Here is the kicker. No one view the house who did not know that we are staying put until the end of June. And we still got way over the asking price. To be fair, this neighborhood was way undervalued when we purchased seven years ago. Our house is now at full value!

What does it feel like to live in a house that you do not own and do not, really, rent? 

Weird.

I am not as attentive to the gardens as I should be. I planted very little in the raise beds. We are careful of paint and floors, but that is a norm. We still are not using the master bath. After spending so much time to redo it, we decided that they should have the pleasure of enjoying it.

Our grandson is coming over our last week in the house for a flying camp at the Air Force base, but otherwise the house is being shunned. 

Poor house.

Rich former owners. 

The costs of moving

 There are normal costs of moving.

Deposits on utilities, fees for autos, change of address stuff.

My husband had decided that he was tired of moving our stuff.                                                                                  So we sought out a moving company.  The man came and did an estimate of moving us. Hummm. Yes, about 100 boxes- already packed, three beds (just the beds), one dresser, a desk with small file cabinet, and a dining room table with chairs. That will be about....$21,000! With the possibility of 10-25% up charge IF diesel goes to/ over $4 a gallon. 

When he picked me up off the floor, we decided to do it ourselves. A flurry of phone calls to reserve moving trucks and air tickets.  I started tonight and eliminated about five boxes already. I am determined to get down at least twenty.

Still looks like about $5,000.... but whew. Glad we are doing it soon. They are right, gas is going up FAST!

As we have said a million and one times---THIS IS IT!                                                                                                                                          Next time we move it will be with the clothes on our backs. 

OK- some of the art....we will take it out of frames and just carry it in our bags.

Woo Hoo Shots and then the rest.

 I got myJ&  shot in 15 minutes at the Delaware Rite Aide yesterday. An elderly man and his great grand daughter had arrived before me.   The elderly man was being  refused- something about his Medicare card. The grand daughter wasn't budging. My ease dropping is greatly hampered by my mask....

I ended up staying an hour.  I did not want to interfere but I felt they were going to give his shot away to the two kids who walked in and asked if there were extra shots.                                                                 The clerk finally told me that I could leave. LOL.                                                                                           I, loudly suggested that the seated man had been there long before me.  I told her that I wasn't going anywhere until this gentleman got his shot. She rolled her eyes and called his name. Sigh. Yes, I am a pain in the butt in many cases....

Let me let you guess the race of the elderly man.                                                                                        My daughter said the same thing happened to her in Maryland! It took an hour to make sure her elderly woman got her shot.  I am thinking of returning tonight to make sure the community gets their vaccines. 

This kind of cr@p happened to Native Americans in the 1970s in Flagstaff.  Come on man!Call me confused.

OTOH....My grandchildren have been out of a school building since last March.

Public schools "opened" the classes up for two days a week in Delaware and Maryland.

 One family faces a district with no guarantee that the schools will stay open even those two days. Those teachers are "sicking out" doing double duty teaching on screen and in class at the same time. The other three days a week are planning days and wiping surface days. (CDC finally admitted that wiping surfaces is unnecessary. Personally, I think using this much Clorox is really bad for the environment. And inhaling those fumes???)

For the other family?  Teachers are in a central room and will be teaching,  via screen, children sitting in a classroom with hired proctors. Okayyyyy. As a teacher of thirty years, that seems like a bit of a problem. 

IN turn, all of my school aged kiddos will remain at home. They WANT to be in school, but the learning going on is mostly a mess with teachers feeling ever bitter . 

Teachers here have been at home until 15 March.  My neighbor (a teacher of many years) stated his faculty took a vote to never return to the high school classrooms. They felt it was so much easier to teach from home. So why, exactly, do we even have high school for the underserved to begin with? 

I get it, people were scared. Half of the states are back at school 4-5 days a week. They are beginning to look for kids who slipped through the cracks. People who have kids in school just don't get it that the ghettos are still out of school....along with the workers for our federal government. Ironic that the districts that have been looked at as failure in the West will soon lead the nation because they put kids in seats. 

OTOH- 

There are now 20,000 children under the age of 18 (self reported) in convention centers and now military bases waiting for foster homes. Have you seen the pictures of kids in mylar blankets?  Sigh. There was a call last week from HHS  that if every state would take 1,000 children the border could get cleared up.                                                                                            And do what with them? They cannot go to school in the Mid Atlantic. Do we really want to be complicit to separating kids-AGAIN? How in the world did this happen? Where are the parents? I just don't understand.

Children are our future.  

I guess I don't have four hands---so I will end there. 

And it just keeps growing!

Spoke to the developer of our new housing area.

She is a very low paced farmer daughter.  I was asking about a part of the road that needed to be paved. Her answer was: "What was supposed to sell out in 4 years has sold out in 18 months. We have opened a new field for development. Your road will be paved when we pave that one. " That field, split into .6 acre plots, is flying off the market- unpaved!

When the development opened the buyers were, pretty much, local builders for themselves.               During the pandemic a flood  of people ran from the lovely states of Northern California & Western Oregon and Washington and bought up anything in their path. This will be interesting. 

We  hope to enjoy libertarian lifestyle as long as we can. Maybe it is WAY too cold in Central Idaho for people who want to change the politics to move there. It is a desert...a COLD desert. Don't come if you don't want to be free. Some people don't even understand what a libertarian is.....those first three in the Bill of Rights---freedom.  You won't have to wear the "I got my vaccine" yellow star in order for me to talk to you! 

Anyway..... 

Our house is on cruise. The dry walling begins tomorrow (the same day I get my J&J vaccine). I'll be going out to pick final touches. You know, the easy stuff,  towel racks and faucets. Fortunately we already ordered our Fridge- since they are on back order now until who knows when.... We understand that the materials to build our house have gone up about 200% at this point. Dodged that one. Whew. I guess if we have to survive with a mini fridge, oh well. China will get us stuff sooner or later. Chip who?

I settled on the island color (a huge issue here) Glass Sapphire. It doesn't show here- but it has loads of purple in it. 

OK- so it will probably bring down the resell of the house. I. Don't. Care. At. All. The house is totally out of character for the area anyway. It only has three bedrooms instead of six or seven. Open center instead of formal rooms. Completely handicap friendly. One floor. We plan on being there a long time and I want to smile every time I use the island, and the bathroom and the laundry.....Blue. Period. OK- white Oak floors. 

My husband got to choose the outside color. It is Nautical and Grey. The siding will go every which way. I don't get it, but he is happy. Stamped concrete for the walkway. Slate has just gone ballistic. 

I'll  be shopping for my pantry while there. I want a basic pantry done to ease the sticker shock. Our regular shopping list has gone up about $5 a week for the last four weeks....yow! Not looking forward to July shopping in a new $$ environment.                                                                                                        No couch for a very long time. Yes, I understand. Global market and all of that. 

And on that thought, I was going to rent a car in Phoenix for my mother's birthday in July. $550 for a week! Wow, those people coming over the boarder must be doing drive aways.... I am used to the normal taxes (double the price quoted for the taxes). I cannot wait to see the gas prices!!!! We are up almost a dollar from the beginning of the year. I was going to rent a U Haul to go home...OW! Maybe it should be called, "you build it, you drive it". 

On the good side, I look forward to a great green rebate for our next truck. Not sure how an electric truck will be better for the environment, but I am up for anything at this point. Heavy metals that cannot be recycled, no problem. New truck 2022 here we come. I'm a Elon share holder.  We are looking for solar panels to overheat the atmosphere on our house. Idaho does not demand that the solar goes through their grid. Love it.....

 I know that I am very blessed. I am looking forward to filling out LOADS of paperwork for people who want to be legal citizens. I have purpose. I am moving forward.  I cannot wait to swish the land of "white calling whites names unless they are rich and live in a gated community" off my Tevas. 

And so, with that, I'll out my libertarian thoughts back under my mask.

What in the heck is going on?

 There seems to be a seismic shift happening.

I am not sure how I feel about it, but here are my observations.

The housing market has turned to cash. Even the builders want cash. We are building and selling at the same time. In the past you could reasonably get a loan for a house. You could also put building supplies on credit or, even, buy over time. 

I think SO many middle income (80-150k) 30 somethings have been held up in their houses for so long that they have just stockpiled cash. And not a little cash. You hear it on Dave Ramsey. "I am 28 and am making 130K a year. We are going to get married. Together we will make 240k. We haven't been out of the apartment for a year- both working from home. What should we do with our left over cash?" OR "We just sold our family home for 1m in a Philly suburb. Where do you think we should go next? Do you think we should save to 3m to be comfortable?" Really? And the anxiety on their voices is palatable. 

 Never, have I ever. Those who were employed during this pandemic have built up a stash. Those boomers in the market have doubled and tripled their gains. What is enough? And what happened to credit?

And now that group is looking for a great house.They cannot travel-so a house with an office, backyard and space for a movie room is perfection!  It is crazy out there. Cash is king and flying out of the market and savings accounts into real estate. 

The other side is the building trades.  Refrigerators are three or four months backlogged. The normal "put in your new heater and 90 days same as cash" is gone. It is not uncommon to be charged 3% to use a credit card on building supplies at this point. Cash. Crazy. We have resorted to transferring money through Venmo or other such apps, because the post office is often unreliable (five weeks to get a check across country these days). 

Are you seeing your groceries rise like I am? I know gas is up, why is that? No tariffs are out there driving up the price? Supply and demand? I know our state put on a bit of a tax---but that was not like this rise. Is this a haves and have nots situation?

Less stuff, more experiences, but there is no place to go unless you score a shot. And who IS scoring shots? Will there be a pushback to those who start to travel because they are connected or old enough to get a shot? Hummmm- why do they get to live while everyone else gets locked down?

What is going on with solar panels? They used to be reasonable with cash back from taxes- now they are same priced, with no real rebate, and still flying off the shelves. Are we THAT worried that the entire nation will be in a "TexasWinter"?  Will it become the haves who can afford electricity vs the have nots who cannot afford expensive solar stuff?

No, I am not a great writer.  I am just putting my experiences and thoughts out there. To me there is a shift going on. I am not sure where it will go, but it is moving. 

And why is our border wide open. Who, in their right mind, thinks it is good to brain drain an entire area so kids can languish in foster care....in a white nationalist state? But that is another topic for another day.