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It’s a little strange seeing my website and company name used for the name of a new independent film at Sundance. It looks like an interesting movie and I hope to get to see it soon. If you were looking for the web site for “Detropia” the movie, their site is here: http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/120093/detropia My neighbor at my new house put me in touch with a person to help me clear out the house. Today he cleared out the basement which in addition to old rusty appliances had at least 3 rat holes. This is just the first phase of the cleanup. I needed to get the basement cleared out so that I could get an electrician in there to get the lights on in the new house. The house has been empty for at least 8 years, there is extensive water damage to the walls and ceilings. Most of the possessions of the former owners are still in the house. Scrappers have removed the radiators and bathroom tub. All of the clothes and furniture were still there basically in the same place Mrs. Franklin left them when she was taken ill and moved to a nursing home. I got quite a shock when I was looking through the dining room for salvageable items and found the cremains of Mr. Franklin. Shock quickly turned to sadness as I realized that Mrs. Franklin never had the chance to have Mr. Franklin’s remains properly dealt with. I will be scattering Mr. Franklin’s ashes at Belle Isle this weekend. From the possesions that remained in the house, even in their weather damage condition, it was obvious that the Franklins lived a good life. They owned their house and had rental property in Detroit at one time. The foreclosure that I bought the house through was a Fannie Mae loan (reverse loan or refinancing) that Mrs. Franklin secured sometime in 2004. She got $40,000 for the house. I am glad that she (or more likely her family) was able to take some money out of the house and put it towards her care in the nursing home. So it wasn’t like the Franklin’s lost the house while they still needed to live in it. I feel like there is no bad karma surrounding my taking the house over. This feeling was reinforced today when I found cash amongst the debris that I was shoveling up in the kitchen. First I found a $50 dollar bill, then I found a $20 and a $5. I take it as a sign from the Franklin’s that they approve of my living there and making sure that Mr. Franklin’s remains have been respectfully disposed of. It is especially curious that I found the money even though the house was already combed through by scrappers. I used the $50 as part of the payment for the work I had done today. I’m keeping the other money to frame along with the pictures I found of the Franklins. Now, if this was a sign from above and the angels are listening, I have a favor to ask. Please put in a good word for my dear brother in law Bobby. In Memory of Mr. Arthur Franklin  Mrs. Virginia and Mr. Arthur Franklin May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face. May the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, May the Lord hold you in the palm of His hand. I was a child of the 60′s, literally, born on Christmas of 1960. I guess that’s why I didn’t think that the civil rights movement or the women’s liberation movement or the end of the Vietnam war were unusual. I believed that societal injustice would eventually be dealt with by society. I don’t think I am alone in this belief. This is not an excuse, but an explanation for why we have slept so long while the top 1% robbed us of everything. But we have hit rock bottom and there’s nothing left to take from us. Maybe that’s how it had to be before we could visualize change. It had to come to the mainstream population losing their jobs, their homes, their health care, their retirement savings to see that the “powers that be” are not working for us. We are all going through a hard transition from a life of excess due to false credit generated wealth to a time when we have to live within our means in a sustainable way. I like to think that I have been through the worst of this transition in my own life. In July of 2008 I bought my first home in Metro Boston for what I thought was an awesome deal. My inexperience in real estate saw the $250K price tag of a house that was $300K only a few months before as a once in a life time opportunity. In October of 2008 I learned it was not. The banks knew what was coming though since they sold my mortgage to Wells Fargo before the first mortgage bill hit my mailbox. Then in August of 2009, I left my soul sucking, sanity draining job to work as a contractor. I made the same money but didn’t have access to health care (I paid for Aetna health insurance, but I found it didn’t cover anything, because I had a pre-existing condition). Being a type 2 diabetic this was not a good thing. I went into survival mode and tried find someplace where I could get affordable housing and pay for my medical care and medicines. I am very fortunate that I can work remotely and that I found an employer (my brother, thanks Bro’!) who took me on full time. I am not ashamed to say that I walked away from my house in Massachusetts. The bank took it back in a short sale and when you tally up everything I paid in my first 18 months of ‘home ownership’,(down payment, mortgage payments,loan origination fees, interest payments) and what they sold the house for, they broke even. The bank never loses, just us saps who pay the mortgages do. I bought a foreclosed house in Hamtramck with what little savings I had plus what I could pry out of my retirement fund. I am still in a precarious situation, I’m trying to sell my house in Hamtramck to finance the renovation of a larger home in Detroit. I could lose my job anytime, and I’m not getting any younger. But you know what, that’s life and I just have to take it as it comes and be happy. I am a lot happier in Detroit than I ever was in Massachusetts. But I don’t have to be happy about what’s happening in our country. I am mad and I’ll stay mad until things change for the rest of us. My utopia would be to not worry about having health care. Health insurance isn’t health care. With Insurance you pay every month and then have to beg for them to pay for your care when you really need it. We need to get manufacturing and industry back into our country so we can all have jobs. The Financial Industry is a farce. Financial “products” are useless except to scam people out of their hard earned money. I can’t go to Wall St. and protest, but I think what I have done to change my life to live within my means is probably an even larger protest. I said fuck you to the banks when I bought a foreclosed house with cash. I employed people to fix my house, and I am doing it again with a larger house. When I have to stop working, I will at least have someplace to live and maybe even have property to rent out so that I can have enough income to pay my living expenses. My idea of a successful life is to have something left over after I die to pass on to my family. Or at least not leave any outstanding bills. The Bank postponed my closing twice, the last time to re-appraise the property. If they went up on the price I was going to back out of the sale. But I think they decided five hundred bucks was a fair deal after all. So barring any further bank shenanigans I should be closing on my new house this Wednesday. I am listing my current house for sale tomorrow. Worst case scenario is that we can’t get the new house habitable before we sell our current house, then we will renting someplace probably. The cats know somethings up because of all the cleaning and de-cluttering. I spent the weekend finishing the trim in the bathroom and trying to make the shower surround look less disgusting. If I do close on Wednesday I should have lots of “before” pictures on my blog soon. My Sister, Dad and Nephew stopped by for a few days on their recent whirlwind tour of the Mid-West. I was worried that the house would be a little too cozy, but everybody fit OK. One casualty was my sister’s air mattress. I suspect one of our cats may have popped it. I guess that people with cats shouldn’t have inflatable furniture. We all went to the Maker Faire on Saturday. It was great but the heat was oppressive. I really wish they would have it in the Spring or Fall. I know that I would get a lot more out of it. We had breakfast at the recently re-opened Clock restaurant in Hamtramck and the service and food were excellent. It was pretty empty though for a Saturday morning. I hope they build up their customers soon. My sister insisted on going to the pawn shop in Detroit where they film “Hardcore Pawn”. I was hesitant as I find the whole pawn shop economy very sad. But it was cool and we spoke with the owner and his son. The shop was much smaller than it looks like on TV. I showed my family the outside of my new house. It was too dangerous to give them a tour of the inside. Hopefully the next time they come to town they can stay in the new house. I have been feeling the need for more space than my lovely Hamtramck bungalow provides. Plus, I am ready for another adventure in renovation. I really enjoyed pulling this house out of its sad state of foreclosure limbo. After a little over a year my house is now move in ready. There are some small cosmetic things, like window trim and oh maybe the odd ugly blue tub to deal with but its a solid house with all the major systems replaced and repaired. I am hoping that I can make a small profit or break even so that I can start my next project. I am making the leap into the “D” proper. I purchased a Fannie Mae foreclosure in the Northend neighborhood of Detroit. It’s tacky to say how little I paid for this house, but my brother mentioned that he’s paid more for shoes than I paid for this house. I don’t close until the first week of September. Just in time for the weather to cool off and make it almost pleasant to do the work that will need to be done to make this house habitable. It has lovely bones, a beautiful square colonial with 3 bedrooms, a full basement and a full walk-up attic, perfect for my office. The landscaping is mature and beautiful. There is a huge mulberry tree in the backyard. I see lots of jam and maybe mulberry wine in the future. Did I mention the woodwork? Oh, the wood work. There is bead board cabinetry in the kitchen and all of the original woodwork is intact. The basement has a sink and a toilet in it. I don’t think I’ve ever had a house with more than 1 toilet, what a luxury! I see a lot of potential in this house and the neighborhood is getting better. And it’s quiet, maybe too quiet with only 4 or so other actively lived in houses on my block. It’s just 2 blocks away from Arden Park and 3 blocks from Woodward. If the light rail system in Detroit becomes a reality, my neighborhood could become very desirable. But to me it’s already desirable. Now the bad part, the house has really gone to seed. It looks like a very old person lived there until they had to move to a nursing home, or they died there. It’s sad to see someone’s entire life abandoned. Everything appears to have been left behind, furniture, clothes, trash. And everything is covered with a layer of grime from being exposed to the elements through the missing attic windows and holes in the ceilings. I hope he (I know it was a he by the discarded mail strewn on the front hallway floor) had family who at least took his pictures and precious heirlooms that he no doubt wanted to pass on to his future generations. Steve just did a walk through of the property with me. I thought he would flee, screaming from the horror of it, but he says he trusts me and if I see the potential he believes in me. Now the pressure is really on… I just paid for and scheduled the city pre-inspection. I can’t wait to see what they say. I wonder if I can back out of the sale if the building is outright condemned. Although it doesn’t look like the house has been scrapped, all of the plumbing and wiring appear to be intact, I will be surprised if any of it is salvageable. All of the lower level windows are intact and not boarded up. This and the lack of broken alcohol bottles, syringes and gang graffiti said to me that this is a good neighborhood with people that respect their homes and the homes of their neighbors. The windows in the attic are gone, I suspect they either blew out or were broken by the tree branches very close outside. I am sure this and possibly burst plumbing is the cause of much of the holes in the ceiling. I spoke with someone who has lived in the neighborhood for the past 6 years and has participated in it’s rehabilitation. He believes that it is just on verge of a major renaissance along with New Center and Midtown. Well barring anything preventing me from closing in September, I will be looking for a good trash hauling company. If anyone has recommendations, please let me know. I will post “before” pictures once I close and have legal access to the property. And if anyone is interested in an awesome 2 bedroom bungalow in Hamtramck, move in ready, have I got a deal for you It’s been just a little over one year since Steve and I landed in Hamtramck. We have made our house livable and then some. The only thing left to do over is the bathroom. The one regret I have is that I didn’t buy a house with a full basement and a garage. But I keep telling my self our house isn’t too small, we (I) have too much stuff. Steve still has a storage space in Massachusetts which we haven’t moved out here. I think we will be renting another storage space here in Detroit to put his stuff and our off season tools, etc. Steve finally has work, at least temporary seasonal work at Home Depot. He is hoping that they will hire him on full time. I don’t see why they wouldn’t hire him, he’s a hard worker and knows everything there is to know about Home Depot with all of the experience he brings from his years working in Home Depot in Massachusetts. My family is coming to visit us at the end of July and to go to the Detroit Maker Faire. It should be fun and cozy in our little house. I have purchased a sofa bed, I have an air mattress and I will need one more air mattress to accommodate my four family members who will be here next month. I have rented a loft space so that I could move my office out of the second bedroom, and turn it back into a bedroom. I really like the loft/office space, it’s quiet and with no distractions I get a lot more done. But it’s a month to month lease and I will probably move back into my bedroom office after my family’s visit. I want to save the money to put into our house. I think our next step will be to sell our little house and buy something larger. Realistically, we need a space where we can work and live comfortably. I hope that I can at least get enough for this house to cover what was spent and then use that as a down payment for something larger or hopefully not need a loan and buy our next house outright. If we had another bedroom we could have my Dad stay over for a little while. It might be a nice change for my Dad to come and stay here during the summer and give my sister a break. She is his primary caregiver now. He’s in good physical health but has some cognitive issues and needs constant companionship to make sure he takes his medicines, eats, etc… Well next week we start to rip out the gross moldy shower enclosure and replace it, yay! I will be sure to take lots of pictures of that. I know that our house had been unlived in for quite a while before we bought it. However, that wasn’t the only reason our lawn looked so sad. I turns out it’s infested with grubs. I started turning the soil over and noticed that the soil was mostly roots and grubs and not too much actual dirt. I am hoping that turning the soil over and adding some new grass seed we can make it look like a lawn again. The robins were delighted with our work this morning. It was an unexpected bounty of tasty grubs for them to eat.
This weekend as I looked at my overflowing laundry basket and the dreary rainy weather I thought for sure my solar clothes drying days were done for the season. But today was warm and sunny and I was able to get all of my laundry dried out in the beautiful fresh Hamtramck air. I am amazed at how good clothes smell when they dry outside. Downey fabric softener longs to smell this good. And it doesn’t cost anything to hang laundry out to dry. The only downside is the embarrassment that I feel in hanging my underthings out on the line. Actually, I am more worried at offending my Muslim neighbors. But I think that I have found a way to spare us all the horror of the sight of my cotton granny panties. I put towels and sheets on the outer clothes line and sandwich my un-mentionables on the inner lines. Soon, I will be buying a gas clothes dryer and I won’t have to worry about airing my clean laundry. However, I will miss the freshness of air dried laundry, so weather permitting I will still hang my sheets, towels and other inoffensive items on the line. |
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