We have a Visitor tomorrow .

Well certainly hope my Sister In-law ( Wife of Qing's Brother ) , does not get into this kind of Traffic  ( previous Post ) to Pudong Airport tomorrow and miss her Plane .

Qing being here almost two years now , this would be our second Visitor from Shanghai so far . The first was Qing's Cousin some time back . So we are looking really forward having her with us for a couple of weeks and I'm sure she is equally excited as we are . This is not her first time though , she's been to both Coast's on different occations through her work .

This , as mentioned before .. is to buy a House here . I hope we find one to both our likking and a great deal besides . I think everything is ready , Guest Room and Food supply for both Chinese and American dishes during her stay .

Will post Photo's here , if she agree's to it and doesn't mind me doing so .

Times are changing ... !

Green means " GO " !!!

Haha .. go where -- who goes first -- wasn't that Illeagal ? You see that ?

Ahhh .. Shanghai traffic , too bad I have never been in that situation of a Mess . Not even walking .

Anyways , thanks to Arielle Feldshon for this Photo .


So now , as a new period starts in my Life .. I will see where this will lead me . Becoming your own Boss after working for this Business some 39 years , is a big step for both of us . The Economy isn't helping much what that concerns , but one can only do what is a Hand and hope for the best .

I have taken some steps , as getting new Business Cards / Loyalty Cards / Banners / even set up my Web Page for the Shop . I even have Shirts made to advertise the Business on my free time .Thinking of going Corp. next year , if all goes well of course til then . I am also running Special's for Senior Citizens ( 58 yrs. up ) 10% off Labor Cost of any repair work done , with proof of Age&Car ownership . Every forth Oil Change Free of labor charge , as other's will get every fifth free .

Wish me good Luck , and here are the new Banners I have chosen .

Buying a House ....

This is something Qing and I had to deal with lately . Looking for a House , that was moderate .. not too old and had some Charm .

Now this wasn't for us , but for Qing's Sister in-law ( brother's Wife ) which is due to Visit us next week . The main reason , besides visiting us , was to check out the House we found and buy it Cash .

This taught us something , well actually it was them that were learning it is NOT at all .. like it is in Shanghai . So what is now the difference , between there and here . Easy , they are use to buying almost everything with Cash and not on Credit like we love to do . Buy now .. pay later Plan .

As some of you know , in China .. everything with a Price Tag is open for Bargaining to seal the Sale .
The same goes for buying a House , when my Brother in-law bought their Apartment .. they themselves struck a Deal between the seller and him .. not the Bank . Agree on a Price , fill out some Paperwork and it's yours . This is what he is use to .

Now the last few weeks , Qing and I showed him OUR way . Choosing between Short-Sale - Foreclosure - REO , this proved to be not as good of a choice like they have . So we started out with a beautiful House near ours ( short-sale ) . Here we start , first comes the Offer ( Bid ) from us . Over a week goes by and we finally get an Counter Offer from the Seller ( not the Bank ) , he want's 2% of the Sale price of the House for "His" legal fee's . After all , why should we pay for something .. He chose to do .. instead of going into Foreclosure with the Bank .This , nobody in the Real Estates Business have heard of this ? So we agree to please him . Now we thought , now we need to please the Bank with our above selling price offer . Haha .. it never got that far . After two weeks , we were turned down . The Seller , actually had the nerve to ask if we wanted to be "HIS" back-up / Back-up for WHAT ? Wait to see if the one he picked get a ok from the Bank .. if not he'll come back to us .

Sure thing I thought (NOT) , wait 6months to who knows how long Short-Sales take and he wants us to hang around to see . I told my Agent , he can have his Cake and Eat it too .. does he think we are Fools ?

This gone , now we need to look all over again . by now the Brother has had a taste of how we do House buying here . To think , we only scratched the surface here . I think , they are tired already .. as Qing's brother said .. boy .. they Bargain ( with the offer ) and then tell you No Good ! In other words , they have thought .. come with Money to buy a House and two weeks later .. leave having it all done in your name .

Oh yeah , I remember those days .. but when most stuff that required Paperwork was a lot easier . Thanks to Computer's , things are moving much .. much faster for everybody .

Some more Photo's

The last one , shows our Stained Patio .. which I think looks Super and much better .

Writer was busy .. sorry !

When I say "BUSY" , I mean it too . Besides from the Computer going on the Blink and erase all my Photo's/Pictures ( I do have them elsewhere .. lucky me ) along with the Internet not letting me back for more than a Week , this came at a bad time . As we need it more than ever , as Qing's Brother and Wife are planning to Buy a House here soon . This Home hunting is no fun for sure , even with those low Prices now . Most of them "Short Sale" and this can take more time for the Buyer to close the Deal .

Anyway , besides that , I started today to be running my Workplace .. as my Uncle Retired . On top of all that , the Frosting of having to begin Qing's Green Card change to a Permanent Resident Card .
Will there be any more ?

A good thing , we have finished our Backyard .. so I can really Relax and keep from overheating my poor little Brain . So here are a few Pictures that are from the last weekends and our finishing touches of the Patio .