Fwd: Fw: News From Lake Canyon

[David W. Borden]

> Subject: News From Lake Canyon
>
> Canyon Lake:=A0 Where the men just don't get i=
> t,
> the women have had it all along, the children all try to get away with
> major crime and the cats are in charge.=A0 (I was going to apologize to
> Garrison Keller, but why?=A0 I'll just rip him off.=A0 Remember, imitation i=
> s
> the sincerest form of flattery)
> =A0
> Hi All,
> =A0
> =A0 Well the Bordens spent last week
> getting the house ready for sale.=A0 It was a lot of work.=A0 Deborah worked
> continuously except for the times instructing David what to scrub, paint,
> mud, tape, wipe, replace,screw, rivit, nail, or scape next.=A0 We (David,
> Deborah, and one very mad cat - Chaplan) finally got out of the house and
> on the road Thursday about 5PM.=A0 I will spare you the story of how
> Chaplan got into the cage.=A0 It was not pretty.=A0 We drove a while and
> collapsed in some motel.=A0 We called the realtor ladies' answering machine
> and told her to place the house on the market on Friday.=A0 She had already
> put the new computerized lockbox on the house that day.=A0 The kids
> promised to mow the lawn on Saturday.=A0 We expected to get a house sale
> nibble in maybe a week or so.
> =A0
> =A0 After driving forever, with one mor=
> e
> motel stop, we arrived in Texas on Saturday afternoon.=A0 This was when I
> was reminded that Texas is b i g.=A0 We were not home yet.=A0 We entered
> Texas in the North East corner and had to travel to below the capital,
> Austin.=A0 Of course as with all trips to Texas, storms and tornados were
> forcast.=A0 Sure enough around Austin we are attacked by hail, rain, and
> continuous lightning.=A0 We hid under an overpass and waited it out.=A0 The
> cat was not amused (neither were we). I am talking
> from my car to Deborah's car with walkie talkies but Deborah is not
> responding much.=A0 I find out this is because she is on the cellphone with
> realtor lady who has three contracts in hand and a fourth due Saturday
> morning.=A0 The kids report while they were trying to clear out of the yard
> after mowing, three couples saw the house.=A0 The second couple loved it
> and the third couple were planning adding a two car garage and putting
> new siding on the house.=A0 Wow, Harry Kaye had said that the house would
> sell in hours, not weeks.=A0 He was right.=A0 I thought y'all would be
> interested in house markets in the MD-VA-DC area.=A0 You know it is a
> seller's market, but you ain't seen nothin yet!
> =A0
> =A0 So it is Sunday and realtor reports=
>  we
> now have five contracts (remember, the house went on the MLS computer on
> Friday morning).=A0 Our asking price was 275K, here are the
> bidders:
> =A0
> #1 307K
> 20%down, 7K at closing
> No loan qualification furnished
> Comment - Nice high price but no proof this couple has the ability to
> borrow.=A0 Negative on this one.
> =A0
> #2 285K
> 5%down
> 2nd Trust 15% 
> They pre-qualify for the first and second
> But, they want Home Inspection and Radon Inspection (VA law requires
> termite and septic check)
> Comment - Nice price and good proof of borrowing, but don't need
> Inspections followed by costly repairs.=A0 Negative on this one.
> =A0
> #3 280K
> Borrowing 224K at 8-8.5%.=A0 
> Lender provided letter stating they have qualified, no problem.
> 28 April settlement
> Comment - This is the one.=A0 No contingencies (we had to swear we did not
> know there was any lead based paint in the house).
> Positive on this one.=A0 Realtor faxed the contract.=A0 We signed in 6
> places, initial in 14 places and faxed it back.=A0 New neighbor Rich (a
> surveyor) let us use his fax machine.=A0 Thanks Rich!
> =A0
> #4 275K
> 28 April settlement
> Wants Home Inspection and Radon check
> Comment - Do not need home inspections and radon checks.=A0 This leads to
> more repairs.=A0 Negative on this one.
> =A0
> #5 275K
> 15 May settlement
> 140K down
> Wants Home Inspection
> No proof of borrowing ability, but promised today for sure.
> Comment - Do not need home inspections.=A0 Borrowing proof is too late.=A0
> Lowest price.=A0 Negative on this one.
> =A0
> =A0=A0=A0 Note there are some choices h=
> ere.=A0
> We could wait a few days to see if some more offers dribble in after
> Sunday showing.=A0 Life is full of trade offs.=A0 We went with offer number
> 3.
> =A0
> =A0=A0=A0 So we are now waiting for the=
>  moving
> truck which arrives Monday at 10AM.=A0 Deborah and I will then try to shove
> the contents of a very large house into the space of a small house.=A0 I
> will go into work on Tuesday and continue programming and documenting on
> my mapping job.=A0 Also need to help prepare response to the new ETSS task
> that was issued after the last one was called back.
> =A0
> =A0=A0=A0=A0 And that's the news from C=
> anyon
> Lake.=A0 Canyon Lake is sorta half way between Austin and San Antonio in
> the Texas Hill Country.=A0 It is noted for tubing (riding down the river in
> a big truck inner tube) on the Guadalupe River and boating/fishing on the
> lake.=A0 Other local places of note are New Brunsfels, Wimberely, San
> Marcos, and Greune.=A0 I don't think they spoke English around here until
> 1945 (just German).....david and deborah
> =A0