Re: [MBZ] Mexicans -- story -- RE

[Andrew Strasfogel via Mercedes]

Have you ever eaten commercial Pemmican from a tiny gourmet cat food-sized
can?  It feeds a dozen people and tastes DISGUSTING.

On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 4:11 PM, Joel Cairo 
wrote:

> And sometimes a bit salty
>
> --JC
>
> On 6/4/16 1:40 PM, Andrew Strasfogel wrote:
>
> I wish I could narrate like you.  Your prose is like pemmican - all
> nutrition, no filler.
>
> This is meant to be a compliment, BTW.
>
> On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 11:18 AM, Joel Cairo via Mercedes <
> mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:
>
>> When we bought our house in Melrose (outside of Boston) it was a complete
>> wreck.  The old Irish couple had 9 or 10 kids of their own and had kept
>> 20some foster kids over the years.  They were all pretty much losers.  4 or
>> 5 of them were still living in the house with them, 18-31yo.  The daughter,
>> who was a real prize, lived in an upstairs back bedroom with a piece of
>> plywood hinged at the top for a door, like a dog door.  Ol Frank had warned
>> us she was up there when we went to look at the house, "She's a f'n pig"
>> was how he described her.  Nice. (He was correct BTW)
>>
>> So anyway we buy the place, I knew what I was getting in to, would be a
>> good fixer-upper, good price for the town and neighborhood.  So we do the
>> closing one afternoon, it is a stormy day, thunderstorms and raining hard.
>> Frank tells us that one of the kids left some furniture on the front porch,
>> will pick them up in a day or two.  Fine.  Frank and his prize wife (who
>> could peel paint with her screeching) got a small apt nearby, out from
>> under the kids finally after 35 years or whatever.
>>
>> So we get to the house, raining like hell.  Walk onto the (closed-in)
>> front porch, and there is a kid passed out on a couch.  h.  So I go
>> over and kick the couch, trying to stir him up, no motion.  Do that a
>> couple more times, shake him by the shoulder, nothing.  Holy shiite we are
>> thinking the kid has ODed and is dead or something but he finally starts to
>> stir, his eyes open and the pupils are blown, very clearly high as a kite.
>> We keep trying to stir him, he finally sits up and looks around, kinda
>> woozie and unstable, then manages to stand and stumble out into the storm
>> and off down the street.  OK, Frank left the youngest there, no place to
>> go.  Nice.
>>
>> We go inside and some of his crap is in there, sleeping bag and a few
>> clothes and a candle, he had managed to climb into a window and was camping
>> out.  I put all of it on the porch, I guess they came and got it the next
>> day or two.  Never saw that kid, but Frank had owned the cab company in
>> town for quite awhile until the kids ran it into the ground (and took a
>> brand new cab to a lake in NH to go ice fishing, the cab crashed through
>> the ice and sunk), but the oldest one, who was actually sorta decent, still
>> drove a cab and he would take me to the airport occasionally and I would
>> get stories about Frank and the fam from him which were always
>> entertaining.  He had no idea what had happened to the one left behind.
>>
>> --JC
>>
>>
>> On 6/4/16 9:54 AM, Kaleb C. Striplin via Mercedes wrote:
>>
>>> The only thing I see that could have been a problem is letting the buyer
>>> store their cars there. It can be a bad idea to let buyers move stuff in
>>> before closing because in general you would be responsible for their items.
>>> Most common thing is buyers will sometimes want to store furniture or
>>> something in the garage before close. Probably not a problem most of the
>>> time but could potential turn into one.
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On Jun 3, 2016, at 11:08 PM, Craig via Mercedes <
 mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:

 On Fri, 3 Jun 2016 21:41:24 -0500 "Kaleb C. Striplin via Mercedes"
  wrote:

 Holy crap, what is the commission rate on listings there?  Its usually
> 6% here.
>
 Commission rate here is 3%/3%. We had the house listed on Zillow for
 $364,500.

 The first agent who brought someone by started her presentation by
 saying, "You're not going to be happy about this." She ended up
 presenting an offer for $310,000 from some people who needed to move in
 quickly so they could get set up to foster children. The things she
 related they said just didn't make sense, so we hesitated. Then the
 husband of the couple who wanted to buy it contacted me directly. His
 contacts put us off even more. We finally told him we did not want to
 sell to him.

 The second couple who wanted to buy our house found it by the sign I had
 put out in front. They were a Chinese couple who came through the house
 three times with her parents, who spoke no English. The four of them
 walked through the house jabbering to each other in Chinese. One time,
 the husband asked me what was the lowest price I would take. I told 

Re: [MBZ] Mexicans -- story -- RE

[Joel Cairo via Mercedes]

And sometimes a bit salty

--JC


On 6/4/16 1:40 PM, Andrew Strasfogel wrote:
I wish I could narrate like you.  Your prose is like pemmican - all 
nutrition, no filler.


This is meant to be a compliment, BTW.

On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 11:18 AM, Joel Cairo via Mercedes 
> wrote:


When we bought our house in Melrose (outside of Boston) it was a
complete wreck.  The old Irish couple had 9 or 10 kids of their
own and had kept 20some foster kids over the years. They were all
pretty much losers.  4 or 5 of them were still living in the house
with them, 18-31yo.  The daughter, who was a real prize, lived in
an upstairs back bedroom with a piece of plywood hinged at the top
for a door, like a dog door.  Ol Frank had warned us she was up
there when we went to look at the house, "She's a f'n pig" was how
he described her.  Nice. (He was correct BTW)

So anyway we buy the place, I knew what I was getting in to, would
be a good fixer-upper, good price for the town and neighborhood. 
So we do the closing one afternoon, it is a stormy day,

thunderstorms and raining hard.  Frank tells us that one of the
kids left some furniture on the front porch, will pick them up in
a day or two.  Fine.  Frank and his prize wife (who could peel
paint with her screeching) got a small apt nearby, out from under
the kids finally after 35 years or whatever.

So we get to the house, raining like hell.  Walk onto the
(closed-in) front porch, and there is a kid passed out on a
couch.  h.  So I go over and kick the couch, trying to stir
him up, no motion.  Do that a couple more times, shake him by the
shoulder, nothing.  Holy shiite we are thinking the kid has ODed
and is dead or something but he finally starts to stir, his eyes
open and the pupils are blown, very clearly high as a kite.  We
keep trying to stir him, he finally sits up and looks around,
kinda woozie and unstable, then manages to stand and stumble out
into the storm and off down the street.  OK, Frank left the
youngest there, no place to go.  Nice.

We go inside and some of his crap is in there, sleeping bag and a
few clothes and a candle, he had managed to climb into a window
and was camping out.  I put all of it on the porch, I guess they
came and got it the next day or two.  Never saw that kid, but
Frank had owned the cab company in town for quite awhile until the
kids ran it into the ground (and took a brand new cab to a lake in
NH to go ice fishing, the cab crashed through the ice and sunk),
but the oldest one, who was actually sorta decent, still drove a
cab and he would take me to the airport occasionally and I would
get stories about Frank and the fam from him which were always
entertaining.  He had no idea what had happened to the one left
behind.

--JC


On 6/4/16 9:54 AM, Kaleb C. Striplin via Mercedes wrote:

The only thing I see that could have been a problem is letting
the buyer store their cars there. It can be a bad idea to let
buyers move stuff in before closing because in general you
would be responsible for their items. Most common thing is
buyers will sometimes want to store furniture or something in
the garage before close. Probably not a problem most of the
time but could potential turn into one.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 3, 2016, at 11:08 PM, Craig via Mercedes
> wrote:

On Fri, 3 Jun 2016 21:41:24 -0500 "Kaleb C. Striplin via
Mercedes"
> wrote:

Holy crap, what is the commission rate on listings
there?  Its usually
6% here.

Commission rate here is 3%/3%. We had the house listed on
Zillow for
$364,500.

The first agent who brought someone by started her
presentation by
saying, "You're not going to be happy about this." She
ended up
presenting an offer for $310,000 from some people who
needed to move in
quickly so they could get set up to foster children. The
things she
related they said just didn't make sense, so we hesitated.
Then the
husband of the couple who wanted to buy it contacted me
directly. His
contacts put us off even more. We finally told him we did
not want to
sell to him.

The second couple who wanted to buy our house found it by
the sign I had
put out in front. They were a Chinese couple who came
through the house
three times with her parents, who spoke no English. The
  

Re: [MBZ] Mexicans -- story -- RE

[Andrew Strasfogel via Mercedes]

I wish I could narrate like you.  Your prose is like pemmican - all
nutrition, no filler.

This is meant to be a compliment, BTW.

On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 11:18 AM, Joel Cairo via Mercedes <
mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:

> When we bought our house in Melrose (outside of Boston) it was a complete
> wreck.  The old Irish couple had 9 or 10 kids of their own and had kept
> 20some foster kids over the years.  They were all pretty much losers.  4 or
> 5 of them were still living in the house with them, 18-31yo.  The daughter,
> who was a real prize, lived in an upstairs back bedroom with a piece of
> plywood hinged at the top for a door, like a dog door.  Ol Frank had warned
> us she was up there when we went to look at the house, "She's a f'n pig"
> was how he described her.  Nice. (He was correct BTW)
>
> So anyway we buy the place, I knew what I was getting in to, would be a
> good fixer-upper, good price for the town and neighborhood.  So we do the
> closing one afternoon, it is a stormy day, thunderstorms and raining hard.
> Frank tells us that one of the kids left some furniture on the front porch,
> will pick them up in a day or two.  Fine.  Frank and his prize wife (who
> could peel paint with her screeching) got a small apt nearby, out from
> under the kids finally after 35 years or whatever.
>
> So we get to the house, raining like hell.  Walk onto the (closed-in)
> front porch, and there is a kid passed out on a couch.  h.  So I go
> over and kick the couch, trying to stir him up, no motion.  Do that a
> couple more times, shake him by the shoulder, nothing.  Holy shiite we are
> thinking the kid has ODed and is dead or something but he finally starts to
> stir, his eyes open and the pupils are blown, very clearly high as a kite.
> We keep trying to stir him, he finally sits up and looks around, kinda
> woozie and unstable, then manages to stand and stumble out into the storm
> and off down the street.  OK, Frank left the youngest there, no place to
> go.  Nice.
>
> We go inside and some of his crap is in there, sleeping bag and a few
> clothes and a candle, he had managed to climb into a window and was camping
> out.  I put all of it on the porch, I guess they came and got it the next
> day or two.  Never saw that kid, but Frank had owned the cab company in
> town for quite awhile until the kids ran it into the ground (and took a
> brand new cab to a lake in NH to go ice fishing, the cab crashed through
> the ice and sunk), but the oldest one, who was actually sorta decent, still
> drove a cab and he would take me to the airport occasionally and I would
> get stories about Frank and the fam from him which were always
> entertaining.  He had no idea what had happened to the one left behind.
>
> --JC
>
>
> On 6/4/16 9:54 AM, Kaleb C. Striplin via Mercedes wrote:
>
>> The only thing I see that could have been a problem is letting the buyer
>> store their cars there. It can be a bad idea to let buyers move stuff in
>> before closing because in general you would be responsible for their items.
>> Most common thing is buyers will sometimes want to store furniture or
>> something in the garage before close. Probably not a problem most of the
>> time but could potential turn into one.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Jun 3, 2016, at 11:08 PM, Craig via Mercedes 
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Fri, 3 Jun 2016 21:41:24 -0500 "Kaleb C. Striplin via Mercedes"
>>>  wrote:
>>>
>>> Holy crap, what is the commission rate on listings there?  Its usually
 6% here.

>>> Commission rate here is 3%/3%. We had the house listed on Zillow for
>>> $364,500.
>>>
>>> The first agent who brought someone by started her presentation by
>>> saying, "You're not going to be happy about this." She ended up
>>> presenting an offer for $310,000 from some people who needed to move in
>>> quickly so they could get set up to foster children. The things she
>>> related they said just didn't make sense, so we hesitated. Then the
>>> husband of the couple who wanted to buy it contacted me directly. His
>>> contacts put us off even more. We finally told him we did not want to
>>> sell to him.
>>>
>>> The second couple who wanted to buy our house found it by the sign I had
>>> put out in front. They were a Chinese couple who came through the house
>>> three times with her parents, who spoke no English. The four of them
>>> walked through the house jabbering to each other in Chinese. One time,
>>> the husband asked me what was the lowest price I would take. I told him
>>> if they didn't use a real estate agent, I would require $330,000. If they
>>> used an agent, I would require $340,000.
>>>
>>> Their agent brought their offer over for $310,000, with a 3% commission,
>>> plus the gross receipts tax on top of that. We said no.
>>>
>>> The couple came over again, this time to present their sob story and
>>> plead with us to sell it to them for their price. The wife said she was a
>>> light 

Re: [MBZ] Mexicans -- story -- RE

[Joel Cairo via Mercedes]

When we bought our house in Melrose (outside of Boston) it was a 
complete wreck.  The old Irish couple had 9 or 10 kids of their own and 
had kept 20some foster kids over the years.  They were all pretty much 
losers.  4 or 5 of them were still living in the house with them, 
18-31yo.  The daughter, who was a real prize, lived in an upstairs back 
bedroom with a piece of plywood hinged at the top for a door, like a dog 
door.  Ol Frank had warned us she was up there when we went to look at 
the house, "She's a f'n pig" was how he described her.  Nice. (He was 
correct BTW)


So anyway we buy the place, I knew what I was getting in to, would be a 
good fixer-upper, good price for the town and neighborhood.  So we do 
the closing one afternoon, it is a stormy day, thunderstorms and raining 
hard.  Frank tells us that one of the kids left some furniture on the 
front porch, will pick them up in a day or two.  Fine.  Frank and his 
prize wife (who could peel paint with her screeching) got a small apt 
nearby, out from under the kids finally after 35 years or whatever.


So we get to the house, raining like hell.  Walk onto the (closed-in) 
front porch, and there is a kid passed out on a couch.  h.  So I go 
over and kick the couch, trying to stir him up, no motion.  Do that a 
couple more times, shake him by the shoulder, nothing.  Holy shiite we 
are thinking the kid has ODed and is dead or something but he finally 
starts to stir, his eyes open and the pupils are blown, very clearly 
high as a kite.  We keep trying to stir him, he finally sits up and 
looks around, kinda woozie and unstable, then manages to stand and 
stumble out into the storm and off down the street.  OK, Frank left the 
youngest there, no place to go.  Nice.


We go inside and some of his crap is in there, sleeping bag and a few 
clothes and a candle, he had managed to climb into a window and was 
camping out.  I put all of it on the porch, I guess they came and got it 
the next day or two.  Never saw that kid, but Frank had owned the cab 
company in town for quite awhile until the kids ran it into the ground 
(and took a brand new cab to a lake in NH to go ice fishing, the cab 
crashed through the ice and sunk), but the oldest one, who was actually 
sorta decent, still drove a cab and he would take me to the airport 
occasionally and I would get stories about Frank and the fam from him 
which were always entertaining.  He had no idea what had happened to the 
one left behind.


--JC


On 6/4/16 9:54 AM, Kaleb C. Striplin via Mercedes wrote:

The only thing I see that could have been a problem is letting the buyer store 
their cars there. It can be a bad idea to let buyers move stuff in before 
closing because in general you would be responsible for their items. Most 
common thing is buyers will sometimes want to store furniture or something in 
the garage before close. Probably not a problem most of the time but could 
potential turn into one.

Sent from my iPhone


On Jun 3, 2016, at 11:08 PM, Craig via Mercedes  wrote:

On Fri, 3 Jun 2016 21:41:24 -0500 "Kaleb C. Striplin via Mercedes"
 wrote:


Holy crap, what is the commission rate on listings there?  Its usually
6% here.

Commission rate here is 3%/3%. We had the house listed on Zillow for
$364,500.

The first agent who brought someone by started her presentation by
saying, "You're not going to be happy about this." She ended up
presenting an offer for $310,000 from some people who needed to move in
quickly so they could get set up to foster children. The things she
related they said just didn't make sense, so we hesitated. Then the
husband of the couple who wanted to buy it contacted me directly. His
contacts put us off even more. We finally told him we did not want to
sell to him.

The second couple who wanted to buy our house found it by the sign I had
put out in front. They were a Chinese couple who came through the house
three times with her parents, who spoke no English. The four of them
walked through the house jabbering to each other in Chinese. One time,
the husband asked me what was the lowest price I would take. I told him
if they didn't use a real estate agent, I would require $330,000. If they
used an agent, I would require $340,000.

Their agent brought their offer over for $310,000, with a 3% commission,
plus the gross receipts tax on top of that. We said no.

The couple came over again, this time to present their sob story and
plead with us to sell it to them for their price. The wife said she was a
light sleeper and the forced-air heat system made too much noise, so they
would have to change it to a hydronic system, which would cost more than
$25,000. She really tried to put a guilt trip on us. Note, though, that
the house is built on a slab. We again said, "NO!"

A few months later, an older couple stopped by to inquire about the
house. When I showed them around the house, the husband remarked how
quiet the