Mike and Music

We haven’t really posted much on this blog about the fact that we’re buying a place, but it’s now official, so let the posting begin! Mike and I decided a few months ago to start looking at properties again. Prices are falling and interest rates are still at historic lows, so why not look?
Mike is a big proponent of buying multi-unit properties, and I think he’s right. You increase your buying power, because when you rent out a unit (or units), the rent increases your income– in a sense, they’re paying part of your mortgage. We concentrated our search on multi-unit places in the city’s urban core. We wanted a place where we could put in some sweat equity, but not something that was falling down.

After looking at more MLS listings than you can shake a stick at and driving by a ton of places where we’d never want to live, we narrowed it down to three properties. One was a house with an amazing backyard that fronted a canyon. It had a tiny one bedroom rental unit, and was tucked away in an area off the beaten path of a slowly revitalizing area. The house had foundation issues and needed a ton of work, so we crossed it off the list. The second house was a cute two bedroom place and had a two bedroom rental unit in the back. It was cute, but there wasn’t anything special about the place. It also was sort of off the beaten path, but the street was busier than I would have preferred and we also scratched it. The final place was a triplex with a four bedroom, two bath main unit and two one bedroom rental units. It has a great view of the Coronado Bridge and the San Diego bay, and is just a hop, skip and a jump from downtown.

In the end, we made an offer on the almost downtown (Grant Hill/Golden Hill, for those who know San Diego) property, and after quite a bit of back and forth, we settled on a price and are moving forward with the sale. We’re going to renovate the rental units, putting new kitchens and flooring in each, and totally re-do ours, as well. At this point, it looks like we’ll take possession of the property in mid-September.

We bought $3000 worth of appliances today, all for the rental units!  They’re nice (and a bargain!) and I thought we’d share some of them with you.

The dishwasher

The stove

The fridge

The microwave/hood

It was Home Depot’s 10% off appliances sale, coupled with their offering rebates on appliances $397 and up; also free delivery, free haul-away,  and an energy-star rebate of $30.  Can you believe we walked out of the Depot with a 4-piece kitchen costing us less than $1350?  Amazing!

I was looking at some of the old documents associated with the house Mike and I are buying, and came across something really interesting– a provision in the original covenant that restricted who could live in the house. In fact, the document reads that the owners, “will not permit any real property… to be used and/or occupied by any person, or persons, not of the white or Caucasian race.” Signed in 1940, the agreement lists a man named Frank Zinnel as the owner of the lots we’re buying. A Google search for Frank shows that a house he owned (which is actually localed not far from the one we’re buying )was designated a historic landmark in 1988.

The ironic part of the whole thing (besides the fact that I, a half-black person is buying the property) is that now the neighborhood is mostly Hispanic, with little tiendas and taquerias scattered on every corner. So much for keeping the colored folks out.

Imagine my surprise when, tonight, I saw a strange man wandering around our front yard. White guy, dressed in a button up shirt and khakis, holding a clipboard or folder, and walking from one side of the yard to the other. I went outside to see who he was and what he was doing in our yard (which is fenced in by a natural barrier of wall-like cactus). By this time, he had his cell phone up to his ear. He shot me a dirty look and turned his back to me. “Okay, weird,” I thought to myself.  He ignored me for another 30 seconds or so before I asked, “Can I help you?” He said he was looking for a neighbor, and when I explained that the man lives in the house behind ours, the strange man snapped at me. “I know!,” he said. He began ignoring me again, this time talking into his phone. I could hear his half of the conversation as he introduced himself to my neighbor as a man who is running for City Council. I could not believe that someone who was trolling for votes would be so rude to me! Since he was continuing to ignore me, I turned around without another word and went inside. He wandered off to the next

Adding insult to injury, I looked him up and he actually is a former council member (who should know better)! For those readers of our blog who live in San Diego and are voters, I say– don’t vote for John Hartley.

(There’s an episode of “I Love Lucy” where Lucy and Ethel are performing a song that I think is called “Friendship” in a show.  It turns out they’ve worn the same dress, and they end up ripping the dresses off each other, piece by piece, as they sing a song the celebrates their relationship.  One line from the song refers to friendship as “the perfect blend-ship,” hence the title of this post.)

In the last four days, I have gotten to see three good friends from college.  While at a training for work in the Bay Area, I met up with Way and Kevin for dinner at a delicious hole-in-the-wall Indian place and we got caught up.  Seeing Way and Kevin was particularly special because I also got to see them a couple of months ago, and it’s extremely rare that we get to spend time together that frequently.  I am lucky enough to have had both of them as roommates, and I’m so happy we are friends even now that we live hundreds of miles apart.

Tonight, Saleem and his wife Beth took a few hours out of their hectic, cross country (indeed, international) trip to have dinner with Mike and me.  They’re back from a year teaching in China and are in the States for a couple of months before returning for year two of their commitment.  They came over and we sat outside in the backyard and ate delicious Mexican food (homemade rice and beans, plus New Mexico-style enchiladas) before heading inside to play the Wii.  After some bowling, baseball, air hockey, shoot ‘em up, and boxing– whew!– Saleem and Beth headed home, but I’m so glad they came by!

The moral of this story?  If you’re reading this, you must be a friend or a relative– when was the last time you came to visit us?  I encourage you to plan a trip to lovely San Diego to eat, drink, and be merry!