Highlights

[pantshead]

We went on actual vacation!  A friend of mine from church had given us a week of Timeshare credit to trade for a week where & when we wanted it.  So, we've just returned from a week on Cape Cod.  Among other things, we visited Nantucket, Provincetown, the Sandwich Glass museum, the Whydah shipwreck museum, lighthouses, and walked on the beach a bunch. 

We're thinking of buying a house!  Though we're still deciding whether the "time is right" or not, Syracuse housing prices are really low (always, not just right now).  We will probably have made a decision about whether to buy this year by the end of the summer.

The weird guy downstairs seems to be gone!  (I know I never got a chance to post about him, since April & May were pretty busy) but the short version is:  a stupid problem created by the friend-of-the-landlord/property-manager-guy seems to have now been resolved.  And, for those who've heard parts of the story in person, nearly all of the trash pile is gone now, too.

More soon, I'm sure, but I know I've been terrible about updating...

Comments

[rissymonster.livejournal.com]

Hooray for a real vacation! That's awesome.

Also, hooray for purchasing of house! Obviously, real estate is always a bit of a gamble (as with any other investment, although a bit more charged since in this instance the investment also doubles as your shelter). If there are 1st time homebuyer programs in Syracuse, that might be good to take a look at if youse qualify. Because I am a huge nerd, I looked it up, and it appears Syracuse outsources their first-time homebuyer downpayment/closing cost assistance program (http://www.homehq.org/homeownership/down_payment.html) to an outside non-profit.

[pantshead.livejournal.com]

Syracuse does indeed! We're taking their homebuying class this month, in fact... We may or may not qualify for the financial assistance part of it (depending on how much the actual house costs and depending on how much we tell them about assets we're *not* using to make a downpayment) but the classes are open to anyone.

It helps, too, that we'd like to buy in the city--since Syracuse is actually LOSING people on an annual basis, there are some other grant programs available by neighborhood to owner-occupiers.

[lytnmyiz.livejournal.com]

Congrats on getting to take a vacation! The cape is definitely a pretty nice place to go. I love when I have to drive down there to drop off or pick up gear. It's beautiful! I may have even been down there the same time as you guys.