Wedding Woes

We made it to Friday!!!

This week actually seemed to go pretty quickly.  I had lots and lots of work and drama so I'm ready for the weekend.

I need to go to the store today.  Tonight we're laying low.

Saturday the boys are going to a futsal game and I'm taking M2 shopping.  She wants to spend some Christmas money at Justice (gasp, when did she get old enough to care about clothes!!).

We're projected to get 3-5" of snow tomorrow so Sunday will be church and sledding. 

Re: We made it to Friday!!!

  • Yes! First full week of the year and we survived!

    Tomorrow is my company Christmas party. So that'll be lame. But some friends are going to the bar by my house for a band so I'll have an excuse not to stay late or go to the after party. 

    H and I are working on the house this weekend. Cleaning out closets, the garage, maybe putting in new vertical blinds at the back door.

    Our realtor is coming Wednesday to scope the place out and see what we need to do to sell. And I just looked at the calendar and realized that it's three years to the day from when we put the offer on the house. 

    If anyone in the Chicagoland area needs a couple of shitty desks or shitty couches, I got you. 
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  • I'm having a really bad day. I hate my job and I just want to go home. 
  • SSC are you planning to move this year and head west? Or is it still just a hypotehtical? 

    Hugs sparklepants. Any chance you can actually go home - "sick" day
  • That really sucks @sparklepants41 - hating your job is such a drain on your life.  Hope something can change for you soon!

    I am running at lunch today to grab tons of paint swatches from Lowe's and then tonight we're putting our Christmas decorations away (finally!) and picking out a palette for the whole house.  We won't paint everything right away, but I want to have a plan for when we're ready that goes together so all the rooms don't look disjointed.  Hoping to get the kitchen painted this weekend!

    Other than that my only plans are to work on a puzzle, finish my book, take a couple naps.

  • Thanks, everyone. I wish I could take a mental health day, but we are only given 5 sick days per calendar year (and they don't roll over), and I need to save them for when Babypants is sick. 
  • Sorry Sparklepants!!  :( 

    DefConn's still under the weather.  I heard him coughing in his sleep for 3+ hours (it's a dry cough, and sounds painful on the throat).  So he's hanging at home with me again.  No fever. 

    We're planning to shop tonight.  I have a hair appt first thing tomorrow.  We're supposed to get 4-7 inches of snow tomorrow.  DH wants to go sledding with the kids Sunday morning.  I'm going work OT Sunday morning.  Other than that, lots of football watching.  I may try to tackle another closet, since the house remains in good shape. 
  • Hugs @sparklepants41

    It's seemed like a long week.  There are shenanigans at work and I'm over it.

    No big plans for the weekend.  I feel like I'm on top of cleaning and such at home so I need to do a few things this weekend to keep caught up.  I also want to see the Mary Queen of Scots movie with a co-worker.

    Otherwise, church on Sunday and relaxing.  The big snow storm is to go south of us and we are expecting 1"-2".  We have no snow on the ground here which is strange for us in January.
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  • Hope everyone who is sick miraculously gets better for the weekend :) 
    Good luck with the move prep SSC
    We are forecasted for 0-3”.... like the 0?  So do I.

    I bought one of these custom cups and brought it to work:


    I didn’t want to leave it in the kitchen because it could have made it’s way in the dishwasher, and the sticker would have washed off. I washed it out after I used it and put it on my desk..pushed back near my files.  It wasn't there this morning.  I’m assuming cleaning staff thought it was garbage (even though it’s plastic with my name on it!!!!!) and threw it out 😞.  It is only $9 so I just bought another one, since I loved it so much - but that’s not the point.  They leave water bottles and other garbage on the desks but throw out a clean plastic cup?? I guess i’ll have to leave the new one IN my desk.  Hopefully they won’t go rummaging through that?

  • @ShesSoCold, that's super weird your company is having their Christmas party in Jan., lol.  I'll guess the thought is that the party will be cheaper/less competition for them to get venues.  Less likely their employees will have conflicts.  But then, it's not Christmas anymore and that holiday "vibe" is gone.  What do you and your coworkers think?  Is it better to have the company party in Jan.?  Just curious.  Good luck with the realtor!  I hope it's good news.  Like not too many projects to get it sale ready and higher comps than you all are expecting.

    Speaking of real estate (big sigh).  And Draconian rules the day in NOLA.  No more "whole house"* short-term rentals (STR) in the city.  Which means about 70% of the STR licenses in the city will not be allowed to be renewed, once they expire.  And now I wait even longer to see how this affects the real estate market.

    I don't see any other outcome than thousands more homes being put on the market, as compared to normal levels, over the next year.  Of course, that will depress values.  Plus the rental market is already a bit soft here.  I think rental demand will take a major nose dive.  Rental prices will probably go down, though I don't think it will be a major decrease.  However, right now, I can only guess.

    *People can still rent out rooms in their own home OR, if they own a multi-family house (up to 4 units) and LIVE at the property in one of the units, they can do STR for the other units.

    For the situation I currently have, my own personal home is a duplex.  My current tenant on the other side, primarily rents out the unit on Airbnb under his own license.  He has another year left on that license.  Once the next year is up, we'll see.  But, at that point, I'd have to put the license under my name and that's going to be a whole different ballgame for us.  I suspect the STRs that are still allowed will have much higher nightly price points, because there will be 70% fewer of them.  And even fewer than that where guests would still have their own space.  I would either not renew the lease and run it as an Airbnb myself.  Or I might consider letting him stay (if he wanted to) and we'd work out some cut of the profit.

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  • @sparklepants41, only 5 sick days per year is so lame!  I hope you start feeling better.

    @CharmedPam, that cup is so cute!  Jerks :(.  I realize they didn't throw it away on purpose, but still.

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  • I’m really interested in all the Air BnB developments. My city is so far permitting up to 30 nights a year and in theory taxing owners although they aren’t enforcing it the tax. 
  • @sparklepants41, only 5 sick days per year is so lame!  I hope you start feeling better.

    @CharmedPam, that cup is so cute!  Jerks :(.  I realize they didn't throw it away on purpose, but still.

    Oh yeah I know it wasnt on purpose.  I had the admin e-mail the building’s office so they know.  Maybe they will impliment a “throw out the garbage, don’t put “garbage” in the trash”.  It should be our job to have the garbage make its way into the bags. 

    Sucks about the NOLA ruling l!  Might be the push you need to get out? although I’d never leave NOLA if I lived there. 

  • Hugs @sparklepants41

    good healing vibes for DefConn! 

    I got mayybeee 2 hours of sleep last night. That might be a generous number. We finally chose a vacation and booking it before bed was a mistake. For some reason it stressed me out like crazy. FSIL’s FI didn’t help. FI, FSIL and I spent hours talking about the plan. I asked her five times to double check it was good. She gave me the all clear so I booked it. Her FI wanted to finish his show and then got pissed we didn’t “ask for his input.” I asked multiple times. If fool can’t pause his show for ten minutes to discuss a weeklong vacation, that’s on him. It really frustrated me, and I’m still a little irritated. But...we’re going to Cancun! And the hotel looks pretty decent. Has anyone gone to the Meliá Paradisus Cancún? 

    Otherwise, work today and tomorrow. Debating whether or not to work Sunday if they ask. I need the money to pay for vacation, but I’m also scared of being burnt out. 




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  • S&S, we have the Christmas party in January to avoid conflict with other holiday "stuff". Apparently this thing is taken pretty seriously and the owner's dad gets pretty upset if people can't make it. 

    And that really sucks for your rental properties. Do you know why they're making these huge changes? Sorry if I missed that in a PP.
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  • I’m really interested in all the Air BnB developments. My city is so far permitting up to 30 nights a year and in theory taxing owners although they aren’t enforcing it the tax. 

    STR rules are typically county and/or city-specific.  The STR is an industry that is only about15 years old, but has just exploded worldwide.  Cities everywhere are facing the challenges of what to do about it.  What rules/licensing should be in place, if anything.  And, once there are rules/licensing, who and how will they be enforced.  I'm only familiar with NOLA (below) but some of the things they've done, especially with sales tax, are similar to other areas.

    Under the current non-owner occupied STR licenses in NOLA...the ones that just got banned and won't be renewed...they can only have a STR for up to 90 days a year.  NOLA defines a STR as less than 30 days, except in the French Quarter (FQ).  STRs have always been illegal in the FQ and a STR is defined as less than 60 days.

    AirBnB worked out something with NOLA about a year ago that they would collect the city/state taxes themselves and remit those payments to the appropriate offices.  The tenant who rents my other side out absolutely loves it.  He said he doesn't need to do a thing about sales tax because Airbnb automatically takes them out before they even send his payment.

    However, that is not true for other STR platforms.  Like HomeAway and VRBO.  Property owners are responsible for collecting city/state sales tax themselves and remitting it.

    Airbnb also doesn't allow a NOLA STR property to be listed on their site, unless it submits a valid STR license number.  Which helps with enforcement.  That is a major obstacle to someone trying to stay "under the radar" with an un-licensed STR.

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  • Also you know what’s awesome?  Blasting the air conditioner in 28 degree weather.

    our office is INsane!!!

    your cruise sounds awesome, Climbingwife!  I’ll be in vienna and Prague in 2 short months!

  • @CharmedPam - let me know on any Prague recs you come back with! 
  • short+sassyshort+sassy member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited January 2019
    S&S, we have the Christmas party in January to avoid conflict with other holiday "stuff". Apparently this thing is taken pretty seriously and the owner's dad gets pretty upset if people can't make it. 

    And that really sucks for your rental properties. Do you know why they're making these huge changes? Sorry if I missed that in a PP.

    You didn't miss anything, I hadn't mentioned it.  It's a huge can of worms and a current, very hot button topic here.  Despite my long post below, it's a mere general summary with some of my opinion, lol. 

    There are pros and cons on both sides of the aisle, on the subject of STRs.  There are a lot of areas of town they don't even affect.  But, for two particular areas (Marigny and Uptown) there have been a lot of houses that have turned into STRs.  Residents for those areas don't like it and have been very vocal about it.

    Their argument is it destroys the very wonderful and unique character of New Orleans that tourists come to see anyway.  And they want real neighbors and not ever-changing tourists every weekend.  To me, that's all fair enough and I can understand it.  But I think there were other, less severe solutions to this problem.  Like limiting licenses and/or not allowing more than one license within 1,000 feet of another one.  Things like that.

    But the big one..."gentrification" (said like a bad word) and affordable housing.  There is a lot of blighted housing in NOLA.  A "crisis" is considered a city having 5% of their housing blighted.  Our numbers are 27%.  Yet, there are actually people who complain when derelict houses get fixed up in their neighborhood because they're worried it will make the rents go up.  And more STRs mean less rental inventory for permanent residents and higher rents.  There were also some better options for STRs to this problem, as well. 

    My favorite solution, which would have fallen right in line with what I personally wanted to do and help the blight problem for the city, was to allow a 3-year or a 5-year STR license for anyone who fixed up a blighted property.  But no, smh.

    And, FTR, this is a MCOL city.  If anything, it is on the lower end of MCOL.  There is plenty of affordable housing here.  It's just, of course, more expensive to live walking distance to the FQ or a 10-minute drive to the Downtown.  Which are the same neighborhoods where most of the STRs are located.

    Unfortunately, NOLA does have high poverty levels here.  But the real problem to that is low and stagnant wages.  To blame STRs, which are in areas that have always had higher rents, is a red herring.  Though I will acknowledge STRs probably raised rents some, nothing outrageous, for those two affluent areas I mentioned.  But they don't affect rental rates in other areas of the city.  And my assumption is, the opposite of that will also be true once some of those STRs turn back into rentals.  That they won't lower the rents or won't lower them much for my other rental units.

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