Bathroom begins

Well, I said I would start the bathroom in July. Then it got pushed to the fall. Then "after christmas" and then finally "definately January". So, with that said, Gabe and i started the bathroom Sunday. Here are the before pics






Gabe took out the vanity on Sunday afternoon and then I started demolition this morning. The goal is to remove the old shower stall, part of the wall and the floor [ which I know is water damaged.] It is completely apparent that the orginal install of the bathroom cost approximately $7 and was installed by Bozo himself.











But the poor installation did speed the demolition. Tomorrow I will be removing the toilet, the shower base [ and whatever floor is left underneath it...] and the remaining floor down to the joists. fun fun.

Syracuse part Deux


Headed over to Syracuse Saturday morning. Eric met me for lunch and then we headed out with city map in hand to look at more neighborhoods. We headed to the South side of Syracuse and looked around the reservoir and also on Salina street. A very depressed part the town. But the housing stock was interesting.





We found this house on a tall precipice over looking the street. Despite the boarded up windows, it appeared as though someone is living in the house. [ Or squatting or renovating]












We found this church on Salina street. From the lack of snow removal - it is currently vacant. No For Sale sign however.





Saturday night we had a room at the Syracuse Marx Hotel [ soon to be Renaissance] A very nice boutique hotel. We will probably stay there again sometime. Eric's friends Tim and Martin were in for the weekend, so we headed out to dinner with them and a crew of Martin's former coworkers from Pottery Barn. Fun dinner.







Sunday morning we headed back out again to look again at a north part of the city starting in the St. Joseph's neighborhood and headed north. We found a set of brick town houses for sale that I plan to follow up on . Also many vacant buildings to look at.

Poking about in Syracuse

I have been talking louder now about relocating to Syracuse in the very near future. Eric just got a BIG promotion - "Senior Programmer / Analyst" and our joint financial gravity just shifted eastward to Syracuse. :O) I have been plotting my future and I think I am settled on trying Design/Rehab on my own. I think I have watched enough "Rezoned" and other shows to think i can do better. So I figure I can at least give it a try for a year or two. Friday I headed over to Syracuse to start looking at neighborhoods. I have been looking at real estate listings but with no frame of reference for where they are located in the city. So i spent a snowy Friday driving around Solvay, Tipperary Hill and Onondagua street with a city map, making notes as I went. Saturday Eric and I spent the day driving around East Genesee, Erie Blvd, Division and Butternut Streets [zip code 13203] along with a quick drive through the "Gay Neighborhood" - Hawley Greene. I have made jokes that if you want to start some real estate speculation , all it apparently takes is for a realtor to take a pencil and draw a triangle on the city map and say "Gay Neighborhood" and TADA! I really liked the neighborhoods directly east of 81 - nice hilly neighborhoods with south and west sun exposure. I will be going over again next week look around more. In the meantime - I started taking pictures of commercial real estate in the city. I keep thinking I have to wait to make the jump to commercial development - but maybe not? Here are some comercial buildings I spotted over the weekend














This is the Marcellus casket company building. It would make awesome lofts


























This was an unsual building however there was no roof. So I guess I could buy it for free?














This building was "For Lease" yet had no windows. So I guess some developer is sitting on it thinking they can make some money in the future from a Rite Aid or Wendy's coming in and tearing it down. Kool. [not]