A Place For The Future Past

Apparently someone on the sellers’s side has Googled my name, gone to this blog, read about my ‘dream community’ and decided that that’s not who they want to sell to. Maybe now would be a good time to point out that while building a network of friends around me in preparation for my golden years is indeed something I want to do, it’s obviously not going to happen right away — in fact very very slowly — as in YEARS and YEARS. And if local codes and laws do not allow, or the neighbors do not want, then the dream in that form simply would not happen. Whatever does happen would be beneficial to all. ALL. End of story!
I am a teacher by nature, and very consious of our human responsibilities in thoughtful stewardship of our earth, including alternate energy, organic food production, etc. My most immediate needs are to provide for my mom and for my animals (a small herd of goats and my horse). My immediate wish is to create a beautiful place for my mother to spend her last years in. That alone will take some time, as I am very much a small scale kind of person. I do not rush forth with untested and unresearched plans — I like to think things through and pay for things upfront whenever possible. And while I admire the teaching folk communities elsewhere, I know full well that what they are would not fit me exactly. But their missions in life are to be commended and maybe patterned after — some concepts adapted as possible and others set aside as not practical or appropriate. And like I said, if what I am dreaming about does not fit the reality, then I would be the first to alter the dream so that it works for everyone involved.

Since Thomas the Attorney has not returned Maria’s many phone messages, I decided to take a drive down to Yelm to see the property, fully intending to drive on to Poulsbo to confront Thomas himself to ask what is going on.  Well, what I saw when I got there was disturbing….there was a contractor’s truck parked in the driveway, with an SUV with Idaho plates off to the side, and a pickup with jetskis in the back.  Stacks of mattresses in the garage, with a few other things here and there.  So I went up to the door and knocked….

After a few tries, I saw a sleepy head lift from the floor of the second floor, a young man came down to talk with me…

Apparently he and a buddy were “hired” to stay there and “fix up the place” but he did not know the name of the owner (his buddy was in charge and out of town.  I got his buddy’s number).  All I can say is that while there were ample clues of lots of fun had by them (jetskis. drying shorts hanging on the railing, bags of trash inside) there was nothing done in the way of improvements or remodel completion (as far as I could see.  They had not even completed the porch, plywood was tossed over the gaps).  It looked more like a couple of guys crashing there and storing some stuff.  Deer and moose antlers in the garage, a rolled up elkskin on the kitchen counter, the same dead fly bodies as before still littered much of the inside.  There was one table inside, but it was on its side in the hallway.  Clearly not a legitimate movein by new neighbors. 

So I called Maria to report, and she agreed;  Greg must be alerted.  And more, I would REALLY love to get ahold of JAMES himself — this cannot possibly be what he wanted…..

 Is the attorney planning to finish the remodel then put the place back on the market himself, with a jacked-up price?

Is he planning to move in himself?

Why won’t he talk to anyone of us?

Well I’m happy to report that Greg got back to Maria in a timely way (one day late, not bad for Greg) and gave her Thomas’ phone number.  But due to restrictions around calling from work she wasn’t able to get through.  But this week she’s not at work, she’ll be at a fair and so will have a much better chance of catching him.  The message she left was both interesting and non-confrontational, so I don’t think it’s a matter of Thomas avoiding her call. 

Besides, we aren’t going away on our own, we will have to be told.  After over a year of waiting, does Thomas think I will become bored and wander off?  

 It’s been a challenging week, hard to concentrate.  This weekend is opening weekend for Camlann, still have pages of script to memorize…..nothing to do with the Project property but wait until Monday…..

This is the hardest wait, waiting to hear from Maria (who hopefully will be able to reach Thomas) about where the Yelm place stands. Agony…

Will he sell?
Will I be able to afford the buyout?
Can a plan be worked out?

Questions, questions…..

Maria finally got her call from Greg and she got his OK to talk directly with the seller’s attorney (Greg says the attorney has not returned his calls. Not Good) so we can find out where we stand. We got confirmed from Greg something we had been suspecting, that the attorney is the wild card here. What we knew for sure was that James (the seller) had some outstanding debt to clear away before the land could get transferred back to his name and sold to us. What we DIDN’T know for sure but suspected was that it has been the attorney who loaned James his money and so that’s why the lands are now in the attorney’s name. And the attorney has an interest in the property.
So Maria will be calling Thomas (the attorney) to see if there is a chance for us, if the seller still intends to sell to us. And if there are currently any impediments perhaps we could put our heads together to prepare a deal that will fit the situation (for it is in this kind of creative problem solving where Maria excels)
So Monday Greg gets back into town and will give us Thomas’ number then. And if we don’t hear from Greg on Monday Maria will get the number herself on Tuesday and call.

If Thomas takes the call, then we should find out one way or another. If The Project is alive or if I have to start looking elsewhere (for something far smaller, if what I’ve seen most recently will be the case).

So, rewind back to May 2005 when we first submitted our bid but were told that James had been advised by his attorney to declare bancruptcy first…could this be the same attorney? If so, he sure brokered himself a sweet, sweet deal. Maybe not so much in his clients’ interest but very much so for himself — brings one to recall the old saying, you can steal more with a briefcase than with guns.

Sneaky bastard.

I’ve been putting in alot of energy into keeping everything juggling, working hard.
The upcoming first weekend of August is the annual Costume College — I am an instructor and will need to fly down to Van Nuys for a few days. This means that since I am not yet set up on the new place, I will have to make some creative arrangements to care for my mom and get the goats fed and milked. A real pain.

ARRRRRGGGHH!!!! I SO wanted to be set up by now!!!!

So, Maria has left a long, serious message with Other Agent Greg (who should be back from vacayion by now) explaining that it is time for us to have some sort of commitment down, one way or another. I totally agree with that, so let’s see if it can shake loose movement. In the meantime, she sends new listings (10 acres in Eatonville for 425K! Yikes!)

Not much has been happening, but also much has been happening. With the Project deal, there is a chain of persons who all need to be present for anything to happen, these days it seems someone is always on vacation. On the plus side, I have located an engineer who will barter his services — his wife and daughters are addicted to Renfaires and the season is upon us.