Friday and progress on the house deal
Haven't written about the house lately even though a lot has happened. The real estate settlement paralegal has already gotten started on the paperwork. (You can tell it's a serious deal now that lawyers are involved. :) ) I just needed to contact her to send my info and to order a land survey.
I also got homeowners insurance. Since I already have auto and umbrella insurance from GEICO, I went to them for home insurance too. In Delaware, they don't underwrite it themselves so they actually offer it through a partnership with Liberty Mutual. Their home insurance link sent me to Liberty Mutual's website to get a quote. After answering all the questions, I came up with a premium of $247/year, which is much lower than I thought. I was surprised that it didn't cost much more than the renters insurance I have now.
I couldn't order the policy online though because their online system didn't have a way for me to set the start date, which should not be before settlement day. I called GEICO the next day and gave the sales rep all the info again over the phone. She crunched the numbers and came up with $232, even lower than my quote. Well, I won't quibble with that! :)
Aside from that, I'm still sorting through my stuff but I've started to pack a few boxes to take there at the end of the month. I'm packing the essentials first because I anticipate that I'll stay there a couple of times to do minor work (offhand, I would say I have to put in curtain rods, do something about the patchy grass, and supervise broadband installation, but I'm sure there'll be other details) on the place before the actual move-in date.
From Friday5.org:
In what way this week were you reckless?
I'm not usually good at this kind of thing but I climbed a tree to retrieve the Rebel Hill geocache. It's probably among the safer trees to climb though. It has lots of horizontal branches to step on.
In what way this week were you shameless?
I did what I wanted and wrote about it to the world. Wait. How is that different from usual?
In what way this week were you fearless?
See first question.
In what way this week were you thoughtless?
Was I? Perhaps I was so thoughtless that I didn't think I was thoughtless. :)
In what way this week were you doubtless?
I wouldn't say doubtless but I had less doubt than before that moving out is the right decision, especially since this place seems to be going downhill.
From Friday5.org:
How's your tolerance for alcohol?
Can't stand the taste of it.
How's your tolerance for noisy neighbors?
This is the reason why I moved off-campus in college.
How's your tolerance for physical pain?
Lousy.
How's your tolerance for intolerant people?
If one doesn't tolerate intolerant people, does that make one intolerant too?
How's your tolerance for bad music?
I'd rather have no music than bad music.
From thefridayfive:
1. Will or did you go on vacation this summer?
Yes.
2. Where will/did you go?
There were two places to which I traveled and stayed overnight: Pittsburgh for Anthrocon and Newark, DE, for house-hunting. I guess the latter was really a business trip.
3. What do you like about the place?
Pittsburgh:
1. Anthrocon
2. People seem nice.
3. Sandwiches stuffed with coleslaw and fries.
Northern Delaware:
1. Tax-free shopping.
2. Rather compact area. I could get to just about anywhere within a 15-minute drive.
3. Active geocaching community.
4. What don't you like about the place?
Pittsburgh:
1. Really spread out. Same problem as Northern NJ. Not so bad when I was staying in the city but once I was out in the suburbs, the sense I got was one of having to drive 10-20 miles to get to places of interest.
2. Road construction delays every year. May be better next year and I won't be using Route 28 any more.
3. Geocaching community is not that active. Only 2 new ones within walking distance of the hotel since the previous year and the bunch I found on my way out were from a long time ago.
Northern Delaware:
1. Traffic.
2. Some sleazy activity I noticed last year. However, I talked to a friend in DE and he told me that they cleaned up the park and police have stepped up patrols.
3. Only one Malaysian restaurant in this area and it's not that great, but there's always Philadelphia Chinatown.
5. Where do you want to go next summer?
Pittsburgh again.
Aside from that, we'll see.
I also got homeowners insurance. Since I already have auto and umbrella insurance from GEICO, I went to them for home insurance too. In Delaware, they don't underwrite it themselves so they actually offer it through a partnership with Liberty Mutual. Their home insurance link sent me to Liberty Mutual's website to get a quote. After answering all the questions, I came up with a premium of $247/year, which is much lower than I thought. I was surprised that it didn't cost much more than the renters insurance I have now.
I couldn't order the policy online though because their online system didn't have a way for me to set the start date, which should not be before settlement day. I called GEICO the next day and gave the sales rep all the info again over the phone. She crunched the numbers and came up with $232, even lower than my quote. Well, I won't quibble with that! :)
Aside from that, I'm still sorting through my stuff but I've started to pack a few boxes to take there at the end of the month. I'm packing the essentials first because I anticipate that I'll stay there a couple of times to do minor work (offhand, I would say I have to put in curtain rods, do something about the patchy grass, and supervise broadband installation, but I'm sure there'll be other details) on the place before the actual move-in date.
From Friday5.org:
In what way this week were you reckless?
I'm not usually good at this kind of thing but I climbed a tree to retrieve the Rebel Hill geocache. It's probably among the safer trees to climb though. It has lots of horizontal branches to step on.
In what way this week were you shameless?
I did what I wanted and wrote about it to the world. Wait. How is that different from usual?
In what way this week were you fearless?
See first question.
In what way this week were you thoughtless?
Was I? Perhaps I was so thoughtless that I didn't think I was thoughtless. :)
In what way this week were you doubtless?
I wouldn't say doubtless but I had less doubt than before that moving out is the right decision, especially since this place seems to be going downhill.
From Friday5.org:
How's your tolerance for alcohol?
Can't stand the taste of it.
How's your tolerance for noisy neighbors?
This is the reason why I moved off-campus in college.
How's your tolerance for physical pain?
Lousy.
How's your tolerance for intolerant people?
If one doesn't tolerate intolerant people, does that make one intolerant too?
How's your tolerance for bad music?
I'd rather have no music than bad music.
From thefridayfive:
1. Will or did you go on vacation this summer?
Yes.
2. Where will/did you go?
There were two places to which I traveled and stayed overnight: Pittsburgh for Anthrocon and Newark, DE, for house-hunting. I guess the latter was really a business trip.
3. What do you like about the place?
Pittsburgh:
1. Anthrocon
2. People seem nice.
3. Sandwiches stuffed with coleslaw and fries.
Northern Delaware:
1. Tax-free shopping.
2. Rather compact area. I could get to just about anywhere within a 15-minute drive.
3. Active geocaching community.
4. What don't you like about the place?
Pittsburgh:
1. Really spread out. Same problem as Northern NJ. Not so bad when I was staying in the city but once I was out in the suburbs, the sense I got was one of having to drive 10-20 miles to get to places of interest.
2. Road construction delays every year. May be better next year and I won't be using Route 28 any more.
3. Geocaching community is not that active. Only 2 new ones within walking distance of the hotel since the previous year and the bunch I found on my way out were from a long time ago.
Northern Delaware:
1. Traffic.
2. Some sleazy activity I noticed last year. However, I talked to a friend in DE and he told me that they cleaned up the park and police have stepped up patrols.
3. Only one Malaysian restaurant in this area and it's not that great, but there's always Philadelphia Chinatown.
5. Where do you want to go next summer?
Pittsburgh again.
Aside from that, we'll see.