House Hunting - 2

Settlement as the word inaccurately suggests is actually meant to be quite unsettling.

There's the Title Company which does the legwork leading up to the actual process of sitting across the table and exchanging checks for property.

This "well known" title company gave us a competitive quote for title services, but bounced back and gave us a 10,000V shock on the day of settlement by changing their quote. I tried to protest but to no avail, spoke to our Real estate agent, again no results, finally gave up and walked into the settlement room quite glum, quietly cursing and feeling helpless.

The settlement went without a hitch and yes I remember blankly staring at the title officer while she went on explaining details of the deal. After we initialed 20,000 pages ( I can't put a number on the number of pages) and signed another 10,000; checks as in money changed hands, while we got the property papers. Once the show was over everybody felt relaxed and started making jokes (I continued cursing quietly). In such a state of apparent goodwill the title officer mentioned in passing that she has this medical condition where her mind just goes blank and she doesn't remember anything. My eyes popped, my mind however continued to curse with renewed vigor.

Apart for the minor heart burn listed above, the seller and mortgage agent turned out to be true gems. For rest of the people involved in this deal, I say - in the future - Thanks but no thanks!

To all those going through this, I say this - no matter how prepared you are, get plenty of practice in getting shocked, you can either do this by connecting yourself to an electrical socket or deal with a Title company. I recommend the first option.

AIA Convention, Los Angeles

PART I

2006 AIA Convention offered a great opportunity for fresh AIA members. How can the freeloader in me turn down an offer worth 600 bucks? So We packed our bags and set off for L.A.
Venue - L.A. Convention Center

Arrival was pretty smooth with a few exceptions -
- 6 Hours on Painful Boeing Seats
- Smart Ass Airport Shuttle driver
- Smelly hotel room

The Convention was a 2 mile walk through downtown L.A. A sumptuous breakfast (fortunate - since for some odd reason the rooms had an ODD ODOR) for a start.

Since I started writing this blog last year, what follows is an incomplete babble based on bits and pieces of info hanging around in the back of my mind -

First I was taken aback, looking at so many architects together at 1 place and then I took a step forward. For a 3rd world country-ite like me, the scale was intimidating.

Registration was smooth, except I couldn't figure out how to get it done. I have to admit that the sight of so many well qualified ehm! architects left me in a state of confusion so I let the receptionist spoon-feed me on the details.

I (me and wife, forgot to mention she was with me, from this point onward please read I as 'We' ) meandered off to the first hall we saw. It turned out to be manufacturer's booths as far as the eye could see which was 15 feet in front of you. I decided to organize myself on how to cover all these booths systematically. While thinking, I noticed this booth distributing free goodies, that was it organization and information went out the main door and there I was pretending to be real interested in the product and casually picking up a pen here and a T-shirt there and oh man! the booth next door is giving away coffee mugs .... and so it went on until I overheard someone mention seminar.

it's 5:00PM, almost time to leave :) . I'll save the babble on "seminar" for Part II.

House Hunting - 1

Finally, the Blog slumber comes to an end, I/We were looking for homes. It's so much fun. It's the looking - I enjoy. Past couple of weeks it's been an obsession. But I see a settlement date at the end of this tunnel.

Lets define some key protagonists in this act of finding a home in order of importance:

1. Real Estate Agents
2. Mortgage Agents
3. Seller
4. Buyer

1 - In theory, first 1 is nothing but a matchmaker - they claim to bring years of experience and sound the sincerest in looking out for you, but buyer beware - commission is what makes this homo sapien breed tick. For that matter, commission is what makes any other agent tick.

2 - is the most confusing one: You have to hear these guys speak. Typically, one erudite discourse is enough to boggle your mind and leaves you with a terrible sense of helplessness. The situation is further complicated by the fact that there are a host of different types of mortgages.

3&4 - Logically, these are the guys who should matter; but having met and experienced 1,2 firsthand, these have been reduced to mere spectators.

All of the above is based on experiences leading up t0 "Now". I'll try to blog inferences after the settlement.

Sky While driving

Picture0023-1, originally uploaded by substance 306.

An interesting churning effect in the sky.

Work

Picture0013-1, originally uploaded by substance 306.

This new canopy at work seems to hold on quite effectively - thanks to the sun melting the snow oof quickly.