No news, still.

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I called my broker yesterday afternoon. Nothing to report. I am never quite sure about what he says regarding inspections though. He said that the place had been inspected, and that to his knowledge, the inspection was successful. This having been a familiar and incorrect notice before, I initially took the thing with a grain of salt. Then he suggested that some sort of work remained, or had been done, though this too was not clear. When I started asking what, when, how, money, why... He said his brokerage and the seller's broker agreed to pay to have it done out of their pockets. Well, interesting, but... So I am not sure if this is done, if it is whether it has been inspected. If it is not completed, I know it will have to be inspected, so have they arranged for an inspection as soon after the work is done as possible or are they waiting for the work to be completed to call for an inspection?

Today is the day I am supposed to begin searching for an apartment! I have no choice but to go forward with that. I have two options here. First, I can simply find the least expensive place I can and crawl away to horde money. Though to be honest, I do not think it will matter. My guess is that if the finance companies and banks are in such trouble, and doubting the Federal government through the V.A. loan process, next year will not be good either. Once houses have dropped to a certain level, and they remain unsold, they are simply removed from the market through one financial mechanism or another in order to "create" value once again. As well, though many see deflationary flags, to my mind hyper-inflation is the beast to watch (though in truth, watching either one and ignoring the other would be a disaster in spite of the fact that once policies are in play for one, switching them over to protect the other would be so slow and clumsy as to more likely do more damage, fiscally, than doing nothing would be... although here the terms of the disaster may be mitigated over time if the initial damage might be greater in the short to mid-term of the thing). Well, that is my thinking anyway. My other apartment option is to hold out for a rent by the month place, usually dives, plan on taking this over again in the fall, and work it that way. Or, to go "camping" for the summer.

So, what I am saying is, I am not sure houses, loan packages, or any such thing will necessarily be available even by next year (let alone favorable ones, if the uncertainty that exists today passes for that). Further, after having done this much work with the V.A. mortgage center, I am not sure I ever want to work with them again. I really think they have been working to kill what they cannot legally deny since the whole operation began. I get this mental picture of drunken U.S.S.R. bureaucrats, who drink because they have a miserable job, doing harm which is technically illegal in spite of having been hired to do good, developing reason after reason, demand after demand, knowing in the end people have only so much time to pause their lives in pursuit of what was promised and which they swore to do. Beyond, they know that should the politburo change the course it is on, they could be tried for their unofficial ordered actions. What they are currently doing could land them in jail, or worse, bureaucracies being highly populist as they are. High crimes, high times... for another round of Vodka! The grind goes on.

I have been packing bits at a time, doing laundry, and feeling like a cat too far out on too thin a branch, far to high off the ground for any kind of safe landing. No worries, unlike a cat, I do not panic. Worse comes to worse, I will merely become homeless. And, to some degree, I am considering this anyway. I am not sure I will have time to close this deal before my allotted time here is done. So, if I cannot find a rent by month place in a reasonable fee bracket, I am strongly considering being homeless. Heck, if I like it, I may just keep it. I do have a tent and some minor gear. My auto can work as a temporary safe place for gear, if a weak one. Not a fun life, but preferable to year (and sometimes 2 year) contracts, missing out on a house, or some of the other options. So goes it.

Well, that is all for today. Or, now at least. I will tinker, hope the day warms enough that I may begin a bit of work, and begin looking for a place while hoping for a call. No, no, there is one more bit of information. It seems the V.A. is not paying, or has not paid for, my emergency room visit. I received a bill from the hospital yesterday. I will call them sometime today and let them know that this is between them and the V.A. If they razz me about it again, I will raise a stink or ignore them, at my leisure. If they try and damage my credit, I will sue.

Have a good one.