Friday, March 6, 2009

The Place I Sold In San Francisco The Week Before The Crash






When I got further into looking at my numbers & realized I was working half the month to pay for the "privilege" of owning a place in the city I knew: Not Worth The Exchange of My Life Energy. And, believe it or not, my place was too big for me at approximately 850 sq. ft. I also had the feeling that time was of the essence and I needed to get my place listed ASAP. Little did I know how hard the beginning of the crash would be - the good news is the buyer cashed out stock and paid cash - we both won big time on the timing.

This is my last day in San Francisco for who knows how long - am taking advantage of high-speed internet & ability to post photos - hence this San Francisco Story.

Am so looking forward to being back at my cabin in the woods - great to see friends BUT I had no idea how the serenity of the woods had been working its way into me AND first layers of stress falling off. The catch: would not have realized unless I had my visit to the city. The way things work!

Simplicity: This is the place where the ideas came together of how I wanted to live my life and started the long process of simplifying.

Frugality: I began to see the possibility of riches without being "rich."

Design: This is an example of my design sensibility - started out with more muted colors & then said forget it this is my place & I happen to love orange.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, I LOVE your place in SF--the colors are great! Wish I could have bought it!

dk haas said...

Love the photos Jane! Great for providing context. Great pictures!

JaneCatherineDolan said...

Thank you Syd & dk!

The photo credit goes to Trish Tunney.

Syd: I will get to linking your in-depth article on buying & selling your places in SF - (and hope it's not that mythical Some Day I will get around to it :-). There is always the win some/lose some risk in real estate - esp. buying in a bubble - I find it a stretch to be overly sympathetic to real estate developers who whine. I was very lucky (and you echo similar sentiments) to have made a little bit of money in the market. Knowing what I know now about money (it's not what you make, it's what you spend), I might have made out better not spending all the money it takes to "turn around property" - quotes because I doubt there is such a thing - it's basically taking on a second job. This subject deserves a post, not comment. Anyway - thank you - and you will see more of those colors in my cabin. Cheers!
Jane

Sam said...

The place is gorgeous!

I still struggle day to day trying to figure out the life energy part. Sometimes its a struggle for me as I can't figure out how best to decide which of my many non-paying interests to devote time to. I'm learning as I get older though...

JaneCatherineDolan said...

Hey Beany:

Thank you!

The good news is you are way ahead of the game - it has taken my years to figure out.

I have got to get you on my blog roll - your challenges (among them selling everything & heading West on bicycles) have been an ongoing source of inspiration & courage. One of your posts even got me to question (and modify) an item I had taken for granted: tp use - I love finding an item that can be tweaked.
Jane

Anonymous said...

wow yeah for real that place is HOT looking! boy...talk about being all nice and warm feeling. Good for you on figuring out what needed to be done though :)

JaneCatherineDolan said...

J. Money: Thanks - I am going to be checking you out in the future -
Love your Budget Tool - I mean "spreadsheet" - I worked up something
like that & it really helped to know on a daily basis where I was in
each category - esp. food. Yes, I also was hooked on the PF
blogosphere when I stumbled upon it EUREKA!