Note to self. Do your own inspection the next time you buy a place.

The tub has been reglazed. So how inapropriate is it to clean a tub that looks dirty when you are looking at a house? Next time I won't give a f#$#. I just got done spending $752 getting my tub reglazed and the crome replaced.

I have a tile step in front of the tub. The grout looked like crap. Also 2 of the tiles were loose. Spent about 3 hours cleaning grout. Then reset two new tiles and let it set for 30 minutes. We are only talking about 5 square feet of area. It was a little wet under the loose tiles. So water from the shower was getting in there. The regrout is required.

I assume there are some serious tricks that a mason who does tile day in and day out knows. If the whole shower was being regrouted, would it pay to regrout or just redo the walls from scratch?

I also did not push the grout in to the crevaces hard enough. I get to regrout again tomorrow. The grout says this is OK. It is meant for Mikey homeowner to try until he gives up and just writes a check to a professional.

When will home ownership start being a pleasure. On the good side, every box is unpacked. Everything is put away.

Ok, the art is still in it's boxes. I have to figure out what will go where. The sad part is that I like to put my animation art in the office. But I really don't have space.

OK this might be scary, but I have leftover parts. Since I have the new book cases, I was left with the other 4. I have one in the hall closet. So 3 are left including the little 2 shelf one. I have a bright light in the living room. So I have 2 lamps I don't need. I also have this corner bakers rack that I was using for towels. I have a linen closet in the bathroom, So I do not need that either.

I also have this rolling 3 ft tall chrome rack table with a butcher block top that I have no space for. I really like that table. For 5 years it was where I kept my microwave. I had 2 apartments with really small kitchens. Then my last place it was where stuff collected. Now I don't have a place or a use for it. I really don't like to get rid of gifts.

The guy who reglazed the tub did a good job. But if I did some of the things he did when I helped my dad, I would have had my head handed to me. He laid stuff down without using a drop cloth. Things like metal parts from the tub were put in the bathroom sink, metal on porcelin. He put something on my bed that was a little dusty. He did not have his own ladder. He changed his shirt in front of me instead of is the area he was working. He asked to sit on my sofa and watch TV while he had lunch. My dad is real old school. I prefer someone with my dads habits in my house.

I've almost recovered from the handcramps.

Nope, not an over zealous single guy. Well actually yeah. I signed all the escrow papers Friday.

Kind of strange. You make an offer on a house. They make a big deal of being the most impressive candidate making an offer. Ansa wrote a cover letter for the offer on the condo.

But in the end they really don't care. They want their money. You never actually meet these people who get to make $100k or more from you.

Here are some pictures of the condo. The woman in the photos is my agent.

Now that I've closed, I'm looking at the costs. I just increased my cost of existing by $2000 per month. Moved from having about a 2 year reserve fund to having a 6 month reserve fund. Considering the last time the economy dropped one on me I was out of work for 7 months. I need to try and save. I don't want $0 in the account when that first paycheck comes if I get caught in another downturn.

So some of the projects just might wait for a while. Owning a house or a condo. Means always having a reason to not save. Home Despot is always calling.

Who is really calling this the American Dream. You never really get a tax break. That tax break covers the additional cost of buying instead of renting. The upto $250K you get to take out of place tax free when you sell isn't really yours. You plow it into the next place. You never see the money.