Well, the fingers crossed for us to love the house we saw this weekend worked.... unfortunately, it takes more than luck and good vibes to win a bidding war these days. #wompwomp
This house was absolutely NOTHING like what we envisioned for ourselves -- it was a single-story bungalow with only two bedrooms and one bathroom, and was approximately 250 sq. ft. larger than our current apartment. Typically, I would have skipped right over it on MLS, but when it popped up Friday, I got a fuzzy feeling and sent it off to Andrew to ask if he wanted to see it. Within seconds of walking inside, we both looked at each other and said, "this is it; we are offering and we're willing to be aggressive."
The really crazy part is that this house was below -- WELL below -- our current budget. Our realtor, who is a good friend, even said that she thought it was slightly overpriced for the size, but the area we are looking in is hot, hot, hot (good school systems, good commute to the city, good town infrastructure and community atmosphere), so we initially went in at $5k over asking knowing there would likely be multiple offers. We received the counter to come back with best and final around 10am yesterday, and learned that we were one of three offers still in the running. We increased the offer slightly, and raised our inspection threshold.... then sat on tenterhooks until we got the news at 2:30 that the seller went with another offer "with better terms."
Typically, when people bemoan the current state of something, I assume that there is a level of exaggeration involved. What is so aggravating about this whole home buying process is that the market really *is* as insane as everyone says it is -- this house came on the market Friday, had an Open House Saturday, with final offers due Monday by 10... and it had multiple bids over asking price with all kinds of waivers for stuff like the inspection, the appraisal and the mortgage contingency.
How are we supposed to compete with that?!
I know that if waiving and overpaying were the keys to this house, it wasn't the right house for us. I know that. It still doesn't make it any easier, knowing we've been looking for a year, with pre-approval and down payment in hand, and have only seen three properties that remotely match what we're looking for. I read articles with comments stating that we millennials want too much and how we think we're entitled to convenience, etc. -- and to a point, I agree. But I'm sorry, I don't think a house with 2-3 bedrooms, 1-2 bathrooms in a suburb 45 minutes-an hour outside of the city for under a small fortune should be too much to ask for. It has to be out there. At some point, this bubble is going to have to burst.
And so, we will continue looking. And waiting. And hoping.
Keep those fingers crossed for us, would ya?
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Friday, December 1, 2017
Five on Friday #2
Friends, Romans, Countrymen.... oh forget it. It's been forever since I've written about anything aside from Management/Research Administration (ONE WEEK FROM SUNDAY UNTIL MY CAPSTONE/THESIS IS DUE!), but I have been DYING to get back to some semblance of creativity so, here we are. Without further ado, I present:
1. SENIORITIS
As I mentioned above, I am approximately one week and 60-some odd hours away from being D-O-N-E with my Master's degree. It seems as though it has been an excrutiatingly long time coming, but when I stop and think of everything that has happened since I started my Program -- my engagement, my marriage, births, deaths and in-between -- I can't help but smile (and shed a tear or two). As some of those closest to me know, I made and then lost a very dear friend during my graduate studies. At some point, I hope to write about her and the impact that she had, and continues to have, on me, the way I see life, and the way that I approach others. So as excited as I am to finish up, it is bittersweet knowing that she and I won't be going on that tropical graduation getaway we planned as we slaved away over powerpoints and prospectuses. So for the next week, I'll be thinking of her as I type away and prepare to end this chapter of my life.
2. Holiday Cheer
IT'S THE MOST WONDERFULLLL TIIIIIIIME OF THE YEEEEEAR! Seriously, though, Thanksgiving is my husband's favorite holiday (Halloween is mine, thanks for asking), and I love the Christmas/holiday season, so both of us have been in our element this week. We kicked it off with his 50-somethingth annual family football game on Thanksgiving morning (well, technically we kicked it off the night before when we tapped the kegs we're in charge of for said football game), and the celebrations continued throughout the weekend and this week. As usual, we spent quality time with both sides of our family, and there was plenty of wine, dancing, laughter and family shots (both camera and otherwise) involved in the merriment.
3. Nosy People
I wrote a FB PSA the night before Thanksgiving about this topic, and it quickly became one of my most liked posts of the year, so it probably bears repeating. This one goes on the "negative Nancy" list, but whether it's the status of our house hunt, size of my jeans, or state of my uterus, I am going to go verbally ballistic on the next person who inappropriately inquires about OBVIOUSLY personal issues. If you ever find yourself about to ask what might be an invasive question, ask yourself, "does the answer to this personally affect my life in any way?" If the answer could even in the slightest be "no," then I believe the venerable 90s queens of hip hop, Salt N Peppa, said it best: "IT'S NONE A YO' BUSINESS!"
4. House Hunting
That being said, I feel comfortable sharing that we are still very much in the midst of house-hunting, almost one year to the date from when we started looking. We've put in two offers during that time, and while both were competitive, we lost each to other couples with more cash in hand. In retrospect, in at least one of those cases, it was definitely for the best; we had another opportunity to buy almost the exact same property a few doors down and, once we considered it, we decided to pass. We have narrowed down the area where we are looking considerably, which doesn't help, but after a lot of discussion regarding where we would ultimately be most happy, we know that it's worth the wait.
BUT! We are going to an Open House tomorrow for which I am trying not to get my hopes up, but cross your fingers for us and, if you pray, say a little one for us that we find our new home!
5. Hamilton
Yes, I am aware that this is probably the most #basic (do we still say that? Or is it #extra? God, I am so old) thing that I could possibly say here, but after a several-months-long hiatus from the nonstop Hamilton soundtrack looping through my head, I have to admit that "My Shot" is back with a vengeance. The one-year anniversary of my birthday trip to see it in NYC passed a few weeks ago, and I'd be lying if I said that Lin-Manuel Miranda's vehement devotion to and tangible action for Puerto Rico had not sparked another spiral into the abyss of the Ten Dollar Founding Father. So to my colleagues, random people next to me on the bus, and any animals within hearing distance, my apologies. (But I'm not going to stop).
FIVE ON FRIDAY: THE SEQUEL
(Disclosure: This isn't really the sequel. FoF was a common feature on my long-dead previous blog, as was the ever-popular "Friday Confessional." Oh well).
1. SENIORITIS
As I mentioned above, I am approximately one week and 60-some odd hours away from being D-O-N-E with my Master's degree. It seems as though it has been an excrutiatingly long time coming, but when I stop and think of everything that has happened since I started my Program -- my engagement, my marriage, births, deaths and in-between -- I can't help but smile (and shed a tear or two). As some of those closest to me know, I made and then lost a very dear friend during my graduate studies. At some point, I hope to write about her and the impact that she had, and continues to have, on me, the way I see life, and the way that I approach others. So as excited as I am to finish up, it is bittersweet knowing that she and I won't be going on that tropical graduation getaway we planned as we slaved away over powerpoints and prospectuses. So for the next week, I'll be thinking of her as I type away and prepare to end this chapter of my life.
2. Holiday Cheer
IT'S THE MOST WONDERFULLLL TIIIIIIIME OF THE YEEEEEAR! Seriously, though, Thanksgiving is my husband's favorite holiday (Halloween is mine, thanks for asking), and I love the Christmas/holiday season, so both of us have been in our element this week. We kicked it off with his 50-somethingth annual family football game on Thanksgiving morning (well, technically we kicked it off the night before when we tapped the kegs we're in charge of for said football game), and the celebrations continued throughout the weekend and this week. As usual, we spent quality time with both sides of our family, and there was plenty of wine, dancing, laughter and family shots (both camera and otherwise) involved in the merriment.
3. Nosy People
I wrote a FB PSA the night before Thanksgiving about this topic, and it quickly became one of my most liked posts of the year, so it probably bears repeating. This one goes on the "negative Nancy" list, but whether it's the status of our house hunt, size of my jeans, or state of my uterus, I am going to go verbally ballistic on the next person who inappropriately inquires about OBVIOUSLY personal issues. If you ever find yourself about to ask what might be an invasive question, ask yourself, "does the answer to this personally affect my life in any way?" If the answer could even in the slightest be "no," then I believe the venerable 90s queens of hip hop, Salt N Peppa, said it best: "IT'S NONE A YO' BUSINESS!"
4. House Hunting
That being said, I feel comfortable sharing that we are still very much in the midst of house-hunting, almost one year to the date from when we started looking. We've put in two offers during that time, and while both were competitive, we lost each to other couples with more cash in hand. In retrospect, in at least one of those cases, it was definitely for the best; we had another opportunity to buy almost the exact same property a few doors down and, once we considered it, we decided to pass. We have narrowed down the area where we are looking considerably, which doesn't help, but after a lot of discussion regarding where we would ultimately be most happy, we know that it's worth the wait.
BUT! We are going to an Open House tomorrow for which I am trying not to get my hopes up, but cross your fingers for us and, if you pray, say a little one for us that we find our new home!
5. Hamilton
Yes, I am aware that this is probably the most #basic (do we still say that? Or is it #extra? God, I am so old) thing that I could possibly say here, but after a several-months-long hiatus from the nonstop Hamilton soundtrack looping through my head, I have to admit that "My Shot" is back with a vengeance. The one-year anniversary of my birthday trip to see it in NYC passed a few weeks ago, and I'd be lying if I said that Lin-Manuel Miranda's vehement devotion to and tangible action for Puerto Rico had not sparked another spiral into the abyss of the Ten Dollar Founding Father. So to my colleagues, random people next to me on the bus, and any animals within hearing distance, my apologies. (But I'm not going to stop).
Saturday, April 22, 2017
#Sciencemarch #WOA
Almost 10 years ago, I graduated with a degree in English Language and Letters, and also Political Science, from one of the foremost public research universities in the country. During my time there I took two science classes, because my public high school Bio II had provided enough college ed credits to cover my bio requirement in college.
From there, with a 3.98 GPA in English, I tried to get a job in publishing. I was immediately shot down because I hadn't interned at a publishing house. A family friend suggested I apply to hospitals, so I did.
I was hired at Boston Children's Hospital two months after I graduated, as an assistant to a Program Director who was a brilliant, groundbreaking scientist. I had no idea at the time; he offered me a job on the spot and I took it. My dad Googled "Judah Folkman" and, over a congratulatory dinner, tried to tell me what I had just signed myself up for.
Dr. Folkman was more than just a boss; he was a living legend, a visionary, and a surrogate grandfather to me. He founded a field of science and was involved in more discoveries than you or I know of. He passed in 2008, six months after I started working for him. It was one of the hardest periods of my personal and fledgling professional life.
I was beyond fortunate to be taken on by someone else in a similar capacity, and later as a senior admin. Without getting into details, I spent the next several years learning about scientific discoveries, hypotheses and theories that changed the way I approach the world. I learned about drug delivery, cancer and eye disease in terms that my English brain did not even know existed -- yet everyone was patient, and explained what their research was about and how it could help others.
During my time in the world of basic science, where discoveries are reduced to the basic building blocks of the universe, I also learned a lot that can't be found at the lab bench. I learned that even in an environment where anything is supposedly possible, bias, gender inequality and a marked lack of female and minority leadership are still issues with which we struggle today. I learned that the world isn't always fair, and that you have to fight for ideas that others might not find compelling.
Despite my initial feelings of iniquity, I learned that, in the end, there isn't a ton of difference between the writers and the scientists; at the end of the day, we need each other to interpret each other's findings. The key to discovery, it turns out, is not so much in the scientific method as it is in communicating our findings with one another, and then using those findings to advance our communal standing as one united people of the world.
Over the past several years, I think that this symbiotic relationship between science and communication has eroded, to the detriment of both science and journalism. Essentially, I believe that we need to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and how it affects the everyday person, and I believe this administration is doing its best to further undermine that relationship. Scientist and writers need each other; of this I am sure.
With that said, #sciencemarch #womeninscience #WOA #scienceisreal #confessionsofanonscientist
From there, with a 3.98 GPA in English, I tried to get a job in publishing. I was immediately shot down because I hadn't interned at a publishing house. A family friend suggested I apply to hospitals, so I did.
I was hired at Boston Children's Hospital two months after I graduated, as an assistant to a Program Director who was a brilliant, groundbreaking scientist. I had no idea at the time; he offered me a job on the spot and I took it. My dad Googled "Judah Folkman" and, over a congratulatory dinner, tried to tell me what I had just signed myself up for.
Dr. Folkman was more than just a boss; he was a living legend, a visionary, and a surrogate grandfather to me. He founded a field of science and was involved in more discoveries than you or I know of. He passed in 2008, six months after I started working for him. It was one of the hardest periods of my personal and fledgling professional life.
I was beyond fortunate to be taken on by someone else in a similar capacity, and later as a senior admin. Without getting into details, I spent the next several years learning about scientific discoveries, hypotheses and theories that changed the way I approach the world. I learned about drug delivery, cancer and eye disease in terms that my English brain did not even know existed -- yet everyone was patient, and explained what their research was about and how it could help others.
During my time in the world of basic science, where discoveries are reduced to the basic building blocks of the universe, I also learned a lot that can't be found at the lab bench. I learned that even in an environment where anything is supposedly possible, bias, gender inequality and a marked lack of female and minority leadership are still issues with which we struggle today. I learned that the world isn't always fair, and that you have to fight for ideas that others might not find compelling.
Despite my initial feelings of iniquity, I learned that, in the end, there isn't a ton of difference between the writers and the scientists; at the end of the day, we need each other to interpret each other's findings. The key to discovery, it turns out, is not so much in the scientific method as it is in communicating our findings with one another, and then using those findings to advance our communal standing as one united people of the world.
Over the past several years, I think that this symbiotic relationship between science and communication has eroded, to the detriment of both science and journalism. Essentially, I believe that we need to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and how it affects the everyday person, and I believe this administration is doing its best to further undermine that relationship. Scientist and writers need each other; of this I am sure.
With that said, #sciencemarch #womeninscience #WOA #scienceisreal #confessionsofanonscientist
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