Hold on to your Copper, folks!
Our dear friends Lori & 'The Captain' have had their fare share of bad luck for oh let's say the past... Well, for about as long as we've known them... Which has been about 4 yrs. now.
Really, I'm not kidding... That LONG!
In fact Lori told me just this morning that she couldn't understand how we could still hang out with them for fear that some of it just might rub off on us. She said if the shoe were on the other foot, they wouldn't walk, they'd RUN away! I told her we seemed to be okay so far but if it appeared that her prediction was coming true... Well, it's been nice knowing ya.
Some of the events our friends have had to deal with are quite tragic and far too personal to mention here, but most of them are just plain old rotten luck of the most unfortunate kind. Case in point: Our friends have been trying to sell their beautiful 110 yr. old victorian home for a little over 2 yrs. now. Struggling to carry two mortgages after the collapse of the housing market which coincided with the purchase of the home their in now. True, my husband and I would've NEVER taken the risk of even looking for a new home until we sold the one we were in, but Lori & The Captain?... Well, they're kind of 'Fly by the seat of your pants' people. Crazy, Insane, kinda Reckless which is, I guess, why we're so intrigued by them.
Anyway, during the two years of trying to sell their house, which I can't stress how beautiful it is, I'm not kidding! They've gone through... is it 3 or 4 realtors?... And a stretch of trying to sell the house themselves. One of their realtors was an old guy, (ready to retire) whose method of selling a home involved well, pretty much nothing and I don't think that was working for him... Nor was it working for our friends. They then found a young excited realtor... A really gung-ho kind of guy with lots of plans and a self professed love of the property he was selling for our friends. Then he up and disappeared, perhaps abducted by aliens? Perhaps living a life on the lam? Even his wife didn't know what happened to him... Yes believe it, he vanished in thin air and oddly enough, I don't think his last name was Houdini. We met this guy at a dinner party not long after our friends signed the contract to have him represent them. He seemed pretty nice, quite normal but now... Now he's vapor!
So here it is November 2007... Our friends FINALLY find a buyer. They haven't wanted to discuss the fact that they've accepted an offer because the people that are buying the house are robbing them blind after several counter offers. However, at this point our friends have little choice, they're broke and they simply MUST unload the beautiful house they put so much hard work, money and tlc into. They're scheduled to close on the home this coming Thursday.
All of this leads me to the dumb luck part of the story... Wait, you know, the term 'dumb luck' doesn't even apply here... 'Dumb Luck' would imply there was at least some form of 'Luck' involved... And truth be told, there's absolutely NOT one ounce of luck involved here. In fact, let's just call our friends completely Shit out of Luck!... Because last night 'The Captain' received a call from their realtor who told him there was a water leak at the house. 'The Captain' was busy on a job and called to ask if we could go check it out with his wife Lori. We all raced over to the house, my husband arriving first and waded into the foot and half deep water covering the basement floor of a house which is currently without electricity, heat and NOW water! When Lori and I arrived with wrench in tow we managed to get the water main valve from the street shut off to the house as water was flowing into said basement at a rapid rate. Not being entirely familiar with the pipes of the old victorian home my husband wasn't sure what was causing the leak. However, once we got the main shut off, Lori made her way into the newly formed basement pool, my husband holding a flashlight high above his head for optimal viewing. From where I stood outside, by the bilco doors I could hear her shout, "Somebody stole our *&@%-ing pipes, I can't believe they stole our *@%-ing pipes!!!!" Sure enough, someone had indeed stolen their pipes! Cut them right out... All this 4 days before finally going to close on the house!
Eventually a guy from the water company stopped by and we informed him we'd gotten the water main shut off. He wasn't the least surprised about the stolen pipes. Said there's a rash of this type of theft taking place due to the high cost of copper. "And that's not all." He said, "Aluminum is fetching a pretty penny too, there have been vandals ripping the gutters and siding right off of houses in broad daylight." We heard from one of our friends neighbors, who came out to see what all the commotion was about, that a local youth with a drug problem had been arrested for stealing the 150 yr. old bricks right out of the sidewalks because they're worth money too! Apparently, he got pretty far along on the job, because instead of stealing bricks, passers by just figured he was laying them. I know I'd think the same thing if I saw someone ripping gutters off the side of a house in broad daylight... I'd just figure someone was replacing their gutters, wouldn't you?
So, as it stands... The good news is, the water in the basement has receded (hooray for old brick floor basements and a drought filled year.) What puddles were left were cleaned up by 'The Captain' and his insurance restoration gear. Bad new is, there's no insurance on the house... I guess things got so tight, they just couldn't afford it anymore. The Captain and my husband are currently out purchasing new pipe, which they'll try to hook back up this evening and hopefully the plumbers will arrive by Wednesday to complete the somewhat delicate operation of getting it all hooked up to the heating system. The Captain says he's going to include a note on the new pipes that reads:
Take all the pipe you want... After Thursday!
Really, I'm not kidding... That LONG!
In fact Lori told me just this morning that she couldn't understand how we could still hang out with them for fear that some of it just might rub off on us. She said if the shoe were on the other foot, they wouldn't walk, they'd RUN away! I told her we seemed to be okay so far but if it appeared that her prediction was coming true... Well, it's been nice knowing ya.
Some of the events our friends have had to deal with are quite tragic and far too personal to mention here, but most of them are just plain old rotten luck of the most unfortunate kind. Case in point: Our friends have been trying to sell their beautiful 110 yr. old victorian home for a little over 2 yrs. now. Struggling to carry two mortgages after the collapse of the housing market which coincided with the purchase of the home their in now. True, my husband and I would've NEVER taken the risk of even looking for a new home until we sold the one we were in, but Lori & The Captain?... Well, they're kind of 'Fly by the seat of your pants' people. Crazy, Insane, kinda Reckless which is, I guess, why we're so intrigued by them.
Anyway, during the two years of trying to sell their house, which I can't stress how beautiful it is, I'm not kidding! They've gone through... is it 3 or 4 realtors?... And a stretch of trying to sell the house themselves. One of their realtors was an old guy, (ready to retire) whose method of selling a home involved well, pretty much nothing and I don't think that was working for him... Nor was it working for our friends. They then found a young excited realtor... A really gung-ho kind of guy with lots of plans and a self professed love of the property he was selling for our friends. Then he up and disappeared, perhaps abducted by aliens? Perhaps living a life on the lam? Even his wife didn't know what happened to him... Yes believe it, he vanished in thin air and oddly enough, I don't think his last name was Houdini. We met this guy at a dinner party not long after our friends signed the contract to have him represent them. He seemed pretty nice, quite normal but now... Now he's vapor!
So here it is November 2007... Our friends FINALLY find a buyer. They haven't wanted to discuss the fact that they've accepted an offer because the people that are buying the house are robbing them blind after several counter offers. However, at this point our friends have little choice, they're broke and they simply MUST unload the beautiful house they put so much hard work, money and tlc into. They're scheduled to close on the home this coming Thursday.
All of this leads me to the dumb luck part of the story... Wait, you know, the term 'dumb luck' doesn't even apply here... 'Dumb Luck' would imply there was at least some form of 'Luck' involved... And truth be told, there's absolutely NOT one ounce of luck involved here. In fact, let's just call our friends completely Shit out of Luck!... Because last night 'The Captain' received a call from their realtor who told him there was a water leak at the house. 'The Captain' was busy on a job and called to ask if we could go check it out with his wife Lori. We all raced over to the house, my husband arriving first and waded into the foot and half deep water covering the basement floor of a house which is currently without electricity, heat and NOW water! When Lori and I arrived with wrench in tow we managed to get the water main valve from the street shut off to the house as water was flowing into said basement at a rapid rate. Not being entirely familiar with the pipes of the old victorian home my husband wasn't sure what was causing the leak. However, once we got the main shut off, Lori made her way into the newly formed basement pool, my husband holding a flashlight high above his head for optimal viewing. From where I stood outside, by the bilco doors I could hear her shout, "Somebody stole our *&@%-ing pipes, I can't believe they stole our *@%-ing pipes!!!!" Sure enough, someone had indeed stolen their pipes! Cut them right out... All this 4 days before finally going to close on the house!
Eventually a guy from the water company stopped by and we informed him we'd gotten the water main shut off. He wasn't the least surprised about the stolen pipes. Said there's a rash of this type of theft taking place due to the high cost of copper. "And that's not all." He said, "Aluminum is fetching a pretty penny too, there have been vandals ripping the gutters and siding right off of houses in broad daylight." We heard from one of our friends neighbors, who came out to see what all the commotion was about, that a local youth with a drug problem had been arrested for stealing the 150 yr. old bricks right out of the sidewalks because they're worth money too! Apparently, he got pretty far along on the job, because instead of stealing bricks, passers by just figured he was laying them. I know I'd think the same thing if I saw someone ripping gutters off the side of a house in broad daylight... I'd just figure someone was replacing their gutters, wouldn't you?
So, as it stands... The good news is, the water in the basement has receded (hooray for old brick floor basements and a drought filled year.) What puddles were left were cleaned up by 'The Captain' and his insurance restoration gear. Bad new is, there's no insurance on the house... I guess things got so tight, they just couldn't afford it anymore. The Captain and my husband are currently out purchasing new pipe, which they'll try to hook back up this evening and hopefully the plumbers will arrive by Wednesday to complete the somewhat delicate operation of getting it all hooked up to the heating system. The Captain says he's going to include a note on the new pipes that reads:
Take all the pipe you want... After Thursday!
Labels: absurdities, Good Friends
posted by EmBee at 5:29 PM
3 Comments:
unbelievable! that is just astonishing! crossing my fingers till thrusday.
People are animals- what is wrong with them???
They finished the new pipe laying for under $3000, the thief got away with maybe $300 worth of pipe. They went to close and everything went well. The buyers TRIED to get more money out of them but were shut down post haste.
Thankfully, it's all over now and they're moving on to their next adventure.
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