Like Throwing Money Away

This evening was full of decisions.  One about laundry and the other about sod.


My dad, who's an insurance investigator, came by and checked out our home.  It's not worth making a claim on our insurance, but we do need to replace the laundry room flooring and the washer.  Turns out we bought it four years ago; it was the dryer we had to replace when we moved.  Our old place was all electric, and this is wired for a gas dryer.  From what I've been hearing, four to five years is now the common life span of these "durable goods."


I did find our old washer online, but I also looked into some bigger, schmancier models.  One that I especially like is about $250 more, but it's a high efficiency top loader with rave customer reviews (except for the one in which a person self-identified as the cranky old lady down the street, but with different words... she hated it).  Sort of the best of both worlds.


We talked it over.  Under what I think of as "normal" circumstances, we'd go ahead and upgrade.  We ultimately decided to save our money now, even if it means not having lower water bills in the future.  Without trying out the bells and whistles washer, we don't have an effective means of judging the potential savings anyway.


So I went online to order the simple washer.  It's not available for delivery or in-store purchase for at least 90 days.  I might have cackled with glee when I read that.  And the other one?  It'll be here on June 22.  That's a long time to go without a washer, especially since Mad's still dealing with diarrhea.  In the meantime, I'll have to find out where we can get our laundry done.  Margaret has offered to do our laundry for us, and she did do a desperation load for me on Monday, but we don't feel right having that become a two-week long habit.


The second decision has to do with our sod, our realtor and the title company from when our home was in escrow.  Today I received documentation showing that the lien against our property for not having appropriate ground cover out front has been lifted.  Dave, the realtor, ended up going to the head of some department in our city to get the fine waived since the work has been done and we were not the owners when the fine was levied.  While following up on that he told me, "In my research I found that two additional liens were filed (against the original owners).  The title company handled those, but the city hasn't cleared them yet."  He took up that matter with the city, too.  So we also received proof that those liens are resolved.


Then Dave requested that I send him our receipt for the sod and related equipment.  He wants to go after the title company and make them pay.  He said it's unlikely to happen, but he would attempt it for us.  Usually when he says that, he makes "it" happen.  Tom and I talked it over and decided to let it go.  The amount we'd potentially recoup would be quite helpful.  It would more than pay for our schmancy washer.  It just isn't our thing.  Tom said he knew the lawn would have to be replaced when we bought the house.  I figured we could just reseed and water it.  Whatever.  If Dave could get some sort of commission from this work, or if we had the money for a lovely thank you gift, that would be one thing.  All we can offer him is what he already gets from us:  Our undying respect, admiration and appreciation.  Oh, and we pass on his name whenever it seems appropriate.  So we're done.  The lawn is in.  The bills will be paid.  Life goes on.


If you need an amazing realtor, who really will go above and beyond for you, and you're in southern California, let me know.  I'll give you Dave's number, too.