Downtown San Jose Historic Bungalows

We spent about 3 hours looking at houses today; for the most part we looked at fixer bungalows, but they were mostly too far gone to save, in crummy neighborhoods, or just too expensive for the effort. So many of these sellers are underwater. In fact, one of them that was listed for $300K had mortgages totaling $606K. What were those banks thinking?

Anyway, we found two really nice bungalows on the downtown grid that we really liked. Their current prices are too high for the comps and current housing market, but we went and looked at them anyway. We figure once we've seen them, we can watch and see if they sell or if they continue to drop their prices until they're in our range.

One of the houses, on 5th St, is almost exactly what I'm looking for in a historic bungalow. It has the original woodwork, unpainted, and they haven't messed it up too much. When the current owners remodeled the kitchen, they also did a fairly decent job of matching the wood color to the rest of the house. They did convert the closet in the master into a bathroom, which is a bit weird since now it's hooked to two bathrooms, but we could undo a bathroom a lot more cheaply than putting one in. Otherwise, it's quite attractive.


The other house was a total surprise, I expected we wouldn't like it, but we both did. It's located on Julian St near Third. This one, unfortunately, has had every bit of the woodwork painted white and it's had some unfortunate remodeling, but it has a really huge lot for being downtown (7500 sq ft) and it has a ton of space, being more than 2000 square feet. This must have been one of the rich person's houses downtown. It looks like they carved up some of the space into apartments as it has two kitchens; one of them installed in the front parlor. But the woodwork is mostly intact (except for the paint) and it seems to be in good condition as far as we could tell. Though it was weekend, there wasn't really that much traffic. I wonder how much traffic there is during the week? Probably quite a lot more. But at least it has lots of parking and I think the lot has 2 garages and a few mature trees.




















Update on Monday, after I corresponded with our realtor: Apparently the house on 5th is very mortgaged. While their mortgage is less than their la-la land asking price, it's well above their likely market value, so we surely won't be buying this one. Unless the seller walks and doesn't ruin it and the bank takes it over and offers it for something realistic. Oh well, what a shame.

The house on Julian, however, appears to be owned free and clear and has been in the same family since nearly the beginning, so there is some hope on that one. Though that one is even further above what we want to spend on a house, so unless that one sits on the market for quite a while unsold and the price gets a deep reduction, it looks like this shopping trip was mostly window shopping.

Fibonacci fractal quilt design

Jeff spent the afternoon designing a quilt based on Fibonacci numbers used to make a fractal design (with a smidgen of artistic embellishment). The boundary of the yellow has dimension
s=1.83157... = log(sqrt(2)-1) / log((1+sqrt(5))/2)
At least in the pure form of the fractal.

Sharon broke down and ordered fabric for this one; she wanted to use batik fabrics.

Jeff is still tweaking some of the details.

Update: For an extra-geeky view of the fractal inspiring this, check out Jeff's blog entry.

J

Getting Cold Feet About Quitting Job

As the economy continues to decline, as well as our savings, we're now starting to get nervous about our plan to simply uproot and move back up to Oregon, with no job offer in hand. Jeff is feeling reluctant to quit his job with no obvious path ahead. He has been a great trooper and is working hard to re-inspire enthusiasm for his position, working very long days over the weekend, so he can keep at it until some better path presents itself. We just don't feel confident about our ability to line up decent paying positions once we're up in Oregon. And the few friends we've had direct conversations with have told us NOT to come now, due to the job market, themselves having been laid off recently and unable to find new jobs.

So we worry if we go and spend $500K on a house in Portland and then spend the next two years drawing down our remaining (much diminished) savings, then we'll be no better off than if we spend $700K for a house down here and have a good paying job. Even though the value of the house will continue to fall, we're not buying it for its investment value but for its shelter value and right now we're spending more than $40K a year for rent.

And perhaps if I really applied myself, I would find a job as well. If we stay down here, I would probably continue to work on my paralegal certificate and also try to line up an internship, so I can get some recent experience.

So, this morning, I spent a few hours poking around the Santa Clara County market to see if there is anything promising and there were a few houses (about 7). There are, surprisingly, actually a couple decent looking small houses less than $700K within our five mile radius from Apple so, perhaps, we'll go look at a few houses this weekend. More than likely they'll be fixers and, thus, too expensive. We also may pursue foreclosures.

We've also had a conversation with my Mother about renting the finished garage, the "family room," in her house (about 380 square feet total) where we'll put our bedroom and a minimal amount of furniture. We'll just pack up the rest of our possessions and stick them in storage until we figure out our long-term plan. Then we'll be able to save over $2,000 a month that we could add directly to our house savings account. My mother would love to have us, but who knows if she can actually clean out the space. She has a 5-bedroom house crammed to bursting with her "treasures" and has a hard time parting with them. Pretty much when she "cleans" she just shifts from one room to another, with little, if any, actual reduction in the amount of stuff.

I will, of course, continue to watch the Portland market and if something "perfect" comes on the market, then we'll likely move despite having no jobs. Last year, SE Portland did actually experience more than a 15% decline overall in prices, so if the prices come down to where we can buy the house we want for more like $400K, it would be easier to make the jump of faith.

Working on Genealogy Records Today

I've been growing more and more disappointed with myself on the genealogy front. I totally immersed myself into family research last fall and I gathered (borrowed) all these family records and then when I started school again in September, I just dropped the project flat. Partly because of school, and partly because the computer hooked to the scanner died and my Mac isn't set up to use the scanner yet.

So, now I have two large stacks of records/pictures from family and they're just sitting there. Today, therefore, I am planning to start sifting through the pile. If necessary, I will make copies of the items I've borrowed and return the originals. I've got to get through this project and not have to deal with it while we're packing boxes. Also, my membership to Ancestry.com runs out in April, so I need to finish by then. =)

I did actually accomplish a lot last Fall. I found the marriage record and a photo for my great-great-grandfather Henry Samuel Darknell who came to America from Wiltshire in the 1850s and I believe I found the census records that show he was born to Samuel Darknell and Rachel Case (along with several other sons). Unfortunately, Samuel (Rachel's husband) died fairly young and his children ultimately ended up dispersing throughout the globe which makes it hard to track all the connections. Unfortunately, the good census records only go back to 1837, so finding proof earlier than that is difficult. But I have made some great progress with the excellent records available through Ancestry.com and other sources.

I'd really like to visit Wiltshire in Mere County in England and meet the Darknell family there and see if they have any better records than I've been able to acquire from internet sources. But it may be a while.

Thrift as a Lifestyle

While I am sorry for so many's people pain, I have to admit I actually appreciate that living beneath your means is finally coming into fashion. It's wonderful to see articles in so many popular venues about how to make do with less and make the most of what you have. Even today, Yahoo has an article on how you should "Put Savings (and Yourself) First With a Budget." Articles like these were in noticeably short supply even just a year ago.

It wasn't that long ago, in the early stages of this housing crash, when you would read articles lamenting the plight of people who were, by their reduced circumstances, forced to make do with cutting their own kids hair, or, gasp, preparing their own meals at home! Oh my gosh, those poor people! (said with a tone of contempt) How ever did they survive?

We learned long ago, the value of thrift. In our late-20s, we were lucky (and wise) enough to read "Your Money or Your Life" and the "Tightwad Gazette," among others. Though some of the ideas in these books weren't for us, the fundamentals were there and we were able to adopt many good ideas.

Though Jeff and I have had our times where we spent more than we should have on something (like our house in Forest Grove), we have ALWAYS lived beneath our means. While I will admit the means of a high tech worker isn't exactly commensurate with a high school teacher or a steel worker, we always lived on less than we made, even when we were both full-time students. Some years were better than others.

When times got tough, we cut back our spending, we didn't pull out the credit cards or the home equity loan. And when the job got uncertain, we put every last dollar we could spare into paying off our mortgage. We rarely eat out, even now. We occasionally eat out with friends, but that's more of a social visit. And, my hair hasn't been cut by a paid hairstylist in years. And, when I can muster the courage, I cut Jeff's hair. I have many times in the past.

It's really hard right now to feel sorry for folks who "gambled" that the value of their home would rise faster than their pay-option mortgage. Tell me again, why are we helping these people? How, exactly, does it help everybody else? Wouldn't it be better to get them out from under their onerous debts and settled into a sustainable situation? Okay, maybe they don't get to live in that McMansion and have to settle for something more meager, but those prices were like monopoly money. Not real, after all.

I wish the government would just let foreclosures run their course. If you have to, help the people get settled into something that's sustainable given their resources. It's just wrong to help the ones who stretched and gambled at the expense of those who were realistic and saved!

Basically Yesterday Again

Today was much as yesterday was. I spent 3 or 4 hours doing stained glass and then managed to talk myself into sewing a binding down on the other of the boy's quilts.

I've been working the clear glass around the black rabbit and it's a challenge. This was maybe too ambitious a project for our first stained glass. =)

I probably spent an hour working the clear glass around the rabbit's foot. At least its rounded and do-able. I wanted to help Jeff with his turtle, but we've gotten stuck at the "beak." The pattern calls for a pointed cut, but that's not possible with our current technology. We may have to rework the pattern to make it something we can do with our current tools.

Slow Progress on Stained Glass

Well, I managed to make some more progress on our stained glass. I'm pretty picky about getting the glass to fit precisely, so the going is pretty slow. Today I mostly fine-tuned pieces that were already cut out to make sure they fit together properly, coppered them, and, for the first time, I tried my hand at soldering. Decided it was time to solder because Jeff works during the day and by the time he gets home the sunroom is dark and so we can go days between sessions of stained glass because he cannot get to the project during the daytime.

It's actually difficult, but I'm going to stop for the day. That table really is too low and I don't want to overdo again and strain my back. Oh, and I drew my first blood on this project! It's actually surprising that it's taken this long, we are working with cut glass after all. It was a clean cut on my fingertip and not really a big deal.

This afternoon I'm hoping to make some progress on one of the boy's quilts. After having a thoroughly unproductive weekend this weekend (we watched all three seasons of Arrested Development), I've decided I need to have hand projects like this queued up so when I pass 30+ hours watching TV (well, really a computer) I can be making forward progress on a project. I've got the binding cut out and pieced for one of the twins' quilts and I need to cut down the edges of the quilt and then sew the binding down on the edge. I finish the backside of the binding by hand. I've never been happy when I've totally sewn it down by machine; it's too sloppy on the back.

BTW, for those interested, the first season of Arrested Development was the only season worth watching (wish we had known that). The first season was very funny, but the same jokes lost their luster through the second and third season. Small wonder it was cancelled. You can find it at Hulu.

6PM Update: I actually managed to have a pretty good afternoon. Got a bit more stained glass done, plus I also managed to machine sew the binding on one of the twins' quilts. I'm goofing off reading the ever more pessimistic economic news tonight. It took a long time, but it looks like house prices are finally crashing throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Santa Clara County. Too late to help us though, because it happened after we lost our stock portfolio. =)