d00dism

I haven’t posted in a while due partially to getting a cat (pictures will follow… someday). As I went to go to take pictures, I realized both my batteries were dead. Charging them takes a while, so I sat down to finally label and describe all the photos I took when I moved into my house, all 82 of them. Now you know why it took me a couple months to get around to it.

I haven’t fully tagged it, but it’s certainly viewable over on Flickr. Now you can see where the magic happens. While I was logged in, I noticed that Jason put up some cool football pictures which are worth a look if you’re a football or Cal/WSU fan.

When it becomes time to buy a house or condo, you start thinking about the various attributes that properties have. Which is the most important? Anybody will tell you that the top three are location, location, and location. I’ll be extremely methodical about this and dissect them one at a time.

Location

With gas prices at all time highs, being close to work is more important than ever. That’s especially true if you drive a big honking SUV. Hell, it can add up even if you drive an average car. Sure, buying a hybrid or motorcycle might be cheaper than buying a house, but you’re not moving just for that.

Besides gas, think about all those hours of your life you lose. They’re irreplaceable. Your time is worth money. Further, if you drive, all that aggravation and stress will take years off your life.

Starting your search with work as a central starting point if you have a stable job (which is a very good idea when making such a major purchase). If you’re buying with someone else, a midpoint can be a good central location.

Location

I want to live near the ocean. I’m not alone (just examine any population density map). Some people want to live near a lake. Yet others like mountains. Figuring out what kind of terrain you want to live in can be very important.

Proximity to a population center is also important to consider. If you like the hustle and bustle of the city, the country may bore you to tears. Likewise, country bumpkins may be driven insane by the incessant noise of a city.

Location

Finally, think about the people that will be living near you. Your neighbors can make your life miserable. The obvious example is if they’re drug dealers or gang members. There’s a reason I didn’t decide to live in Lowell.

However, a touchy older person can be just as annoying, constantly telling you to quiet down or even call the cops. Your neighbors might have kids, which might be annoying for some.

I Know Where You Live

Before you do anything else, research where you want to live. Drive around (if you can afford the gas). Talk to friends. Get crime and school statistics for the area you’re looking in. Realtors can supply this information, but doing the research on your own will get you less biased results.

So, the essential part of moving has been accomplished. I’ve got my cable modem and Vonage working. Screw food and hygiene, net access and phone capabilities are what really matters.

Despite hearing grumbling about Comcast service issues, so far my experience has been great. The installation was quick and easy. The installer simply needed my cable modem’s serial and model number to register it and I was off. I even applied a Comcast specific firmware update to my D-Link DCM-202. I actually flashed it using my Mac, which isn’t supported by D-Link. In fact, because you can’t simply upload the firmware via a form as is normal for most network devices, it’s hidden. Look forward to a how-to with my method. I’m even experiencing 800 KB/s downloads, faster than any other connection I’ve ever used.

As for Vonage, it took a bit of tweaking to get it working as I wanted it to. For most users, it would be easy as pie (let me be your referrer if you decide to sign up, I’ll get two free months), but I’m an uber geek and I’ve discovered some problems in the Linksys RTP300 which is the router that Vonage ships now. More on that in my Vonage review that I’ll try to get out after using the service for a longer period.

Close friends already know that I just bought a townhouse in Tewksbury, Massachusetts (reducing my commute time to under half an hour). This is the big secret that I made reference to in earlier posts. I closed on Thursday.

Originally, I planned on posting that day or on Friday along with pictures. However, due to all the work associated with trying to move in, I haven’t had time (as evidenced by my light posting). The pictures are taken, but now I need to download them from the camera and get them properly loaded onto Flickr. That’s another lengthy task I couldn’t get around to.

More observant readers may have been able to pick on the context clues, such as buying a cable modem and talking about getting Vonage. I’m sure I said other stuff that gave it away. It wasn’t really trying to keep it under wraps. I wanted to simply not crow about it, possibly putting a jinx on the deal (which I still believe was possible).

It’s been a very long hard road to get to home ownership. I didn’t really have a good guide to it. Because of this, I decided to add yet another direction for the site. I’m going to document my entire struggle, beginning to end. I’ll be changing names (except when I’m rewarding people for really helping me) because some of the stories are extremely embarrassing or at least I imagine it would be.

I’ll also be documenting major and minor repairs that I’ll be performing as a new homeowner. Let’s face it. When you watch This Old House and the carpenter is doing things that he’s done a million times before, it’s frustrating because he doesn’t touch on the finer points that a newbie wouldn’t know.

Hopefully I can help some people out. If not, the pictures should be fun to look at.