I CAN HAS REAL ESTATE?
Apr. 16th, 2008 12:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogWould you buy property from this man?
[Hint to newcomers: I’m the one on the right]
Well, someone just did. We signed a preliminary deal tonight to sell the flat to German expats looking to move their parental units out of Hamburg. As you do. If all goes well, we’ll make it final in two weeks, and by the end of May we’ll be living elsewhere (in Hong Kong, that is).
The timing couldn’t be better. We’ve been squeaking by in a single-income situation for over a year now, which is never easy in HK (especially on an editor’s salary), and we’ve been trying to offload the flat for awhile now, with no luck. Now that the global economy is about to collapse into ungodly chaos thanks to (1) the US subprime market crisis and (2) the fact that the person in charge of the US is promising to fix the economy the way he fixed Iraq, the window for selling at a decent price is getting narrower every week. Complicating things is the fact that the HK property market tends to be especially vulnerable during international economic meltdowns, as we discovered the hard way in 1997.
So with our savings almost drained and the world economy on the brink of collapse, we are rescued by wayward filial Germans. Ist es nicht Wunderbar?
Now we just have to find a place to live within five weeks. No word yet on whether we’ll stay in Disco Bay. But prelim re/search suggests that rent-wise, we’ll be hard pressed to find better deals.
The Big Question, of course, is whether we’ll rent one big place, or two smaller flats – one for the bride and me, the other for the mother-in-law who has been living with us since before we got married (for those of you just tuning in, that works out to 12 years and a month). I can go either way, honestly – in defiance of sitcom tradition, I get along great with Katie’s mom, so co-habitation is always an option.
All this is assuming the deal goes through. By the end of the month, we’ll know for sure.
In the meantime, we are celebrating. A round of Early Times for everyone.
Worth a million in prizes,
This is dF
[Hint to newcomers: I’m the one on the right]
Well, someone just did. We signed a preliminary deal tonight to sell the flat to German expats looking to move their parental units out of Hamburg. As you do. If all goes well, we’ll make it final in two weeks, and by the end of May we’ll be living elsewhere (in Hong Kong, that is).
The timing couldn’t be better. We’ve been squeaking by in a single-income situation for over a year now, which is never easy in HK (especially on an editor’s salary), and we’ve been trying to offload the flat for awhile now, with no luck. Now that the global economy is about to collapse into ungodly chaos thanks to (1) the US subprime market crisis and (2) the fact that the person in charge of the US is promising to fix the economy the way he fixed Iraq, the window for selling at a decent price is getting narrower every week. Complicating things is the fact that the HK property market tends to be especially vulnerable during international economic meltdowns, as we discovered the hard way in 1997.
So with our savings almost drained and the world economy on the brink of collapse, we are rescued by wayward filial Germans. Ist es nicht Wunderbar?
Now we just have to find a place to live within five weeks. No word yet on whether we’ll stay in Disco Bay. But prelim re/search suggests that rent-wise, we’ll be hard pressed to find better deals.
The Big Question, of course, is whether we’ll rent one big place, or two smaller flats – one for the bride and me, the other for the mother-in-law who has been living with us since before we got married (for those of you just tuning in, that works out to 12 years and a month). I can go either way, honestly – in defiance of sitcom tradition, I get along great with Katie’s mom, so co-habitation is always an option.
All this is assuming the deal goes through. By the end of the month, we’ll know for sure.
In the meantime, we are celebrating. A round of Early Times for everyone.
Worth a million in prizes,
This is dF
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Congratulations!
on 2008-04-15 04:46 pm (UTC)BTW - I love the bookshelves. :O)
Re: Congratulations!
on 2008-04-15 05:45 pm (UTC)One minor point of correction: those are the CD shelves yr admiring. The book shelves are over this way (http://def-fr0g-42.livejournal.com/16712.html). :)
Re: Congratulations!
on 2008-04-16 03:05 am (UTC)Your bookshelves are overflowing like mine are. I see we have some of the same sci-fi and fantasy novels.
Great minds...?
:O)
Re: Congratulations!
on 2008-04-16 05:03 am (UTC)I'm guessing you've got Neil Gaiman on yr shelves. Great minds indeed.
Re: Congratulations!
on 2008-04-16 01:21 pm (UTC)Neil Stephenson
Philip K. Dick
Terry Pratchett
Greg Bear
Arthur C. Clarke
and
Thomas Pynchon
I used to have some of your other ones, but our local bookstore has a used book section and they buy books. I can turn in old books for store credit and I've turned over enough for many hundreds of dollars store credit.
(She rubs her hands together with a gleeful look in her eyes.)
Re: Congratulations!
on 2008-04-16 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2008-04-15 05:15 pm (UTC)To barter for a yam in a pinch that is.
no subject
on 2008-04-15 05:51 pm (UTC)The other part of our strategy is to take some of the surplus and do some fund investing. Katie (a.k.a. the bride) has a black belt in financial planning, and she reckons the recession will enable us to get really good deals on plummeting fund shares.
I have no idea what that means. I think it means we'll be richer than God in five years. Or we'll be able to afford food once the prices go up another 500%. Whatever works.
no subject
on 2008-04-16 08:30 am (UTC)