It's been about 2 months since the lots next to us sold. Still no big updates. It's strange, though, because while the son of the owners of the lot right next to us said his parents closed early July (zillow listing says 7/2), we're not quite sure if the other lot has closed the sale or not. The listing was originally for the 2 lots combined. The listing then got changed to one lot and this listing is marked as sold. The other lot is not showing as sold (but it was never technically it's own listing). The realtor still has a huge "land for sale" sign up on a tree, but there is no active listing open, or nothing that says something like "pending, taking backup offers"). The sign appears to be in between the 2 lots. Also DAN still has his equipment still parked there all this time that appears to be on the lot next to us (the one we know for sure sold).
We had been told the name of the person that bought the other lot, but it's just all strange. The couple (from Texas, that we don't know their name yet) that bought the lot next to us hasn't even seen it yet. If the other lot has actually sold/closed, the guy that bought it hasn't been out since. I guess that's good - the longer everyone waits to build is ok, haha.
No offense to older folk, but I'm still a bit in awe that someone who is 80 years old (turns out he's facebook friends with our rich/millionaire friend, and his facebook profile actually shows his birthdate is next week and he will turn 80) would buy rural property to build a custom home on. By the time it's all done and ready to move into (that's if they start moving dirt next spring) it will be 2 years from this summer. When I am 80, I picture us selling/downsizing, certainly not building another house! It's such a huge process that takes so much energy, mentally as well as physically. I can't count how many times we had to go somewhere that had to do with building the house - builder meetings, meeting with subs at the property, a couple of meeting inspectors (septic and electrical) at the site, trips to every supplier (often 2 or 3 times) to pick out what we wanted from cabinets, doors, windows, siding, stone, fireplace, lighting, granite, paint and stain, etc. Not to mention all the phone calls, emails and keeping track of what is being spent. It wears me out just thinking about it.
And then just the upkeep of a home like this has to be hard when you are in your 80's. The yard maintenance and snow plowing are huge jobs. Where we are so rural, it's not like living in town or in the bigger city, where it's easy to hire someone to do it for you. Maybe this guy just plans to make this a summer home, as well, and stay in the city (where he currently lives) in the winters. Whatever he does, more power to him!
The son of the lot owners next to us said they are coming up in September to finally see their land. It'll probably end up being when we are gone on our cruise and we won't get to meet them. But, maybe they will come over Labor Day weekend and we'll be here then.
The job training is going very well with my sis. She is doing a lot on her own now, with questions here and there, so not as much training time going on. So much more work getting done! AND even more importantly, done correctly. I was asking her how her other part time job is going (she started it a couple of months before my job). She is getting totally screwed for hours worked! There is no way I'd keep doing that job. It's for a bookkeeping firm (that does her bf's returns). They do books for various small companies, so like the last work she was given was an envelope full of some guys receipts and bank statements for a year and she's supposed to get it all recorded and matched up. But the bookkeeping business doesn't consistently use the same software for each customer. So, sis is having to learn that, learn their "system", so obviously like last month she was still learning and not as fast as she will likely get. She said she worked 50 hours for the month to get it all done and when she turned it into the bookkeeping company owner (who hired her) she told her "oh no, that's too many hours, I can only bill the customer for like 25 hours" so that's all she paid sis for. I said NO WAY! that would be like my company telling her we're not paying her for her training hours. I also told her that what the bookkeeping owner is charging her client per hour is likely much less than she's paying sis per hour and she should just be paying sis for the hours she's working, out of her "profit" until sis gets up to speed. There's no way I'd be putting in that many hours of work and not getting paid for it. Sis isn't happy about it, but says she gets no backbone when it comes to sticking up for herself in situations like this.
I'd have her email the boss of the other job - one, so it's in writing, and two, so it's easier to say what you want, and three, so you can write it out for her. I do this all the time when my daughter doesn't know what to say, either in a text or email. I type it out for her and she copies and pastes it into the message.
ReplyDeleteIf she allows this to happen this time, what's going to happen next time. It's just like your boss and the lazy part timer sis is replacing. She cannot allow this to become the norm.
she really does need to nip this in the bud before it goes on much longer. She doesn't need the money that bad and there's no excuse for that boss to be taking advantage of the time paid for time worked.
DeleteShouldn't her boss pay her for her work no matter what. And, then she can charge the client whatever. When I first had my taxes done the year I got a divorce, I had a bag of papers, receipts, and other pertinent stuff. I paid so much that the next year I had sorted it and asked preparer what I could do to lower my cost. She told me to bring one number for mileage instead of lots of pieces of paper. Same with other things. I never completely did my taxes but learned how to organize to save myself money. She cannot continue to allow this boss to cheat her.
ReplyDeletethat's what I think! and told her. You know her boss is charging way more per hour to the client than she's paying my sis to do the work. It takes as long as it takes and if she's not estimating enough time to charge her customers that's her issue. Sis should be getting paid for all the time it takes to get the work done. There's no way I'd work for that kind of situation.
DeleteWhen I was doing transcription/translation work at first I was loath to charge for my actual real hours (proof-reading/checking etc.) but in the end I had to start as I meant to go on so billed actual hours. Nobody batted an eyelid because my work was good because of it. Yes your sister really needs to nip this in the bud and maybe having you help her draft an email to that boss would be a good start! I'm sure they would rather hang on to her than have to go out looking for a replacement!
ReplyDeleteshe should 100% be getting paid for how long it takes her. I think sis was trying to tell herself she was learning something so it was worth it. Well, I can tell she's a super fast learner, so I'm sure she's learning her other job just as fast and should be getting paid for how long it actually takes.
DeleteTreaders makes a very good point; with you backing her up your sister may find it easier to claim her rightful pay.
ReplyDeleteYour 80 year old soon-to-be-neighbour may not be 80; they may put that down on Facebook just to confuse data-collecting bots! I have my date of birth on Facebook as 1905 and nobody has questioned it !
He is 80. Seeing as he's on the board of directors for a company in the area, there is other info out there on him, besides Facebook.
DeleteAs someone whose husband is, shall we say, a bit older, and was, in fact, in his 80's when we built these past two houses, I say no offense taken. Gah, it was tough, and that was living less than a mile away from the site, and having the worlde best, most honest contractor who not only handled everything, but even took care of things that weren't in his job description. Honestly, I think it would be easier from across the country, where I could make the contractor pick out EVERYTHING, nd make all the decisions. Of course, you would have to make sure you had a contractor you could trust.
ReplyDeleteBut, he also had you (younger!) to help with the process. Would you want to do it when you are 80? ;) I can most definitely say I would NOT, LOL.
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