#Selling My House Grand Junction

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What to Expect When Selling Your Home in Grand Junction

Selling your home can be an exciting yet challenging journey, especially in a unique real estate market like Grand Junction. Understanding what to expect throughout the process can help ease any anxieties and enable you to navigate the sale more effectively. From preparing your home for listing to closing the sale, here’s a comprehensive guide on what to expect when selling your home in Grand Junction.

1. Initial Considerations

Before you even list your home when considering selling my house Grand Junction, several key considerations will set the stage for a successful sale:

Market Research

Understanding the current market conditions in Grand Junction is vital. Research the average home prices, the demand for properties, and the time homes typically spend on the market. This information will help you set realistic expectations for your sale.

Determine Your Goals

Consider why you are Selling My House Grand Junction and what your objectives are. Are you looking to upgrade, downsize, or relocate? Your motivations will influence your pricing strategy and how you market your home.

Financial Preparation

Selling a home involves various costs, including agent commissions, closing costs, and potential repairs. It's essential to have a clear understanding of your financial situation and how the sale will impact your finances.

2. Choosing the Right Real Estate Agent

One of the most critical steps in the home-selling process is selecting a qualified real estate agent. In Grand Junction, a knowledgeable local agent can significantly influence your sale’s outcome.

Research Agents

Look for agents with experience in your neighborhood and a strong track record of sales. Online reviews, personal recommendations, and local market knowledge are essential factors to consider.

Interview Candidates

Meet with several agents to discuss their marketing strategies, commission rates, and communication styles. It’s crucial to feel comfortable and confident in their abilities.

3. Preparing Your Home for Sale

Preparation is key to attracting buyers and securing a good price. Here’s what to expect during the preparation phase:

Home Staging

Staging your home can make it more appealing to potential buyers. This process may include decluttering, deep cleaning, and possibly hiring a professional stager to create an inviting atmosphere.

Repairs and Maintenance

Address any necessary repairs and maintenance issues before listing. This could include fixing leaky faucets, repainting walls, or replacing broken fixtures. A well-maintained home signals to buyers that it has been cared for.

Enhancing Curb Appeal

First impressions matter. Improve your home's exterior by mowing the lawn, trimming shrubs, and perhaps adding some fresh flowers or a new coat of paint to the front door.

4. Setting the Right Price

Pricing your home appropriately is one of the most critical aspects of the selling process. Your agent will conduct a comparative market analysis (CMA) to help you determine a competitive price.

Consider Market Trends

Keep an eye on local market trends and be prepared to adjust your price if necessary. In a fluctuating market, staying informed can give you an advantage.

Avoid Emotional Pricing

While it may be tempting to set a price based on sentimental value, it's essential to rely on data and expert advice. Overpricing can lead to prolonged market time and ultimately result in a lower selling price.

5. Marketing Your Home

Once your home is ready to be listed, your real estate agent will implement a marketing strategy to attract potential buyers.

Professional Photography

High-quality photos are crucial for online listings. A professional photographer can showcase your home’s best features and make it stand out among competitors.

Online Listings and Social Media

Your agent will list your home on various real estate platforms and utilize social media to increase visibility. This online presence is essential in today’s digital age, as many buyers start their search online.

Open Houses and Showings

Expect your agent to organize open houses and private showings. Being flexible with your schedule will help accommodate potential buyers, increasing the likelihood of a sale.

6. Receiving Offers

As offers start coming in, you'll want to review them carefully. This is where having a skilled agent can be particularly beneficial.

Understanding Offers

Each offer will include important details, such as the proposed purchase price, contingencies, and the closing timeline. Your agent will help you evaluate each offer and its implications.

Negotiating Terms

Don’t be afraid to negotiate. You may receive multiple offers or requests for contingencies. Your agent can assist you in negotiating the best possible terms while maintaining a professional relationship with potential buyers.

7. Navigating Inspections and Appraisals

Once you accept an offer, the buyer will likely request a home inspection and appraisal.

Home Inspections

The buyer's home inspection may reveal issues that could affect the sale. Be prepared for negotiations following the inspection. If repairs are necessary, you may need to decide whether to make the repairs or adjust the selling price.

Appraisals

A home appraisal will determine your home’s market value, which the lender will require to approve the buyer’s mortgage. If the appraisal comes in lower than the agreed sale price, this could lead to further negotiations.

8. Closing the Sale

Once all contingencies are satisfied and the buyer has secured financing, you will move toward closing.

Closing Costs

Prepare for closing costs, which can include agent commissions, title insurance, and other fees. Your agent should provide a breakdown of these costs ahead of time.

Final Walk-Through

The buyer will typically conduct a final walk-through of the property before closing to ensure that any agreed-upon repairs have been completed and that the home is in the expected condition.

Signing Documents

On closing day, you will sign the necessary documents to transfer ownership to the buyer. After the paperwork is complete, you will receive your proceeds from the sale.

9. Post-Sale Considerations

After the sale is complete, there are still a few things to keep in mind.

Tax Implications

Consult a tax professional to understand any potential tax implications of selling your home. Depending on your situation, you may qualify for exclusions on capital gains.

Moving Preparations

Start planning your move as soon as the sale is finalized. Consider hiring professional movers and organizing your belongings ahead of time to make the transition smoother.

Conclusion

Selling your home in Grand Junction can be a rewarding experience when you know what to expect. From choosing the right real estate agent to preparing your home and navigating the sale process, being informed will help you make the best decisions. At Convergence Properties Inc., we’re committed to guiding you through each step of the selling process, ensuring a successful outcome and a smooth transition to your next chapter. If you’re ready to sell, let us help you get started on the right foot!

[convergenceproperties1]

Sell My House Fast in Grand Junction, Colorado: Local Market Insights

When it comes to selling your home in Grand Junction, Colorado, understanding the local market is crucial. Grand Junction offers a unique real estate landscape influenced by various factors, including demographics, economic conditions, and seasonal trends. This comprehensive guide will provide valuable insights into the local market, helping you make informed decisions to sell your house quickly and effectively.

1. Overview of the Grand Junction Real Estate Market

Grand Junction, located on the western slope of Colorado, is known for its stunning landscapes, outdoor recreational activities, and vibrant community. The real estate market here reflects the area's appeal, attracting both local and out-of-state buyers when considering sell my house fast Grand Junction Colorado.

Current Market Trends:

Inventory Levels: As of 2024, Grand Junction has experienced fluctuations in housing inventory. A lower inventory generally creates a seller’s market, while higher inventory can lead to more competition among sellers.

Home Prices: Home prices in Grand Junction have seen a steady increase over the past few years. Understanding the price trends in your neighborhood is essential for setting a competitive listing price.

Days on Market: Properties in desirable areas often sell quickly, with many homes receiving offers within days of listing. Staying informed about average days on market for your area can help you gauge when to adjust your strategy.

2. Demographics and Buyer Profiles

Understanding the demographics of Grand Junction can provide insights into the types of buyers interested in your property.

Key Demographic Insights:

Age Groups: Grand Junction has a diverse population, including families, young professionals, and retirees. Tailoring your marketing strategy to appeal to these different demographics can increase your chances of a quick sale.

Income Levels: The median household income in Grand Junction influences the types of homes buyers can afford. Knowing the average price range buyers are comfortable with can help you set an appropriate listing price.

Lifestyle Preferences: Many residents in Grand Junction value outdoor activities and community engagement. Highlighting nearby parks, hiking trails, and local amenities in your listing can attract potential buyers.

3. Seasonal Market Dynamics

The time of year can significantly impact the real estate market in Grand Junction. Understanding seasonal trends can help you time your listing for maximum exposure.

Spring and Summer:

Peak Selling Season: Spring and summer are typically the most active seasons for real estate sales in Grand Junction. Families often prefer to move during the summer months to avoid disrupting their children’s school year.

Increased Showings: The pleasant weather encourages more buyers to attend open houses and showings, increasing your home’s visibility.

Fall and Winter:

Slower Activity: The market tends to slow down in fall and winter due to holidays and weather conditions. However, motivated buyers may be looking for properties during this time, presenting an opportunity for sellers.

Holiday Preparations: If you choose to sell during the winter, consider how holiday decorations can enhance your home’s appeal while keeping it warm and inviting.

4. Economic Factors Influencing the Market

Several economic factors can influence the real estate market in Grand Junction. Staying informed about these factors can help you make strategic decisions.

Local Economy:

Job Growth: Grand Junction has seen growth in sectors such as healthcare, education, and tourism. A strong job market can drive demand for housing as people relocate for employment opportunities.

Interest Rates: Mortgage interest rates can impact buyer affordability. When rates are low, more buyers are likely to enter the market, potentially leading to faster sales.

Investment Opportunities:

Rental Market: With a growing population, the demand for rental properties has also increased. If you’re considering selling an investment property, the local rental market can provide insights into potential returns.

5. Marketing Strategies for Success

To sell your house fast in Grand Junction, implementing effective marketing strategies tailored to the local market is essential.

Targeted Online Marketing:

Listing on Real Estate Platforms: Ensure your home is listed on popular real estate websites like Zillow, Realtor.com, and local MLS platforms. Use high-quality images and engaging descriptions to attract buyers.

Social Media Promotion: Utilize social media platforms to reach a broader audience. Share engaging content showcasing your home’s features and local community highlights.

Engaging Local Agents:

Partner with Local Experts: Work with a real estate agent familiar with the Grand Junction market. Their insights and network can help you navigate the selling process effectively.

Networking Opportunities: Agents often have access to potential buyers through open houses, networking events, and marketing campaigns, increasing your home’s visibility.

6. Preparing Your Home for Sale

Proper preparation can significantly impact your home’s appeal and sell my house fast Grand Junction Colorado speed. Here are essential steps to take before listing your home.

Key Preparation Steps:

Home Improvements: Consider making necessary repairs or updates that can enhance your home’s value. Fresh paint, updated fixtures, and landscaping can make a significant difference.

Staging Your Home: Home staging can help buyers visualize themselves in the space. Declutter, depersonalize, and arrange furniture to create an inviting atmosphere.

Curb Appeal: Enhance your home’s exterior to create a positive first impression. Simple landscaping, a fresh coat of paint, and clean windows can make your home stand out.

7. Understanding Offers and Negotiations

Once your home is on the market, be prepared to review offers and engage in negotiations.

Evaluating Offers:

Offer Price vs. Market Value: Compare offers to your asking price and recent sales in your neighborhood. Look for buyers willing to pay a fair market value.

Contingencies and Flexibility: Consider any contingencies attached to the offers. Be open to negotiations regarding closing dates, repairs, or financing terms.

Effective Negotiation Tips:

Remain Objective: Keep emotions in check and focus on the facts. Respond to offers professionally, considering all aspects of the deal.

Counteroffers: Don’t hesitate to counter an offer if it doesn’t meet your expectations. A well-crafted counter can keep negotiations moving in your favor.

8. Closing the Deal

Once you’ve accepted an offer, it’s time to prepare for the closing process. Understanding what to expect can help you navigate this final step smoothly.

Closing Process Overview:

Inspection and Appraisal: Be prepared for the buyer’s home inspection and appraisal. Address any issues that may arise during this process.

Final Walkthrough: The buyer will likely conduct a final walkthrough to ensure the property is in the agreed-upon condition. Be ready for this step to ensure a smooth transition.

Documents to Prepare:

Title and Ownership Records: Have all necessary documents ready, including title documents and any warranties related to your home.

Disclosure Statements: Be prepared to provide disclosure statements regarding the condition of your home, ensuring transparency with the buyer.

Conclusion

Selling your home fast in Grand Junction, Colorado, requires a thorough understanding of the local market, effective preparation, and strategic marketing. By staying informed about market trends, demographics, and economic factors, you can position your home for a successful sale.

At Convergence Properties Inc., we specialize in helping homeowners navigate the selling process with ease. Our experienced team is dedicated to providing personalized service tailored to your unique needs. If you’re ready to sell your home and need expert assistance, contact us today to learn more about how we can help you achieve your selling goals!

Reference: Sell my house Fast Grand Junction colorado

Reference: Sell house Grand Junction

Reference: Sell my Mesa County house fast

[isitgintimeyet]

Just a Friend

Sorry you’ve had to wait a few more days. i had a much needed few days holiday in Devon. And I realised it was the first time since February that I’d travelled more than 20 miles from home!

Anyway, we’re on to chapter 7. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy

Thanks to @wickedgoodbooks for the beta.

Previous

AO3

Chapter 7: From Feedback to The Force

I can see it clearly in my mind’s eye. A converted barn, situated at the end of a leafy country lane, surrounded by fields full of cows and maybe a horse or two. Jamie’s office will be at one end— all exposed beams with classic mahogany and leather furniture. Perhaps chickens will be roaming around outside as tractors pull up to deliver vegetables straight from the neighbouring fields.

This image begins to fade as I follow my Sat nav instructions and take the next junction off the motorway. Country lanes look to be few and far between in this urban sprawl. Signposts along the tarmacked road point to a series of industrial estates. At the fourth such sign, I’m instructed to turn left and in three hundred yards will have reached my destination.

Having parked up, I make my way towards the large, uninspiring building which resembles some sort of aircraft hangar. Its grey concrete and corrugated iron walls match the overcast sky and the roughly surfaced car park. The only colour in this landscape is provided by the bright orange FraserFood logo emblazoned above the loading bays.

There’s a single door to the right with an intercom. I press it and wait a few seconds.

“Hello, there.” A cheery voice greets me. “Can I help ye?”

“Yes. Hello, I’ve an appointment with Ja— Mr. Fraser, Jamie. It’s Claire Beauchamp.”

“Aye, come on through. Jamie is expecting ye. Down the passage and third door on the left.”

I step into a long corridor, painted an unoriginal white. Fluorescent strip lights hanging from the ceiling cast a harsh brightness. The floor is covered with grey carpet tiles.—the same as in thousands of other working offices across the country.

What sets it apart and brings character to the otherwise anonymous environment is the artwork. Colourful photographs line the walls — a bowl of strawberries, their red glossiness accentuated by the white porcelain; a perfect corn on the cob, rivulets of melted butter flowing around the kernels; a plate of steaming tagliatelle, the parmesan shavings falling gently onto the pasta. Then, as I move further towards the office, the photographs change to a series of images that I instantly recognise, La Boqueria, one of the food markets in Barcelona.

I pause for a moment in front of a picture of one of the stalls selling spices. Strings of different chillies cascade down from the metal frame of the stall. The vibrancy of that market was intoxicating, the noise, the colours, the aromas. I remember wandering from stall to stall snacking on fat, juicy olives, slices of spiced ham and wedges of refreshing melon, just soaking up that atmosphere.

My stomach automatically rumbles at the memory just as Jamie steps into the corridor.

He laughs at this unconventional greeting. “And good day tae ye too. Ye found us alright then?”

“No problem. Sat nav brought me straight here. It’s—“ I stop myself before I say any more, but, as usual, my glass face gives me away.

“C’mon. What is it? It’s no’ what ye were expecting, is it?”

“No— yes—no. It’s fine. It’s just, well, I was expecting something more, er, rural… rustic, you know.”

He sighs, but I can tell that he’s not offended. “What, ye mean like on a farm? Wi’ chickens running around? And tractors bringing the vegetables straight from the fields?”

I nod, feeling not a little bit foolish.

“And down a wee winding country lane, that yer lumbering great vans and lorries have tae drive along? Wi’ no easy transport links fer all the deliveries? And having tae deal wi’ all the food hygiene standards in some great old barn?” He laughs. “Trust me, it may no’ be photogenic but it’s the best place fer the business.”

He takes my arm. “Let’s go intae ma office and I’ll make ye a cup of coffee.”

My stomach rumbles once more. “Don’t suppose you’ve got any of those lovely Spanish biscuits too, have you?”

*********

The display of colourful photographs continues in Jamie’s office. I don’t recognise the scenes, but, I’m guessing these are more local— fields of corn bordered by old drystone walls, hedgerows bursting with dark jewel-like brambles. I pause at a picture of an ancient stone mill, the calm water of the mill pond reflecting the rundown building perfectly.

“That’s a bonny picture, is it no’?” Jamie’s voice is low in my ear.

I turn around. He is standing behind me, gazing intently at the picture.

“It is. Where is it? I’m guessing it’s somewhere here in Scotland.”

“Aye, it’s the old mill at Lallybroch.”

“Where you grew up?”

He nods. “Generations of ma family used that mill tae grind flour fer them and their tenants. It’s empty inside now. The wheel has long since rotted away. Jenny and I would escape there whenever chores were tae be done. She took the photo, weel, most of the photos here actually.”

I study the photograph more closely. “She’s very talented as a photographer. Is that her job?”

“She’d love tae have done that, but once she married Ian and the bairns started appearing, she hasna got the time. Mebbe one day.”

He moves past me towards his desk and I catch a hint of his musky cologne. I find myself comparing it to the slightly synthetic cologne that Frank always favoured. I decide that Jamie’s is preferable. It’s more real, somehow, earthy and, well, more masculine.

“... does that sound ok?”  

I realise that whilst I was considering male scents, Jamie had been asking me a question. “Er, sorry, I was miles away. What did you say?”

“Am I really that boring tae ye?” He laughs. “I said I would make ye a coffee and invite Rupert tae come in and join us. He’s our Head of Product Development. Will ye no’ take a seat?”

I sit down on one of the chairs arranged around a circular meeting table and take a good look at the office while Jamie makes a phone call. The walls and ceiling are the same uninspiring white, livened up by all the photographs. There’s a couple of framed photographs near Jamie’s chair that seem to be more personal. I’m too far away to be able to see clearly, but they look like children... his nephew and niece perhaps?

Jamie’s ‘L’ shaped desk is made of grey wood, as is a tall bookcase and this meeting table. Simple, but clearly a considered purchase, no haphazard grouping of random furniture. The desk itself is remarkably free from clutter— just a laptop with two huge screens and a black leather document wallet. The contrast to the clutter on the desks in my office and home couldn’t be greater. Not that my clutter isn’t important to me—a collection of pots and dishes from my uncle’s archaeological digs plus a paperweight and letter opener that I remember, as a young child, at my parents’ house. Then I realise, looking at the family portraits surrounding Jamie’s desk, that he doesn’t need to gather mementoes from the past. He has a living, breathing close knit family creating memories all the time.

I’m well aware that most of my friends have more of a family than I have, or have ever had, and generally I’m fine with that. But every now and again it hits me right in the gut—this pang of...not loneliness, but more of being disconnected, rootless.

Before I can dwell on this,  there’s a faint tap at the door. It opens immediately and a woman stands in the doorway.  She’s easily past retirement age, quite short and… is sturdy a polite descriptor? Well, short and ‘motherly’ in appearance.

She’s very smiley too. Her eyes crinkle as she grins broadly before speaking. “Jamie, lad. I’ve come tae see if ye both want a coffee. I dinna mind making it. And mebbe a few biscuits?”

Jamie steps away from his desk. “Ah, Mrs. Fitz, how d’ye always ken what I want? Coffee would be grand. And fer ye Claire?”

“Coffee, please. Lovely. White, no sugar. Thanks.”

She looks at me for a moment before Jamie makes the introduction. “ Claire, this is Mrs Fitz. She’s worked wi’ me since I started and I dinna ken what I’d do wi’out her.”

He reaches across and pats her arm gently.

“Mrs. Fitz, this is Claire, a friend of mine. She’s been trying out our Spanish dinner party menu and has come tae meet wi’ Rupert tae give him her opinions.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Fitz.” I hold out my hand.

She takes it in both of hers. “And it’s lovely tae meet ye too, Claire.”

She turns away and heads out the door.

“Right-oh. Two coffees it is then,” she says clearly, then carries on muttering under her breath as she leaves. “Friends, is it, then? A bonny lass, sure enough…”

Jamie smiles apologetically. “Mrs. Fitz can be a bit, weel...she’s been working with me a long time. She’s like a second mother tae me…”

He leaves the sentence unfinished, but I know what he’s thinking. Why can’t people understand that we’re friends, that’s all?

*******

Rupert is a complete delight, but somehow not what I was expecting. He rushes into the office just as Jamie and I are drinking our coffees. Nearly as tall as Jamie but quite a bit broader with a large beard, like an overgrown teddy bear, and clad in a sweatshirt and baggy ill-fitting jeans, he looks as if he would be more at home on a rugby pitch rather than in a development kitchen. With Jamie now standing next to him, the office suddenly feels rather small.

Jamie makes the introductions and we settle once more around the table. Rupert places his notebook and pen on the table.

“Ye dinna mind if I take a biscuit or two, do ye?” He asks, with a smile. He knows how tasty they are.

Jamie and I shake our heads and Rupert reaches out and takes two in his large, fleshy hand. He starts to eat, sprinkling crumbs all over his notebook.

“Ye canna take me anywhere,” he says as he tries to sweep the crumbs into his hand.

Jamie laughs and playfully punches Rupert’s shoulder. “Weel, ye can… but only the once, mind.”

There’s an easy camaraderie between the two of them. I’m guessing that Jamie has worked with the same people for quite a while. It’s good to see.

Rupert swallows, picks up a tissue and wipes the stray crumbs from his beard.  “Right-oh. So, Claire, thanks fer doing this—“

“No, I should be thanking you. It was a great meal.”

“Weel, glad tae hear that, but I would appreciate any improvements we could make. Is there anything we need tae change?”

I’ve been racking my brains all the way here, trying to think of something constructive to say rather than just reeling off a list of compliments, nice as that would be for Rupert and Jamie. And, honestly, I don’t know what more I can add. The food was excellent, the wine matched perfectly and the olives were a thoughtful addition.

I tell them all this and Rupert solemnly notes it all down. Sitting there, side by side, elbows almost touching, they look for all the world like two proud parents being complimented on their child’s talents. But they have every right to be proud.

“And nothing else?” Rupert persists. “Nothing we could do better?”

“Well, a couple of tiny suggestions. Maybe a few more pictures with the recipes would help. I’m not the most gifted cook.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Jamie trying to suppress a smile. He’s never seen me in the kitchen, maybe he’s imagining me as some sort of culinary disaster area. I vow to prove him wrong at some point.

“And,” I continue as Rupert scribbles in his notebook. “Perhaps add a couple of suggestions to complete the Spanish night. I made sangria to start the evening. Could you add a recipe for that?”

Rupert closes his notebook with a flourish. “Right then. Thank ye sae much fer that. Glad yer friends all enjoyed the food.”

He stands up, shifting the table as he does so.

“Weel, bye then, Claire. Lovely tae meet ye. Hope tae see ye again.” He shoots a quick look across at Jamie before leaving.

“Rupert’s a lovely guy,” I comment as the door shuts behind him.

“Aye, he is that,” Jamie shifts in his seat. “Listen, I need tae ask ye a favour.”

“Another one,” I joke. “Wasn’t the dinner party enough?”

I add a sigh, purely for dramatic effect.

“Ye can say no if ye want tae,” he continues. “But I was wondering… weel... Ian, that’s Jenny’s husband, his rugby club is having a charity dinner dance a week on Saturday. Jenny’s bought two tickets fer me and a plus one. D’ye fancy it? It would help me out of a wee bit of bother with ma sister.”

Now I’m intrigued about his “wee bit of bother” with Jenny. I don’t want to end up in the middle of some sibling squabble.

“How so?” I’m not giving an answer straight away. At least not until I know what the bother is.

“Jenny bought the two tickets fer me a couple of months ago. I think she was assuming I would bring Laoghaire. But ye ken what happened there. Anyways, she asked me yesterday about it, and ever so casually suggested I might bring Kelly— that was ma date the other night.”

The pattern of Rupert’s crumbs on the table appears to suddenly be of great interest to him. He studies them intently as he talks, his ears turning slightly pink as he does so.

“And?” I prompt him.

“And, I told Jenny that after Laoghaire and I broke up, I didna want tae disappoint her about the dinner and so I’d already asked ye tae come along. As a friend,” he hastily adds the last part.

So, what do I decide? I do love the opportunity to have a bit of a dance and rugby club dos are usually a bit of a laugh, in my experience. And of course, I know Jamie is offering as a friend, so I’m not worried about that.

“Why don’t you want to ask Kelly then?” I want the full story before I give him my answer.

“She’s a nice enough lass but I didna think we had any spark. Plus she was trying too hard. Fer example she asked me what films I liked, then when I told her, she was all ‘no way, they’re ma favourites too’.”

He adds gestures at this point, to demonstrate Kelly’s actions, one hand flapping excitedly, the other resting on my sleeve, lightly stroking through the fabric of my shirt. It feels—

“Apparently we have exactly the same taste in films, music, food, drinks, television and holidays,” he continues as he sits back and folds his arms.

“Sounds like a match made in heaven to me.” I joke. I can still feel the sensation of his hand on my arm.

He looks up at me and frowns. “I’m no’ joking. Ye would be helping me if ye came as ma plus one.”

“Ok then. I do know that I’m not on call. I can come and be your wingman, if you like. Just one question. What are your favourite films?”

“Star Wars.”

This wasn’t the answer I was expecting. He doesn’t seem like a typical fan. Maybe he has a dark side that I haven’t yet seen, with a secret stash of Star Wars figures and multiple light sabres.

“I’ve never watched any of them.” It’s true. I seem to be in the minority but I just don’t get the appeal.

“And I can tell from yer face exactly what ye think of them. But they’re classics, weel most of them, anyway,” he starts to enthuse.

I shake my head. I can’t see that he will ever convince me.

“Well, Sassenach, have I got a treat in store for you!”

And, worryingly, it seems that he’s up for the challenge.

[unpack-my-heart]

Above, Beneath, Betwixt, Between - Chapter 9

@tinyarmedtrex​ @violetreddie​ @eds-trashmouth​ @constantreaderfool​ @xandertheundead​ @moonlightrichie​ @deadlighten​ @appojoos​ @annoyingtozier​ @burymestanding​

Read on AO3 HERE

The kiss changes both everything and nothing at all. The everything that changes, the hands that reach for each other in the hushed dawn, the eyes that lock over morning cereal, the afternoon laughs that melt into each other, the evening caresses on smalls of backs, is painfully overshadowed by the nothing. This nothing looms over their every moment, stolen moments shared together in ecstasy, rapturous but constantly aware of the behemoth that sits in the corner of the room and spits at them.

Richie’s leaving. A fact as constant, as reliable, as the autumn wind.

If Eddie hadn’t hung onto Richie’s forearm with a vice-grip as Richie welcomed the estate agent into the house, if Eddie hadn’t sat on the porch, face schooled into careful apathy as the estate agent took photos of the now finished cottage, if Eddie hadn’t sobbed with wild abandon into the frigid midnight air, great wracking moans that heaved Richie’s heart out of his chest with ghostly arms, Richie wouldn’t have guessed anything was going to change. But everything was going to change. Everything, and nothing at all.

It takes three weeks for Richie to book his flights. He opens and closes the page, getting as far as typing Edinburgh International to LAX into the search bar, but without fail, his hands shake violently and the laptop slides off his lap with a satisfying thud. Eventually, with a belly full of Dutch courage and Eddie squeezing his hand, he manages it. His flight leaves in a month.

The house sells easily. A young couple buys it, and they visit three times before putting the offer in. The man brays about the way the light floods into the study in the morning, and the woman squeals about the terrace balcony on the second bedroom. Richie accepts the offer, despite the fact it’s five grand under the asking price.

One week later and the For Sale sign is replaced by a bright red beacon, SOLD. More times than he’d ever admit, Richie catches Eddie staring at the sign with malice in his eyes. Richie always makes sure that he looks away before Eddie can catch him staring.

Two weeks, and they’ve hit the half way point. They’re still sleeping in separate rooms. Eddie had packed all of his possessions into boxes the day after Richie had booked his plane ticket. Richie only lasted six minutes of watching Eddie carefully fold his jumpers and his socks and those fucking tartan pyjamas before he had to excuse himself to wail violently in the bathroom. He’d given himself three minutes, before wiping his eyes furiously with a balled up piece of toilet paper, and emerging from the bathroom with a watery smile and tired eyes. But, as soon as he caught sight of Eddie sat on the bed, one of Richie’s old fleeces clutched in his hands, his attempts at self-preservation proved futile. They’d collapsed in a heap on the bed, a mass of shaking limbs, clutching, scrabbling hands and hushed confessions. I adore you, I adore you, I adore you.

Three weeks. They’d spent the last days in bed, moving for nothing but sprints to the toilet and visits to the kitchen. They don’t fuck. Richie surprises himself with the realisation that he doesn’t want to fuck Eddie. Not yet. He can’t bear the thought of their first time being a goodbye fuck, a ‘I’m sorry I’m leaving you’ fuck, a ‘you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I’m still going to leave you anyway’ fuck. So they don’t. They lie together, they touch often and kiss sometimes. Eddie drags his nails down Richie’s arm absently, a soft scratchy feeling, as if to remind Richie that he’s still here, if only for now. Richie spends most of his time running his hands through Eddie’s hair, hair that was once immortalised in a plastic-perfect quiff but now stands on end, wild and free. They talk, regale each other with animated stories from their past. Richie tells Eddie of Bev, of Bill and Ben and the time they all got drunk and swam in the water feature of their college, he tells Eddie about his mother, about the time she took him apple picking when he was seven. Eddie tells Richie about his mother, a long, painful tale that ends in sorrow, but he also tells Richie about Rupert, and how they’d met and how the sky caught fire the first time they’d kissed. Richie had expected jealousy to bloom in his stomach, hot and bitter, but it didn’t.

“What’s America like?” Eddie asks on a Wednesday afternoon.

Richie tightens his grip around Eddie’s waist. “It’s … pretty fuckin’ shit most of the time, corrupt politicians and gun crime and hatred and bigotry but …”

“But what?”

“My parents lives there, and … it’s home, it’s shitty, but it’s home. Well, it was home, I guess”

“Was home? Why? What changed?”

“You gonna make me spell it out for you, Eddie Spaghetti?”

“You know I am,” Eddie said, batting his eyelashes coquettishly. Richie rolled his eyes.

“You’re such a little shite, you know”

“That sounded pretty Scottish”

“Mike’s been rubbing off on me”

“I should jolly well hope he hasn’t been rubbing off on you,” Eddie said with a faux-stern expression that was so ridiculously, so absurdly Eddie that Richie couldn’t take it anymore.

“Eddie?”

“Yeah?”

“Eddie, you know – I … You know that I really …”

“What? C’mon Rich, spit it out”

“I …”

“Richie”

“I really think we should mow the lawn tomorrow afternoon”

“…Oh”

– X –

Richie loved Eddie. It was a fact as clear as ice, as real as snow, as blatantly obvious as the nose on his face. The “I adore you’s” flowed easily, the “you’re my entire world and more” came naturally, but the admission of love, the wrenching his chest open, displaying his heart, that was different.  Telling Jasmine he loved her had been easy, partly because he’d never meant it. Endless false confessions. Perhaps it was cruel. Regret wasn’t something that Richie was used to.

“I’m going to stay with Mike”

“Huh?”

Eddie slumped down onto the sofa next to Richie, and tucked his head neatly into the junction between Richie’s neck and shoulder.

“I’ve asked him, and he said I could stay with him until you … if you … y’know. Until then”

“You know I’m coming back, right? I’m going to come back for you”

“I know you want to”

“Eddie,” Richie implored, shifting on the sofa until he was looking directly into Eddie’s eyes, “you’ve got to believe me, I’m going to come back for you”

“I believe you’re going to try”

Richie grabbed Eddie’s hands. “Eddie, please”

“Mike said I can take Mr Chips out anytime I like, I might bring him around here, check up on the house sometimes”

“Don’t change the subject”

“I hope they don’t change the house too much, I’d be ever so sad if I came back and it looked different, if it looked –”

“Eddie!”

Eddie closed his eyes, pulling away from Richie slightly.

“If you promise you’re coming back to me, it makes it too hard. I’ll just sit and wait, and I can’t … I can’t do that”

“I told you, I’m coming –”

“Don’t,” Eddie said, eyes still closed, “stop it. Just – tell me you’ll try and that’ll be enough”

“I’ll try”

– X –

Mike calls it a practice run. A trial run, he’d said, seeing as the last time Eddie stayed with him ended in a sleepless night for all three of them. Eddie’s reticent at first, initially refusing on the grounds of being patronised, but initially relenting after Richie pleaded with him that it probably was a good idea, if not for Eddie then for himself. Slowly, like melting ice, Eddie agrees. They bundle themselves into Richie’s car, the same car that Richie will return to the dealer the morning he leaves, and drive to Mike’s.

Mike’s house is warm, almost uncomfortably so, and Richie watches as Eddie peels his sweater over his head, face flushed red.

“Thanks for this, Mike. You’re a good friend”

“What about me?”

A familiar voice echoed from the kitchen.

“What the fucking fuck? Stan?!”

“Such a lovely greeting, Richard. Ever the pleasure to see you,” Stan said, sardonically, as he passed Mike a small tumbler of honey-coloured liquid.

“I thought you’d flown back to Ireland?”

“I did. I came back, though. I’ve grown rather fond of Scotland, and the things that live in Scotland”

Mike’s face flushed scarlet, and Richie hooted with joy.

“Well, well, well! The plumber and the wizard, a true storybook romance”

“Richard, do shut up. How are you feeling, Eddie? Mike tells me you’ll be staying with us for a while,” Stan said, turning to face a rather down-trodden looking Eddie.

“I – I was, but if you’re staying here too, I don’t want to … I don’t want to impose, you know”

“Shush, you’re more than welcome here. Has Richie told you about Skype?”

“Skype?”

Stan rolled his eyes at Richie. “Have you really not told him about Skype? Isn’t that what all the long-distance lovers are doing these days? Skype sex?”

Richie slapped a hand over Stan’s mouth, but got bitten for his efforts.

“Take your damn hoof off my mouth, Richie! All I’m trying to do is help you in your long sexless months ahead”

“We haven’t … um … we haven’t done that, not yet” Eddie stammered, face letter-box red.

“You haven’t? Huh. Well, Skype does serve purposes other than getting you virtually laid, I suppose. Do you still want me to show you what it is?”

Eddie nodded wordlessly, and followed Stan into Mike’s office leaving Richie and Mike standing in the living room.

“Ah take it ye told ‘im then?”

“Whatever do you mean, Michael?”

“Ye know exactly wha’ ah mean,” Mike said, passing Richie his own tumbler of whiskey before going to pour himself another. “Ye know exactly what I mean. The fact ye didn’t balk when Stan mentioned you two fuckin’? That’s how ah know ye know what ah mean”

Richie slumped into the cushiony arm chair, folding his limbs awkwardly. “Yeah, I guess I told him”

“It went well though, aye?”

“Sort of. I mean, he feels the same and … I know he knows that I adore him, but how well could it possibly go when I’m leaving him the day after tomorrow to fly back home to a country I no longer consider my home?”

Mike sipped his whiskey coolly, “ah see”

Richie sighed. He could hear Eddie’s voice floating through the house from the office, Stan’s voice chasing it.

“If ya don’t come back, if ya decide to stay in America, yer gonna have to tell him yerself. Ah won’t do it for ya”

“I am coming back,” Richie spat, but Mike just shook his head.

“Ah know ya think ya are, but be realistic, Rich. It’s a big commitment to make to someone ye’v only been involved with for a few weeks”

“That’s … that doesn’t even make sense, I’ve … I’ve loved Eddie for longer than a few fuckin’ weeks, Mikey, you know that”

“Aye. I do, but does he?”

“…Yes. He must know, I tell him all the time how much I adore him”

“Aye, I’m sure ya do. But does he know ya love him? It’s different,” Mike said, simply.

“I haven’t … managed to say those words yet. Not exactly, but he knows. He must know”

– X –

“Hiya, Eds”

“Hello, love”

Richie’s heart swells.

“This is weird”

“I know”

Silence falls around them. Eddie’s face, pixelated and two-dimensional on Richie’s screen, looks small and distant, and Richie’s fingers itch with the desire to reach out and stroke Eddie’s cheek. He does just that, but instead of flesh, warm and soft, the pads of his fingers meet glass, unmoving, cold.

“How are you?”

“I saw you less than three hours ago, Rich”

“I know, but a lot can change in three hours. Have Mike and Stan convinced you to have a threesome with them, yet?” Richie asks, cringing immediately as the words leave his mouth, but Eddie just laughs.

“Not yet, but hey, you never know, loneliness does strange things to a boy”

“Do you think you’re going to be lonely?” Richie asks, and now it’s serious. The smile slips off Eddie’s face like butter.

Eddie shrugs, a tiny movement Richie can barely see. “I guess. Probably”

“We’ll skype every day right? I’ll ring you twice a day, if I have to. We’ll talk all the damn time. Ask Mike to get you a phone, we can text, we can –”

“Rich,” Eddie interrupts, “it’s going to be okay. You don’t have to talk to me every waking second of every day. I’m going to be fine”

“It’s not you I’m worried about,” Richie mutters, but thankfully, Eddie doesn’t hear him.

They talk for hours, until Richie’s eyes start to droop, weighed down with leaden tiredness, and the pauses between their conversation grow longer and longer until they’ve drifted in and out of sleep in comfortable silence for over an hour. The last thing that Richie mutters to the slumbering Eddie are those words he can’t bring himself to say when Eddie’s awake.

[microshiner]

Ska, craft spirits, and Colorado's real drinking town

The hangover bell rings loud and clear in my head as I lift a 70 pound guitar cabinet into the back of a white 2000 Ford Econoline XL. Rain falls lightly. I am running on only a few slovenly hours of sleep but despite the pounding head, my mood is jovial. My band mates and I recount the night before over and over. In the world of ska music, there are few bands more respected than Hepcat, and few bands more infamous than Mephiskapheles, and we just shared the stage with both in one night. It was also the kick off to the second leg of our spring and summer run- this morning we hit the road out of Denver and head for Durango, Colorado, where we’ll spend a week in the studio and follow it up with two shows in the area including a performance at the legendary Ska Brewing Company.

Alright.

Personally, I am excited for more than one reason. I went to school in Durango, but it’s been six years since I’ve lived there and from what I can tell, the drinking scene has only gotten better. A new craft distillery just opened up, and the number of breweries has jumped from 4 to 6 (All this in a town of 17,000. Fort Collins gets the glory, but at over 150,000 residents, are their 14 breweries and 3 distilleries that impressive? Which is the real drinking town?)

I contemplate this and other pressing issues to pass the time on a 7 hour haul over the Rocky Mountains. As we climb in elevation, my mood levels off. It always does when passing time in the van. Whether I am headed somewhere new or somewhere I’ve been many times, as long as it’s light outside touring has always had a bit of a weird vibe to me. The late nights, the shows, the people, the free drink tickets - that is what it’s all about and what makes it worth it. The rush of playing a good show is matched by no drug or other experience I’ve ever had. But during the day, driving through the middle of nowhere to the next town while getting further and further away from your personal life back home, the anxiety creeps in.

Maybe it’s because I’ve never been in a band at a level where touring was our income. I’ve always had to hurry back home after each run and get to work in order to keep the bills paid. Right now, it’s about 9:30 on Monday morning. Everyone I know (except the three guys sitting here with me) is at work, or walking the dog, or heading to the bank, something normal.

Don’t get me wrong, there is certainly a level of awesome to all this. I’m never going to be a ‘company man.’ I knew that by the time I hit high school. I take a lot of pride in what I do for a living and for a hobby. But the older I get, the harder I find it to relate the stories of the road and the stories of the pen and the stories of so many nights passed in rock clubs to people who are my age but haven’t had a night out in months. The word ‘baby’ means something entirely different to them.

As Vonnegut would say - So it goes. We pull into town just in time for happy hour but unfortunately the liquor store will have to suffice for tonight; we’ve got to get to the studio. Tomorrow I will have the opportunity to experience some of the actual culture of this town I’ve missed so much.

Tuesday morning I am walking down Main Avenue bright and early in a leisurely search for a cup of coffee and a paper. Part of me feels like a Texan, stopping to gaze into each store window as I pass by and then actually purchasing, after looking around to make sure no one I know is in sight then ducking quickly into the storefront, a “Durango” t-shirt. I’ll have to bury this down in my backpack so my bandmates never see it. I justify the window shopping and eventual purchase as a mere way to pass some time before my scheduled meeting with some real locals, the owners of Durango Craft Spirits, at 10 o’clock.

I walk into the tasting room to meet owners Michael and Amy McCardell. Immediately I can tell that the duo lives by their motto and are ‘Inspired by the true spirit of Durango’ - It is only 10 am but the room is full of bluegrass music and the McCardell’s beckoning call for a drink. Michael handles the distilling of what is currently their sole offering - Soiled Dove Vodka, made from a mash of 60% native grown, non-GMO white corn they get directly from the Ute Mountain Tribe of Ute in Towaoc, Colorado (just a little over an hour from Durango). His soft voice, with a bit of a country tinge, makes even a short sentence sound well-rehearsed and wise. Perfect for telling stories, and I’m guessing he has a lot of them.

Lucky for me, Michael is not at all shy about telling the story of Durango Craft Spirits, his pride and joy.

It is, I learn quickly, Durango’s first post-prohibition, grain-to-glass distillery. “We’ve got a couple friends over at Ska, Dave (Thibodeau) and Bill (Graham), that opened Peach Street Distillery, in Grand Junction) years ago and one day I met the old distiller and Bill brought in one of their first bottles of gin, along with a bottle of Bombay Sapphire,” Michael says. “It was just unbelievably so much better. That first opened my eyes to craft distilling.”

This was over ten years ago, and until that day Michael had no plans at all of going into the distilling business. “A couple years later, I’m hiking around a piece of property up north with the county assessor, and he said ‘I gotta tell you this story. There’s a buddy of mine who thought he found some ancient Anasazi ruins on his property and he wanted me to come check them out. They hiked up there on a cliff to an Anasazi looking wall and there was an old still sitting back there.’”

He decided to do some research and try to figure out what kind of distilling was done in the area. “I started reading a few books about distilling in the area, and there was quite a bit done,” Michael says. “Especially turn of the last century when the silver market took a crash. A lot of the miners took to cooking booze in the mines.”

With his interest piqued, Michael attended three distilling schools and landed himself an internship at Wood’s High Mountain Distillery in Salida, CO, with the intention of opening his own show in Durango once he learned about the operational side. Both Michael and Amy had spent years in the local hospitality industry managing hotels and a golf club.

As their current jobs came to end due to sell offs, the decision was made to go full-steam with the distillery concept. Step one, securing a location. Where They landed right on the corner of 11th and Main, in the heart of downtown, and opened in January of this year.

Their setup is pretty simple - tasting room in the front, still setup and work area in the back (visible to guests), and office off to the side. Nice and cozy. “We go grain to glass right in the building with all regional grains,” Michael says. “We’re real proud to mash, distill, and bottle right in house.” I had been sold on their concept already, but at this point I could not continue the interview without trying some of their product.

Amy, generally in charge of the tasting room and PR, hands me a pour from behind the bar. I stir, smell, and sip. Then I gasp.

I am not a vodka drinker. My taste for the stuff was ruined by too much Smirnoff as a teenager. But this morning I am happy to make an exception. This stuff is good. Smooth, one of those spirits that you know would be perfect in a cocktail but it almost seems like a sin to dilute it, like a fine scotch. Until you realize that a vodka of such high quality could finally allow you to drink those plastic-bottle vodka infused party concoctions you swore off in your mid-twenties because you can’t stand the headaches any more, minus the headache. “I use a pretty strange recipe for the vodka compared to other distilleries, and it gives it a pretty unique flavor.” That, I agree, is easy to notice.

“The product is tied to Durango’s history,” Michael informs me as empty my glass. “Soiled doves being a Victorian term for the prostitutes of the town. They operated into the 1960s in Durango and were fined heavily, with the fines helping to cover the cost of the schools, the police department, and the fire department.”

The McCardells pay homage to these lovely financiers on the back of their bottle. The cocktails served in the tasting room are also related to the town’s history, an effort that has most certainly allowed the curious tourist to feel more accomplished in his imbibing. The distillery looks to release an unaged whiskey this fall, with barreling scheduled to begin this month. The vodka is currently only sold within 150 miles of Durango. “We are being (probably) too cautious about our growth,” Michael says. They do, however, plan to expand further across Colorado. Not bad for a true mom-and-pop and operation.

I like to think that my band is a mom-and-pop operation. I guess it would be a quadruple-pop operation. Like Michael and Amy, we have grown our small company from nothing into nothing less than an amazing life experience, with no real guidance other learned experience. We have made plenty of mistakes over the last eight years but have slowly made progress come from each of them. We’ve dealt with marriages, jobs, mortgages, kids, operational disagreements, and an old van catching on fire on the road, and as life has happened, we have found a way to happen with it. Back in the early days, circa 2007-2010, I put all of my eggs in that basket. I was willing to work crappy kitchen jobs and live in dilapidated apartments so that I would in turn have the flexibility to leave town when I needed to and be able to keep my financial overhead at a bare minimum in order to play music multiple nights a week. I cared about nothing other than making the band succeed. I lost relationships and friends.

The other guys, at least the two I started the group with, did the same. And then, in the fall of 2010, we crashed and burned hard. So hard, in fact, that over the next two years we did next to nothing with the group. We had no money, our leases were up, and we had nowhere left to go. For a while, we went our separate ways. Our biggest lesson, and one of the most important things I have ever gotten out of life, is that you have to have options - you have to have more than one card to play. As we’ve grown up since then, we have found ways to have other priorities in life while still being able to come back and execute with the band when it’s time.

While the band was on ‘unofficial hiatus’, I filled the musical craving in another group, but I was also able to take the experiences I had with the band, mix them with my college degree, and create some kind of shit show career path based on music business and journalism. Five years later I feel I can see it blossoming. To me, the craft lifestyle embodies that same spirit - live life, take what you’ve got, mix in a heavy dose of passion, and throw it to wind. It takes awhile, but when it finally comes full circle, it tastes so damn good.

[westakoasta]

P-MINUS - 2019

Where are you from? And what’s your first memories linked to hip hop?

I’ve lived all over - Belgium, Germany, Ohio, Missouri, the Virgin Islands, San Francisco, and now Los Angeles.  But I spent the most years, including high school and college, in Missouri, so I feel like that’s where “I’m from.”  I first remember hearing hip hop while living on St. Thomas (in the Virgin Islands) and the three songs that started me on this journey were “I Need Love,” by LL Cool J, “You Be Illin’” by Run-DMC and “Fight For Your Right To Party” by the Beastie Boys.  I must have heard them on the radio, so that would have been 1987 - the year of my hip hop birth.  In 1988, I moved back to Missouri and a neighbor of mine had a ton of rap tapes so I’d borrow his tapes all the time or listen to them in his car on the drive to school.  I believe that the first tape I ever bought was Schooly D’s “Smoke Some Kill” (1988).

What got you started with Atak Distribution, how and when did it begin?

Fast forward to 1994 - I had graduated from college, where I had been the Hip Hop Director at the school’s radio station, and moved to San Francisco where I began an internship at Gavin, a music magazine that curated Top 40 lists for radio programmers.  Somehow through that job, I met DJ Stef (editor of the Vinyl Exchange) and started writing record reviews for her.  And on one fateful day, I received a copy of Sacred Hoop’s “Demo” tape for review and I thought it was the freshest thing in the world and in 1996 I officially became an underground hip hop junkie.

Were you a hardcore music collector before you started Atak?

Before Atak, I had a decent cd and record collection, full of ‘90s “golden era” major label releases, but hardly any tapes and barely anything considered “indie” or “underground.”  Back then I wasn’t a collector, just a music fan, because all this incredible music was just sitting at the record stores for $12.99.  I shopped a lot at Amoeba and Rasputin’s and a few other smaller stores in the Bay area, plus a few record labels and artists would send me promos for review.

How did you choose what would be in your catalog? How did you make contacts with the artists?

Starting with Sacred Hoop, I was certain that this amazing group wasn’t getting the exposure it deserved, so the seeds of Atak were first planted.  I then started soliciting for more submissions through the Vinyl Exchange and some other Bay area rap magazines, such as 4080.  I think that the Hoop started spreading the word, too, because I soon started getting tapes from the likes of FTA, Megabusive, San Francisco Street Music, Jedi Knights Circle, 99th Demention and others from the South Bay and SF.  Somewhere in there, I met up with the Mystic Journeymen, bought some tapes from them, and was eventually exposed to Berkeley and Oakland artists such as the Living Legends, Hobo Junction, Zion-I and Illa Dapted.  If I liked your tape, it would get in the Atak catalog.  The first printed mail-order catalog had 12 tapes in it and the very first tape sold was Mystik Journeymen’s “Escape Forever” on August 10th, 1996.

Was the mail-order a full time job or did you have other occupations (studies, other job?)?

During the first few years I had several jobs: the Gavin internship became a paid job, I worked at a grocery store and then later at a vegetarian cafe.  Eventually, since my rent was cheap and I was starting to sell more music, I was able to do Atak full-time.  All the storage and shipping was done out of my bedroom.

Did you have many overseas/international customers and what role did that play in the business?

It looks like I started getting my first international orders (from Finland!) in 1997.  I don’t know how they found out about Atak, but they were serious fans of West Coast underground so word spreads fast amongst those folks.  Fans in Finland, Australia, Canada and Japan were my strongest supporters, with a few folks in France and Germany, too.  This was before I started selling online, so these folks were trusting me with their cash and money orders and I will be forever indebted to them.  Through these customers, I was exposed to international hip hop and eventually started selling music from the likes of Ceebrolistics, the Sebutones, mcenroe, Mary Joy Recordings, Muphin and the Hilltop Hoods.

What was the « peak » year in terms of sales and in terms of quality of music?

After a year or so of mailing out catalogs and setting up tables of merchandise at shows, Atak finally got online with the help of one of my earliest customers, Todd (aka Vic aka Celph Titled), who was extremely active on hip hop message boards, and he really helped spread the word around the U.S. and the world, so Atak started getting more non-Bay area music in the catalog and I started getting  orders from everywhere.  I think that the music quality was strong start to finish.  I was listening to everything before I put it in the catalog, and if it wasn’t dope, it didn’t get in.

Did you ever wanted to make Atak a bigger thing, like UGHH or such?

There was a time in which I would have loved for Atak to get really big, because it was all so much fun - all the shows, meeting the artists, hearing a ton of new music, even the packing and shipping was fun for me.  But in hindsight, it is clear that I was better at being a huge fan of the music rather than being a savvy businessperson.  At the point in which digital music started taking off, I didn’t have the technical knowhow to adjust accordingly, and a big part of me still simply loved selling physical copies.  As a fan, I didn’t want everything to go digital, but as a businessperson I should have dived in headfirst to keep up with the other big websites.  I admired what the other sites were doing, and what friends like Shane (aka Kegs) was doing with Below the Surface - putting out records, putting on shows, opening a brick-and-mortar storefront.  But part of me liked keeping things small and simple, but that clearly pushed me into smaller and more obscure corner of the online hip hop biz and eventually bumped me out of it altogether.

You did some cd-r reissues as well as a couple of mix-cds. Any temptation of launching a proper record label (as in: « new release, no reissue ») at some point?

I’d been wanting FOREVER to start a label and put out records!  I made a feeble attempt to put out an Atak compilation in the late ‘90s, full of all the folks that were in my catalog at the time.  I was able to get maybe 7-10 crews over to my house one night to talk about it, but since I had no idea how to really put it all together, I ended up getting one original song, from Nitrous Ox, out of that great big idea.  More recently, I’ve been hoping to help folks put out releases but nothing has materialized just yet.  Nowadays almost everyone is really good at getting this stuff done themselves, so I’m happy that they are taking control of their destinies and getting their music out to the world.

Can you give us your personal Top 5 favorites in your sale catalog? Also one that you think was dope and didn’t have the recognition it deserved?

In no particular order, I’ll list a few of my favorites, but I’m obligated to mention Sacred Hoop’s “Demo” (aka “Sacred Hoop” aka “Runny Poop”) first since that tape inspired everything.  I was also thrilled to be able to pick up indie music from the Hieroglyphics (“Hiero Oldies”)and Saafir (Hobo Junction’s “Limited Edition Compilation”) since I was such a fan of their major label stuff.  I really liked Red Tide’s “Rogue MCs” tape.  Disflex6’s self-titled debut (aka “1984”) was great.  The Kracken’s “Abstract & Cognac” left me wanting much more.  The Sebutones’ “50/50 Where It Counts” blew my mind!  Early stuff Dose One and Why? showed me that hip hop had no boundaries.  This is an extremely abbreviated favorites list - as I look back through my old catalogs, I realize that I loved them all.  It was all so new and so fresh and I think these artists all deserved more recognition than they got.  I’m glad that I could help expose them a bit but I wish I could have done a lot more.

Did you developed friendship with artists/crews over those years and do you have interesting stories/ anecdotes linked to that?

My anecdotal memory is terrible so I’ve sadly forgotten a ton of great stories, fantastic show moments and hilarious conversations.  Looking back, I should have kept a journal or taken a million photographs, because we all had so much fun and did so much back then.  But, luckily for me, I’ve been able to keep in touch with a few of my very favorite people, emcees Luke Sick (Sacred Hoop/Grand Invincible) and Roughneck Jihad (Third Sight), and producer Deeskee (who has probably produced more songs in the Atak catalog than anyone else).  And luckily for everyone else, all three of these guys are still making incredible music, more than 20 years after giving me tapes to review.  A few weeks ago I got to hang out with The Grouch for a bit and he gave me a copy of his “F...the Dumb” double vinyl, 20 years after I first sold that tape in the catalog.

Why (and when) did you stopped Atak?

Atak started to slow down around 2004.  I had recently moved from the Bay area down to Los Angeles, gotten married, bought a house, and started another job that was able to pay the bills more reliably.  I was still getting orders and submissions from new artists, but wasn’t able to give Atak the focus it required to really push new artists and releases.  I didn’t have time to go to many shows anymore, and all my hip hop buddies were still up in the Bay.  I had ambitions to reboot the website, but then my web host got hacked and I had to shut down the site...and then I never got it back online.  I eventually moved my inventory onto some other online platforms and kept selling, but for the most part, Atak was done.  I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to the artists who submitted music around this time.  I was getting some great music but just didn’t have juice to do anything with it.

Any thoughts on the evolution of hip hop? What about the the come back of the cassette? Is it possible that Atak would make a comeback in the future, in some form or another?

Tough question, because I don’t keep up with much truly “underground” music anymore, so I really hope that there are a ton of dope kids putting out dope music out there, and I’m sure there are plenty of them.  I love 90’s hip hop so much, both major label and my Atak stuff, that that is what I still listen to the most, digging in my records, tapes and cds or bumping music in my car.  I agree with most true heads that a lot of today’s hip hop is junk, and though I’m happy to see rappers get big and make money, I’d much rather that it be good, original and compelling hip hop.  I’m stoked to see everyone buying and releasing tapes again, because of my love for the physical copy (though I agree that a free or cheap digital download is an essential part of that sale).  And in regards to Atak’s great big comeback, I don’t think it will happen - it would require too much time and energy to do it right.  But if I can still help out a few people, promote a few records, maybe even sell a few for my old pals, I’m happy to contribute.

A specific question from the homie Age: do you still want to reissue that Hi-State album?

I bugged my man Mr. E about that tape FOREVER and at least he finally put it up on Bandcamp (https://eightarrow.bandcamp.com/album/hi-state-project-demos-n-shit-vol-1) and we chatted about putting out a cassette reissue.  I’m sure he wouldn’t have much trouble selling a short run of 100 tapes, so I’ll remind him about it.  But I’m happy that fans can at least take a listen or buy it online.

What do you think was the most special in the 90's underground scene, and do you believe something like that would ever happen again?

I’ve never really tried to analyze that scene, but in retrospect, I bet that a lot of these emcees, producers and deejays were inspired by all the incredible major label releases that kept pouring out in that decade.  So much quality hip hop was coming out and it was easy to see on “Yo! MTV Raps” and BET and the good stuff was even getting on the radio!  It was everywhere and it was so damn good!  I’m sure that these kids just wanted to be a part of that magical time, and a lot of the underground music was super fresh, too, because it wasn’t easy to make beats and put out cds - they had to commit to it and create a whole scene and they had to be dope to do it.  Granted, I’m a old nostalgic rap dude now, but I don’t think the major or the underground scene will ever be that saturated with fantastically innovative, powerful, creative and inspired hip hop.  Nowadays there isn’t enough inspiration in the scene for there to be an onslaught of great new hip hop like there was for me back in the days.  There will always be a lucky few who can inspire themselves to be original and make great music, and hopefully these kids will get a chance to be heard.

Interview conducted by Kaliyuga Pro & Pseudzero with a bonus cameo by Age, february 2019.

[juniorformulamotorsport]

Monday, 17th September 2018 – Day 1, Kiev

Finding myself in Kiev for a 2-workshop and meeting session with the rest of the 12-strong team I am part of, the London contingent (two of us) were on the ground and in our hotel about 3 hours ahead of everyone else, so with the dispensation of our lovely manager, we didn’t have anything to do until the others showed up. With that in mind, and arriving on a gloriously sunny afternoon, I persuaded my colleague that we really, really needed to go out and do some sightseeing. It was too good an opportunity to waste. Based in the Park Inn hotel, right next to the Olympic stadium which is now home to Dynamo Kiev, we were well situated to walk to the main attractions of the city centre.

Armed with the Lonely Planet guidebook to Ukraine, and a free Kiev map from reception, I now knew where we should aim for, and so cameras in hand, we walked up towards Taras Shevchenko Park initially, along Velyka Vasylkivska Street and over to Lva Tolstoho Street, admiring the variety of architectural styles which ranged from Stalinist flats to turn of the 19th/20th Century blocks with fabulous decorative features, some of them more “foreign” looking than others.

We also encountered the first of many, many terraces which seem to be attached to every restaurant no matter how basic or how grand. Later some of us would come to think these might not be such a good idea, for a variety of reasons, not least the prevalence of both cigarette smokers, and for that matter, shisha pipe users, mostly young women, who seemed not to care how far and wide the awful perfumed fumes spread from the damn things!

We also found the first of many, many murals, usually beautifully done, and covering the entire end walls of numerous buildings around the city. These apparently sprang up everywhere after the 2014 revolution and the plan is to have at least 200 of these instances of street art. There’s even a map of all of them.

This was also roughly the time we realised that crossing the road can be something of an adventure in Kiev. The traffic is heavy, and despite the crossing lights counting down how long you have to cross, and making it very clear that you are allowed to cross, car drivers still try and come round the corners and carry on regardless. You have to adopt a very determined demeanour and trust you’ll survive! Fortunately for the viability of the local population the really big road junctions have underpasses, complete with doors which I assume are especially necessary in the winter to stop the tunnels filling up with snow. The result is a number of underground spaces, full of ad hoc shops, selling all sorts of stuff you never wanted, or in fact never knew existed.

We survived the crossing to the park, and found quite a few things to amuse us. Temperatures were in the high 20s, so pretty much anyone with nothing better to do was perched on the benches in the cool shade of the trees. And the thing is, the benches themselves came in all manner of shapes that can only be described as playful, with no one bench the same as its neighbour. There were fountains, and flowerbeds full of marigolds, and statues of course, including this rather splendid – if rather gloomy – one of Mr. Shevchenko, the multi-talented national poet himself (which probably beats Austrian nymphs on plinths into a cocked hat).

It’s a very busy place, with all sorts going on, and with cafes and coffee shops and pretty much the entire student body of the university across the road sitting talking, dancing, playing music and generally living life outside. Even late in the evening it remained busy (as we discovered later in the week). We continued up Volodymyrska Street, passing the rather fabulous Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian National Opera House on the way.

The Golden Gates of Kyiv (Золоті ворота) were the main gates of the 11th century fortifications of Kyiv, the capital of Kievan Rus’, and were built between 1017 and 1024 (6545 in the Byzantine calendar) at the same time as The Cathedral of Saint Sophia, which was where I was keen to get us, was built. The whole thing was demolished in the middle ages, and was completely rebuilt by the Soviets in 1982, presumably entirely from their imaginations, because there are no images of the original gates available. The whole rebuilding was extremely controversial, and I did wonder why people were visiting it apart from out of curiosity. Hopefully, they don’t think they’re seeing an historical structure.

It was shortly after this that things started to get weird. Across the square from the gates we found this.

It’s part of the same initiative as the murals. It’s all part of the “ArtUnitedUs” iniative, which is the biggest urban street art project in the world. The hedgehog is a monument to a cartoon, “Hedgehog in Fog”, which was produced in 1975, and it’s the work of the Kyiv Landscape Initiative. The claim is that in 2003 a survey of 140 cinema critics and animators declared it the best cartoon in the history of animation. How true this is, I have no idea, but it seems reasonable. And it certainly wasn’t the only odd art work we encountered. There was a cat made out of white plastic forks (by Constantin Skretutsky)…

And also, in the grounds of Saint Sophia’s cathedral, a squishy piece of work (by Beata Korn) that has a sign asking visitors not to cuddle it. You can see why because it’s oddly irresistible. This is part of the art-project “3D.Public Art” and if you can read Ukrainian, then you’ll know a lot more about it than I do!

We had enough time to investigate the cathedral, but not the rest of the “territory”, so handing over a very small sum of money, we went in. I wasn’t allowed to take photos, which was a shame, but understandable. To give you a taste, I’ve found this on the Wikipedia page for the cathedral.

The building work started somewhere around 1011, and it was founded by the Grand Prince of Kievan Rus’, Vladimir the Great, and building has 5 naves, 5 apses, and 13 cupolas, which is not normal for Byzantine churches. it has two levels of balconies on three sides and it’s full of the most stunning 11th century mosaics and frescoes. I can only imagine what it must have looked like when the mosaics were new, with gold everywhere, and paintings on pretty much every surface. The Kievan rulers were buried here, and the grave of Yaroslav I the Wise is still there.

It has suffered substantial damage more than once, and the hands of Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal in 1169, then the Mongolian Tatars in 1240. By the time that Poland and Ukraine were trying to unite the Catholic and orthodox churches it had pretty much fallen into ruin. Repair work was finally undertaken in 1633 by the Italian architect Octaviano Mancini in what is known as Ukrainian Baroque, at least on the outside, while still preserving the interior art.

Its fate was in the balance again in the 1920s, when the Soviet government wanted to destroy the building (a fate that did befall St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery on the other side of the massive square from Saint Sophia’s). It ended up being re-classified as an architectural and historical museum, a function that it still fulfills now. In a side area there is currently a display of some of the art that was saved from Saint Michael’s prior to its demolition. There was also an interesting work made out of thousands of Ukrainian pysanky eggs, highly decorated Easter eggs. The work, a depiction of the Virgin Mary in the cathedral, is by Oksana Mas, and is made out of something in the region of 15,000 eggs, all different. It’s really impressive, and it takes the eye a moment or two to realise that it is actually made of individually painted eggs.

Back outside we admired the bell tower, which, like those we saw in Finland, stands separate from the main body of the church. It’s beautiful, and apparently affords some fine views over Kiev. We didn’t think we had time, though. I took a few photographs, and bought a guidebook before we left to head back to the hotel to meet up with our colleagues.

The park was still buzzing, and the roads were as lethal as ever. I did spot another of the rather fine murals as we were walking along, and if/when we get back (there’s a suggestion of a repeat visit in Spring) I want to see how many of the 200 works I can find.

We were back at the hotel by 18:00, after a couple of hours of nosing around, and I know my impression of the city was pretty positive already, though I was slightly startled by the presence of a bagpiper outside the Metro station opposite the hotel. It wasn’t that he was playing an instrument most people assume to be Scottish, because I know enough to know that it’s a very common instrument worldwide (after all, it’s really just a bag with hollow pipes), it’s just that I’ve tended to regard the playing of bagpipes as an act of war! The Ukrainian version is called a volynka, and originates in the Carpathians.

It remained to be seen what else we might find, as we were due to be taken on a short tour by our Ukrainian colleagues at 18:30. Sadly, the Danes had fallen victim to a taxi driver who had misunderstood his instructions, and they were now on a misguided tour of the city as he tried to find his way through the rush hour gridlock back to the Park Inn from the Holiday Inn. By the time they finally made it in the door, it was dark outside, and the place we were headed for was close to closing. At least the two of us had seen something of the city.

Travel 2018 – Day 1, Kiev Monday, 17th September 2018 - Day 1, Kiev Finding myself in Kiev for a 2-workshop and meeting session with the rest of the 12-strong team I am part of, the London contingent (two of us) were on the ground and in our hotel about 3 hours ahead of everyone else, so with the dispensation of our lovely manager, we didn't have anything to do until the others showed up.

[psykonee]

A decade on a tropical island

My skin burns easily.  I dislike feeling sweaty.  I like the freshness of cold weather. I generally dislike crowded places.

I never thought I would spend a decade in one of the planet’s smallest, hottest and densest tropical islands.

Singapore.

Mistaken preconceptions

English as a main language does not mean a culture that is very similar to that of other mainly English speaking nations.

Having chewing gum is OK, even though nowhere sells it.

One of the richest countries in the world has some extremely poor people – for example elderly people working as cleaners and collecting cardboard.

Behind the ultra modern façade there tends be a more traditional and conservative mindset.

Surprises

Male Singaporeans having to do national service for 2 years, which at least some resent having to do.

The first group (late 1960s) to do national service had Israeli instructors.

The reason the police on the metro system look like teenagers is that they are.

The legality of prostitution.

Sometimes it is older Singaporeans that are most likely to be openly breaking the rules – for example during the Covid lock-down last year, it was common to see groups of older Singaporeans together in a way that was in breach of the restrictions.

At least at the level of individual seats elections can be genuinely competitive.

The normalcy of families having live in maids.

Very little built after independence (1965) has been considered worthy of protection from redevelopment.

Around 80% of Singaporeans live in homes that have 99 year lease holds from what is effectively the state.

How many Singaporeans live with their parents until well into their 30s.

The degree of language fluidity – for example, being with an Indian Singaporean who ordered drinks in Mandarin.

Singlish – an officially frowned upon blend of Chinese dialects with Malay, Tamil and English which is an organic part of the Singaporean identity, as opposed to many other things which have been driven from the top down.

Pre-covid the largest event in favour of making progressive changes each year has been Pink Dot.

The amount of green space, particularly in the core part of the island. It is not uncommon to see monkeys, otters, monitor lizards and other wildlife.

Understanding

The location on the map at the junction of the main sea routes between East Asia and India, the Middle East and Europe makes a port here logical.

The colonial legacy is complex.  The influence of the early, segregated city plan is still clearly visible in terms of street names and the nature of the oldest buildings.

WW2, defeat and occupation are critical to making sense of the structures created and the decisions made by the post-independence leaders.

Without Lee Kuan Yew (the first Prime Minister) things would have been very different.  He effectively got to play Sim City for real.

The country became independent from Malaysia and not directly from the UK.

Singapore was not a backwater at independence (the grand colonial buildings in the core of the city attest to that), but it did have serious issues (amongst other things few natural resources, housing problems) at independence.

To become what it is now has required a huge effort by many over the decades, but it has come at a high cost.

Not all laws are enforced equally.  There are some that are very strongly enforced (e.g. the ban on recreational drugs) and others which exist more on paper than in practice (e.g. the colonial legacy anti gay laws).

Singapore may have a populace that is majority Chinese by background, but it is very different from China and cannot be assumed to side with China (or any other country) on anything.

The degree of direct and indirect state involvement in the economy is far more than a crude look at economic freedom indices would suggest.  In some cases the largest companies in local sectors have significant (in some cases, controlling) shareholdings by the country’s sovereign wealth funds.

This is not a police state, but it is one of the safest countries.  In general there is quite a lot of latitude in what can be said or done by people.  People are largely free to be supportive or critical of the government or anything else here.  At the same time there some things which would be possible elsewhere which are barely tolerated here (e.g. protests are legal in just one place, a legal strike is almost unheard of).

Relative to many countries in the same region Singapore is in many respects liberal, open and tolerant.

People

Anyone can be Singaporean.

Kiasu – a fear of missing out, which makes behaviour around limited events pretty predictable.

Kiasi – a fear of death, which in practice means an avoidance of taking risks.

Conformity tends to be valued over individuality.

Stability is highly valued.

I have found that it is generally guess correctly from a conversation with a Singaporean if they have spent a significant part of their lives outside the country or not.

It is a village on a larger scale, which can be both a source of community and suffocation.

There is an emphasis on self and family reliance, which at its best makes people strive to be as successful as they can be, but at its worst can lead to an indifference in the well being of others.

Given the mix of people and cultures there tends to be a live and let live mentally for the most part in public spaces.

There can be a tenancy by some to resort to official means (e.g. reporting something to the police) instead of trying to resolve disputes without the involvement of the authorities.

Related to this there can be a tendency towards passive aggressiveness over directly confronting problems.

There can be a very hierarchical view of organisations, which can lead to a rigidity and inflexibility.

People will help you if you ask, but it is much less common to get unsolicited assistance.

Ideals and the reality

To be a clean city, but it is maintained more by an army of low paid workers, than a deeply ingrained culture of care of civic spaces. The amount of waste in piles at the beaches can be depressing.

Racism is officially not tolerated in any circumstances.  In practice it is easy to find examples of racism e.g. coming across rental listings that make it clear Indian applicants are not welcome.

To have gender equality, but in practice a patriarchal and defined gender roles remain strongly ingrained.

Education is highly valued, but with a strong emphasis on scoring high marks on structured exams it can lead (along with other factors) to a square box mindset and a lack of creativity.

Officially there are four languages (English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil).  In practice many things are only in English, often in English and Mandarin and rarely only in the other two outside of some limited contexts.

Speculation on further evolution

Same sex marriage is more likely to be legalised in the medium term than recreational drug use.

Singapore is continuing to slowly liberalise at its own pace – for example many films that were banned in the previous century are now available on streaming services.

Can you forge a national identity with what appears to be a largely top down approach?  It will be interesting how this evolves over the coming decades.

The same party has been in power since before independence.  It is likely that other parties will win more seats (currently they hold 11% of them) in future elections.  If and when it happens a successful and peaceful transfer of power would be a momentous event.

Fragmentation of experience by linguistic and other factors in a small, young country which is open to the influences from louder places.

How Singapore has changed me

I can eat with chopsticks.

I effectively ceased to cook after realising eating out was cheaper, arguably tastier and easier.

I have eaten far more varied food here than anywhere else, tried so many new things.

Eating out alone feels normal.

I see more value in a collectivist approach than an individualistic one than I used to.

Paying $20 for a single drink no longer feels as outrageous as it used to.

My body has adjusted to the heat and humidity.  30C now feels normal and 20C can feel cold.

I walk slower to remain cooler.

Travelling 10km within the country feels like a long way.

I can understand and use some Singlish.

I tryto talk slower and clearer because it makes it easier for others to understand what I am saying.

Those who I am friends with and work with is far more diverse than before.

I have toned down some of how I tend to be naturally (swearing a lot, directness) in order to be more accommodating of others.

I have become quite used to standing out in many places due to my appearance.

Singapore has felt like home for some time.

Miscellany

The number of Singaporeans who have thought I am Australian.

The airport is the world’s best in terms of ease of use and facilities.

The one time my beer glass was freely refilled was while eating dinner I found myself amongst supporters of one of the opposition parties who were ecstatic the night they won a seat in a by-election from the ruling party.

The government information adverts (e.g. visit your relatives more than once a year) shown in some cinemas would not be taken with a straight face in many other countries.

The unexpected can lead to things grinding to a halt as orders are awaited.

The ubiquity of high speed internet access has made controlling what people can see, read or experience effectively impossible.  A great firewall is not a viable option here.

[imformation]

How to Price Your Grand Junction Home to Sell Quickly

When selling your home, the most important decision you’ll make is determining the right price. Price your home too high, and it might sit on the market for months. Price it too low, and you could leave money on the table. In Grand Junction, where the real estate market has its own unique dynamics, setting the right price is crucial for a quick and successful sale. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the key strategies and considerations to price your Grand Junction home to sell quickly.

Understanding the Local Market

Before setting a price to sell my home Grand Junction, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the local real estate market. Grand Junction offers a mix of buyers and sellers, with both in-state residents and people from other areas interested in moving to this region known for its scenic beauty and outdoor lifestyle.

1. Evaluate Current Market Conditions

The real estate market fluctuates over time when considering Sell My Home Grand Junction, with periods favoring either buyers or sellers. For example, a seller’s market occurs when there is high demand and limited housing inventory, allowing sellers to command higher prices. In a buyer’s market, however, there are more homes available than buyers, meaning homes may need to be priced more competitively to attract interest.

Keeping an eye on Grand Junction’s market trends can provide valuable insight. Are homes selling quickly? Are prices trending up or stabilizing? A professional real estate agent can provide you with the most up-to-date information on market conditions, giving you the data you need to make an informed pricing decision.

2. Assess Comparable Homes (Comps)

One of the most effective ways to determine your home’s price is by looking at what similar properties in your area have recently sold for. This is called a comparative market analysis (CMA). By examining homes with similar square footage, age, condition, and features, you can get a realistic idea of what buyers are willing to pay in the Grand Junction market.

Location Matters: Homes in the same neighborhood can vary widely in price depending on their proximity to schools, parks, shopping, or scenic views. Make sure the comps you choose are geographically close and have similar amenities.

Recency is Key: Look at sales that have occurred within the past three to six months. The more recent the data, the more accurately it reflects current market conditions.

Factors that Influence Home Pricing

Several factors come into play when pricing your home to sell quickly in Grand Junction. Beyond the broader market dynamics, you’ll need to take into account the unique characteristics of your home and how they stack up against the competition.

1. Condition of the Home

The condition of your home is one of the most significant factors influencing price. A well-maintained, move-in-ready home will generally command a higher price than one that requires significant repairs or updates.

Curb Appeal: The exterior of your home is the first thing potential buyers see. Enhancing curb appeal with landscaping, a fresh coat of paint, or new exterior fixtures can increase your home’s perceived value.

Interior Condition: If your home is in need of major updates (e.g., kitchen or bathroom remodels, new flooring), this will impact its price. However, even minor updates like new paint, fixing leaks, or replacing old fixtures can improve your home’s marketability.

2. Home Size and Features

Larger homes with more bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage typically command higher prices. In Grand Junction, homes with specific features like a large backyard, a garage, or proximity to outdoor recreational areas are particularly attractive to buyers.

Unique Selling Points: Does your home have special features such as a pool, energy-efficient appliances, or a home office space? Highlighting these can add value, but be careful not to overestimate their appeal. While some buyers might be willing to pay a premium for certain features, others may not find them as essential.

3. Location, Location, Location

In real estate, location is often the most important factor influencing price. In Grand Junction, homes located near desirable amenities like schools, parks, shopping centers, and outdoor recreational areas tend to attract more buyers and higher offers.

Proximity to Outdoor Activities: Grand Junction is known for its proximity to hiking, biking trails, and other outdoor activities. Homes that offer easy access to these natural attractions may appeal to outdoor enthusiasts, adding value to your property.

4. Market Timing

Timing can have a significant impact on how quickly your home sells and at what price. Spring and summer are generally the busiest seasons for real estate, with more buyers actively searching for homes. If you’re selling during the slower winter months, you might need to price your home more competitively to attract attention.

Pricing Strategies for a Quick Sale

Now that you have an understanding of the factors that influence home pricing, let’s explore some pricing strategies that can help you sell your home quickly in Grand Junction.

1. Competitive Pricing

One of the most effective ways to sell your home quickly is by pricing it competitively right from the start. Buyers today are savvy and often conduct thorough research before making an offer. They know what comparable homes are selling for, and if your home is priced too high, they’ll likely pass in favor of a better deal.

Avoid Overpricing: While it may be tempting to list your home at a higher price to leave room for negotiation, overpricing can backfire. Homes that are overpriced often sit on the market longer, and extended time on the market can signal to buyers that there’s something wrong with the property.

Price Slightly Below Market Value: In some cases, pricing your home slightly below its market value can create a sense of urgency among buyers, leading to multiple offers and even a bidding war. This strategy works well in a seller’s market where demand is high and inventory is low.

2. Consider Price Ranges

When listing your home, consider how buyers search for properties. Many online real estate platforms allow buyers to filter homes by price range. If your home is priced just above a common search threshold (e.g., $305,000 instead of $299,000), you might miss out on potential buyers. Pricing just below key thresholds can help your home appear in more searches, increasing its visibility.

3. Evaluate Offers Carefully

While you may be focused on selling quickly, it’s important to evaluate offers carefully. The highest offer isn’t always the best. Consider factors like the buyer’s financing situation, contingencies, and timeline. Cash buyers or buyers with pre-approved mortgages are often able to close more quickly and with fewer complications, even if their offer is slightly lower.

4. Use Psychological Pricing

Psychological pricing is a technique that involves setting prices just below a round number—such as listing a home at $299,900 instead of $300,000. This approach creates the perception of a better deal and may attract more buyers. Additionally, it can help your home appear in searches that are capped at certain price points.

5. Be Ready to Adjust

If your home isn’t generating interest or offers after a few weeks on the market, it might be time to reconsider your pricing strategy. The longer a home sits on the market, the more buyers begin to wonder if there’s an issue with the property. A price reduction can renew interest and bring in more potential buyers, but it’s essential to make adjustments thoughtfully.

Final Thoughts

Pricing your home to sell quickly in Grand Junction requires a balance of strategy, market knowledge, and an understanding of what buyers are looking for. By evaluating the local market, considering the condition and features of your home, and employing competitive pricing strategies, you can position your home to attract serious buyers and secure a quick sale.

At Convergence Properties Inc., we’re here to help you navigate every step of the home-selling process, ensuring you get the best possible price while minimizing time on the market. Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can assist you in pricing your home for a fast, successful sale.

[convergenceproperties1]

Selling Your Home Quickly: Cash Offers Explained

In today’s fast-paced real estate market, many homeowners find themselves in situations where they need to sell their homes quickly. One of the most appealing options for achieving a quick sale is accepting a cash offer. But what exactly does it mean to sell your home for cash, and how does the process work? In this comprehensive guide, we’ll break down cash offers, their benefits, potential downsides, and what you need to know to navigate this option successfully.

What is a Cash Offer?

A cash for houses Grand Junction CO offer refers to a proposal made by a buyer to purchase a property outright without the need for mortgage financing. This means that the buyer has the funds readily available to complete the transaction. Cash offers can come from various sources, including individual homebuyers, real estate investors, or cash home-buying companies.

Characteristics of Cash Offers:

No Financing Contingencies: Unlike traditional offers that may depend on the buyer securing a mortgage, cash offers do not include financing contingencies, making them generally less risky for sellers.

Faster Closings: Cash transactions can often close in as little as a week or two, significantly reducing the time your home is on the market.

Less Paperwork: Without the need for loan approvals and lengthy financial documentation, the process is typically more streamlined.

Benefits of Accepting Cash Offers

1. Speed and Convenience

One of the most significant advantages of accepting a cash for houses Grand Junction CO offer is the speed at which the transaction can occur. For homeowners facing urgent situations—such as job relocations, financial difficulties, or personal emergencies—this can be a lifesaver. Cash sales can often close in as little as 7 to 14 days, allowing you to move on quickly.

2. Reduced Risk of Fall-Through

In traditional sales, transactions can fall through due to financing issues, such as the buyer being denied a mortgage or failing to meet loan conditions. Cash offers eliminate this risk, providing you with greater peace of mind that the sale will go through.

3. Less Hassle

Cash buyers typically expect to purchase homes as-is, meaning you won’t need to invest time and money in repairs or renovations. This can be especially beneficial if your home has significant issues that you’d rather not address.

4. Straightforward Process

With fewer parties involved (no lenders or banks), the process of closing on a cash offer is generally more straightforward. This can save you time and reduce the stress often associated with home sales.

5. Negotiation Power

Cash buyers may be more willing to negotiate favorable terms for sellers, such as fewer contingencies or a more flexible closing date. This can create a win-win situation for both parties.

Potential Downsides of Cash Offers

While there are numerous benefits to accepting a cash offer, it’s essential to be aware of potential drawbacks.

1. Lower Offers

Cash buyers, particularly investors, often look for a deal. As such, cash offers may be lower than what you might receive in a traditional sale. If maximizing your sale price is a priority, you’ll need to weigh this consideration carefully.

2. Limited Buyer Pool

Not all buyers are cash buyers, which can limit your pool of potential offers. If you’re in a market where cash transactions are less common, you might find yourself with fewer options.

3. Scams and Lowball Offers

Unfortunately, the cash offer market can attract unscrupulous buyers looking to take advantage of sellers in desperate situations. Always conduct due diligence on potential buyers to ensure their legitimacy.

How to Evaluate Cash Offers

If you receive a cash offer on your home, consider the following steps to evaluate its viability:

1. Review the Offer Carefully

Take a close look at the details of the offer, including the price, closing timeline, and any contingencies. Understanding what the buyer is proposing will help you make an informed decision.

2. Research the Buyer

Whether the offer comes from an individual, a real estate investor, or a cash home-buying company, it’s essential to research their credibility. Look for reviews, testimonials, and any history of past transactions.

3. Consult with a Real Estate Professional

Working with a knowledgeable local real estate agent can provide invaluable insights into the market and help you evaluate whether a cash offer is in your best interest. They can also guide you through the negotiation process.

4. Consider Timing and Urgency

Reflect on your personal circumstances. If you need to sell quickly, a cash offer may align perfectly with your timeline. However, if you have time to wait for potentially higher offers, you might consider listing your home traditionally.

5. Assess the Market Conditions

Market conditions can greatly influence the desirability of cash offers. In a competitive market, you may receive multiple offers, including cash and traditional financing options. Understanding these dynamics will help you make the best choice.

The Process of Accepting a Cash Offer

Once you’ve decided to accept a cash offer, the following steps typically occur:

1. Sign the Purchase Agreement

Once the terms are agreed upon, both you and the buyer will sign a purchase agreement that outlines the sale details, including the price, closing date, and any contingencies.

2. Open Escrow

An escrow account is usually opened to facilitate the transaction. This neutral third party holds the funds and documents until the sale is finalized.

3. Home Inspection and Appraisal (if necessary)

Even in cash sales, buyers may request a home inspection to ensure there are no hidden issues. In some cases, an appraisal may also be necessary to confirm the home’s value.

4. Close the Sale

Once all conditions are satisfied, you’ll proceed to the closing. During this meeting, you’ll sign the final paperwork, transfer the title, and receive your funds.

Conclusion

Selling your home quickly through a cash offer can be a smart choice for many homeowners, particularly those needing to move on swiftly. With the potential for faster closings, reduced risk, and less hassle, cash offers can streamline the selling process. However, it’s crucial to carefully evaluate any offers you receive, considering both the pros and cons.

If you’re considering selling your home for cash, the experienced team at Convergence Properties Inc. is here to help. We can guide you through the process, provide market insights, and ensure you get the best possible outcome for your sale. Contact us today to learn more about your options and how we can assist you in making a confident decision!

Reference: Sell my house Fast Grand Junction colorado

Reference: Sell house Grand Junction

Reference: Sell my Mesa County house fast

[convergenceproperties]

Easy Steps to Get Your Home Ready for Sale in Grand Junction

Selling your home in Grand Junction, Colorado, can be an exciting yet challenging journey. To ensure a smooth and successful sale, it’s essential to prepare your home effectively. This guide outlines easy steps to get your home ready for sale, maximizing its appeal to potential buyers.

1. Declutter and Organize

One of the first steps in preparing your home for sale is to declutter and organize your living space. A tidy home allows potential buyers to visualize their own belongings in the space.

Why Decluttering Matters:

Creates Space: Removing excess items makes your home feel larger and more inviting.

Enhances Appeal: A clean and organized home is more attractive and gives an impression of good maintenance.

How to Declutter:

Sort Items: Go through each room and categorize items into keep, donate, recycle, and throw away. Be ruthless—less is more!

Storage Solutions: Consider renting a storage unit for items you don’t use daily but want to keep. This clears out clutter without discarding sentimental belongings.

2. Make Minor Repairs

Addressing minor repairs before listing your home can significantly enhance its appeal and value. Buyers often look for homes that require minimal work.

Common Repairs to Consider:

Leaky Faucets: Fix any dripping faucets or plumbing issues.

Cracks and Holes: Patch any holes in walls or ceilings and repair any cracks in the paint.

Doors and Windows: Ensure all doors and windows open smoothly and check for any broken screens.

How to Approach Repairs:

DIY or Hire Professionals: Depending on your skill level, tackle simple repairs yourself or hire a handyman for more complex issues.

Create a Checklist: Make a list of repairs needed throughout the house to keep track of tasks.

3. Deep Clean Your Home

A thorough cleaning is crucial for making a good impression. A clean home not only looks better but also smells fresher, making it more appealing to buyers.

Areas to Focus On:

Kitchens and Bathrooms: These areas should be spotless, as buyers pay special attention to cleanliness in high-traffic spaces.

Floors and Carpets: Vacuum carpets, mop floors, and consider professional cleaning for any heavily soiled areas.

Windows: Clean windows inside and out to maximize natural light and improve the overall look of your home.

Cleaning Tips:

Use a Checklist: Create a cleaning checklist to ensure no area is overlooked.

Consider Hiring Professionals: If time is limited, hiring a professional cleaning service can save you time and effort.

4. Enhance Curb Appeal

First impressions matter. Curb appeal is essential, as it’s the first thing potential buyers will see. A well-maintained exterior can make a significant impact.

How to Boost Curb Appeal:

Landscaping: Trim hedges, mow the lawn, and plant colorful flowers. A neat yard creates a welcoming environment.

Paint and Repair: Consider a fresh coat of paint for your front door and address any chipped or peeling paint on the exterior.

Lighting: Update outdoor lighting fixtures or add solar lights along walkways to enhance the entryway.

Quick Curb Appeal Fixes:

Pressure Wash: Clean sidewalks and driveways to remove dirt and grime.

New House Numbers: Consider replacing old house numbers with modern ones for a fresh look.

5. Stage Your Home

Staging your home effectively can help potential buyers visualize how they would use the space. A well-staged home often sells faster and at a higher price.

Staging Tips:

Neutral Decor: Opt for neutral colors in decor and furnishings. This helps buyers envision their style in the space.

Furniture Arrangement: Arrange furniture to create an open flow and maximize space. Consider removing oversized furniture that can make rooms feel cramped.

Highlight Key Features: Emphasize any unique architectural features or focal points in each room, such as fireplaces or built-in shelves.

Professional Staging:

Consider Hiring a Stager: A professional stager can provide insights and arrange your home to appeal to the broadest audience possible.

6. Set the Right Price

Pricing your home correctly is vital for attracting buyers. A well-priced home generates more interest and can lead to quicker offers.

How to Determine the Right Price:

Research Comparable Sales: Look at similar homes in your neighborhood that have sold recently to gauge pricing trends.

Get a Professional Appraisal: Consider hiring a real estate appraiser for an accurate assessment of your home’s value.

Work with an Agent:

Consult a Real Estate Agent: An experienced local agent can provide valuable insights into pricing and market conditions. They can help you set a competitive price that attracts buyers while maximizing your return.

7. Market Your Home Effectively

Once your home is ready for sale, it’s crucial to market it effectively. Utilize various platforms to reach potential buyers.

Marketing Strategies:

Online Listings: List your home on popular real estate websites, including high-quality photos and a detailed description.

Social Media: Promote your listing on social media platforms to reach a wider audience.

Open Houses: Host open houses to attract local buyers. Ensure your home is clean and inviting for visitors.

Work with a Real Estate Agent:

Leverage Agent’s Network: A real estate agent has access to resources and networks that can help market your home effectively.

8. Prepare for Showings

Being prepared for showings is essential for creating a positive impression on potential buyers.

Tips for Successful Showings:

Flexible Scheduling: Be accommodating with showing times to attract more potential buyers.

Keep it Clean: Maintain cleanliness and order in your home at all times, as you never know when a potential buyer might want to view the property.

Create a Welcoming Atmosphere: Open curtains to let in natural light and consider soft background music to create a pleasant ambiance.

Conclusion

Getting your home ready for sale in Grand Junction doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By following these easy steps—decluttering, making repairs, deep cleaning, enhancing curb appeal, staging, pricing correctly, marketing effectively, and preparing for showings—you can increase your home’s appeal and maximize its selling potential.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity! Act now and schedule your site visit today by providing your details at (970) 414-1311, emailing convergeprops@gmail.com, or visiting our website: Sell My Home Grand Junction With the right preparation, you can successfully navigate the selling process and achieve your goals!

[lawrencedienerthings]

Cory Gardner works to improve his image with first TV ad as Democratic rivals draw sharp differences in forum

#corygardner🇱🇦 📺 🚩 🖼 🎨 💨

Colorado News

Cory Gardner’s first television commercial of his 2020 reelection campaign begins airing Friday, a crucial milestone for the Republican as he works to rehabilitate his image among Colorado voters. 

Gardner is working to sell his accomplishments over six years in the Senate to turn the sour perspective on his job performance by highlighting his work responding to the coronavirus outbreak. The spot touts Gardner’s work to secure COVID-19 tests and protective masks for the state, even pointing out the praise he has received from Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.

“We are going to get through this,” Gardner says at the end of the ad, in a video taken from a TV interview. “We will get through this together.”

The effort to boost the incumbent — who ranks as one of the most vulnerable in the nation — comes as the race between his Democratic rivals intensifies. Former Gov. John Hickenlooper and former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff met Thursday evening in their first one-on-one forum — a virtual event hosted on Zoom.

The rules dictated that the candidates could not confront each other, but that didn’t stop Romanoff from drawing a sharp line as he suggested Hickenlooper is not progressive enough when it comes to health care, climate change and the economy.

“The way you win this race and beat Cory Gardner is not by imitating his approach. It is instead by laying out clear differences,” Romanoff said, in a not-so-veiled critique of his rival Hickenlooper, a political centrist.

Hickenlooper highlighted his work to expand health care coverage under the federal health care law and institute new environmental rules to curb methane gas emissions. “What we’ve done in my 20 years in public services is a progressive agenda,” he said.

Former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, left, and former Gov. John Hickenlooper, face off in a Democratic U.S. Senate primary forum over zoom on Thursday, May 13, 2020. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)

Gardner looks to November as Democrats focus on primary in June

The back-and-forth in the forum came one month before Democratic primary ballots hit the mail ahead of the June 30 election. And while the candidates seek to appeal to the party’s base, Gardner is aiming to win over moderate voters with the TV ad focused on his response to the pandemic.

“Gardner has a great story to tell,” said Michael Fortney, a Republican strategist in Colorado who is close to the Gardner campaign.  

The 30-second ad from Gardner doesn’t mention President Donald Trump — nor his Democratic opponents — and steers clear of the politics surrounding the response to the pandemic. 

Instead it uses images of coronavirus tests and medical masks paired with news stories that tout Gardner’s connections in Asia from his work as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia. He has said he used those ties to make introductions for the Colorado teams procuring supplies. 

Gardner’s campaign is spending at least $170,000 to run the commercial on four Denver TV stations through May 28, according to filings with the Federal Communications Commission. His campaign says the spot will also run in Colorado Springs and Grand Junction television markets, as well as on streaming services like Hulu.  

The limited purchase aside, the spending represents the first of millions of dollars in television air time that the campaign will buy using its deep financial warchest over the next several months. Outside political groups will spend even more.

The latest polling in the U.S. Senate race, from Democratic firm Keating Research, showed 53% of likely voters have an unfavorable view of Gardner, his worst numbers since the pollster began testing his favorability in March 2017. 

The poll, released May 5, also showed the share of voters who didn’t have an opinion about Gardner shrinking to 10% from 21% in October. It comes after Democratic-backed groups have spent big money on TV and digital ads in the past year to criticize the Republican.

“Voters are getting more knowledgeable about Cory Gardner and they’re going toward the negative side,” said Chris Keating, the Democratic pollster.

The poll showed Gardner as being favorable among 37% of voters, three percentage points higher than Keating’s last poll in October. But Keating says an eight percentage point jump in the share that have an unfavorable view of him speaks volumes.

“He’s got to try and turn this around. Can he do it? Does he have the resources to do it? Does he have the time? I don’t know,” said Keating, who runs Telluride-based Keating Research. 

Fortney is confident that Gardner can successfully get his message across, even though he  acknowledges that the incumbent has taken blows from the other side. 

“Democrats have spent a lot of money to cast Sen. Gardner in a negative light, despite his actual record,” Fortney said. “Now, Cory is going to set the record straight. Voters are smart and have about five months to get the whole story.”

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The ad released Friday begins to tell that tale by highlighting how, through his connections, Gardner says he’s helped secure 100,000 face masks from Taiwan and 100,000 test kits from South Korea for Colorado. 

Gardner is hoping to emphasize his accomplishments and bipartisanship as Democrats work to paint him as a lackey of Trump, whom the senator has endorsed despite the president’s unpopularity in the state. 

One of the video clips shown in the TV spot is Polis praising Gardner at a news conference. “Sen. Cory Gardner, who I talk with multiple times every day, has done everything I’ve asked to help in our response,” the governor said.

Democrats are quick to point out that the reason Colorado needed to secure its own coronavirus supplies is the lack of federal pandemic preparedness. Polis has said he keeps orders for masks and tests secret until they arrive in Colorado because he’s worried about the Trump administration overriding the state’s efforts. 

Polis said a few weeks ago, for instance, that Colorado was working to secure an order for 500 ventilators for Colorado but that the Federal Emergency Management Agency swooped in and purchased them before the state could follow through.

MORE: Here’s how Colorado competes with the world to secure coronavirus tests and supplies

Hickenlooper and Romanoff battle on progressive issues in first  forum

The coronavirus barely factored into the 70-minute forum between Hickenlooper and Romanoff hosted by Indivisible NOCO, a group of progressive activists from Northern Colorado. Instead the topics focused on major partisan issues within the Democratic Party.

The candidates received most of the questions ahead of time, and organizers noted from the start that the live-streaming event was not a debate. Both candidates appeared from their homes, wearing dress shirts with no ties, and the video conferencing format led to awkward transitions and blurry images at times. 

One defining exchange came on the topic of providing government-run Medicare coverage to everyone. 

Hickenlooper said he supports universal coverage through a public option, rather than “Medicare for All.” “You’ll end up with an evolution that allows people ultimately to get to a single-payer system, but it will be an evolution not a revolution,” he said.

“I don’t believe this is a time for timidity, and telling folks they have to wait for a slow evolution is heartless,” Romanoff responded, pointing to people who can’t afford coverage and others who go bankrupt from medical bills. He supports Medicare coverage for everyone from age zero, he said.

Later in the forum, Romanoff highlighted his support for the Green New Deal, the congressional proposal to tackle climate change and retool the economy to address inequities. He said it is “the heart of my campaign” and “literally the last best chance to rescue life on Earth.”

The Democratic candidates competing in the June party primary for U.S. Senate are Andrew Romanoff, left, and John Hickenlooper, right. (Colorado Sun photo illustration)

Hickenlooper said he agreed that climate change is “one of the greatest existential threats to humanity in the history of the world” and called for an end to carbon emissions by 2050 and a transition to “a clean economy.”

Without naming him, Romanoff accused Hickenlooper for parroting Republicans attacks on Green New Deal and Medicare for All as “socialism,” which the former governor did in his failed presidential bid. Hickenlooper never engaged with Romanoff during the debate.

Romanoff also expressed support for changing the rules in the U.S. Senate to prohibit filibusters. Hickenlooper called the way the filibuster is used now “a joke,” but he would not commit to the idea, only saying he would listen to the arguments.

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[princessweddingdressesbyalf-blog]

Princess Wedding Dresses Perth

Wedding Locations - Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks ...

Table of ContentsWedding Venues & Hotels - Sonomacounty.comSan Diego Wedding Venues: Voted Best Venue For 2020New Wedding Venues In Central IndianaBest Asheville Wedding Venues - Romantic AshevilleAlabama Farm Wedding Venues - Pursell FarmsWedding Venues - Visit Lodi

1989 - 2020, Hopscotch Press, Inc. All text is written and copyrighted by Right here Comes The Guide. The work with this internet site is accredited under an Innovative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 USA License. Personal privacy Policy Cookie Notice Do Not Sell My Info.

Now you get to locate your desire wedding venue, where you and your partner will certainly walk down the aisle and host your wedding celebration reception. As soon as you choose your place, you can start intending the rest of your big day. When it involves wedding celebration places, it's a matter of limiting what kind of ambience you are looking for.

With a lot of kinds of wedding event venues available, you're certain to discover the ideal location to say "I do." Choosing a wedding location for your reception as well as ceremony tends to be the very first step in the wedding preparation procedure. Wedding locations are typically scheduled 1-2 years in advance, though some only require a couple of months' notification.

13 Of San Diego's Best Wedding Venues - See Prices

When doubtful, publication asap so you have the very best opportunity of protecting your desire location. Anything can be a location, from backyards to banquet halls, so be innovative. Some concerns to ask yourself before browsing: are you looking for places that can suit a large event, or a more intimate affair? Do you see on your own stating "I do" in your church, or with sand in between your toes? Stroll down the aisle surrounded naturally or exchange your swears indoors.

Wedding Locations In The Pocono Mountains

Do not forget that you'll need an area to hold your wedding and your wedding reception. Some couples have both in the same location, while others pick different venues. Commemorate your wedding event outdoors as well as after that transfer to a reception hall on-site or meet everyone on the dancing flooring at a close-by resort or restaurant.

There are some points to take into consideration when selecting a place. Establish up a browse through prior to you publication, as photos and reviews can only inform you so much. Also, don't be terrified to ask concerns. You'll need to know how numerous individuals the location can accommodate, what dates are readily available as well as just how much the location prices.

Charleston, Sc Wedding Venues - Official Charleston ...

Parks, yards, ranches and beachfront locations create the excellent backdrop for an intimate exterior wedding event. Get hitched on a dock forgeting a river or get wed in a winery at sundown. When selecting an outside location, be mindful of the weather. Obtaining wed on the coastline!.?. !? Prepare a back-up plan for summer season tornados.

On the other hand, if you intend on obtaining wed in the autumn or winter, layers and warmer clothes are a must. Numerous states have "four periods in a hr" weather condition, which can be difficult to forecast, especially if you're getting married far from home. Do appropriate research study before completing a place.

Wedding Venues - Virginia Is For Lovers

Know that the weather will not make or break the day, so do not allow it worry you excessive. If it's an outside wedding celebration venue, learn what isn't supplied as well as what you will require to bring with you. Some parks have pavilions as well as bathrooms, however no place to keep food for the reception.

Consider the moment of day that you wish to be married and also exactly how that might influence lights for digital photography. Prefer to obtain married with a roofing system over your heads? You'll stumble upon all type of indoor wedding places, from lavish estates to fascinating museums. Of course, country clubs, reception halls and also hotels are constantly an option, as well.

Along with discovering if the place place is available on your preferred day, you must likewise look right into whether it is a convenient location for your visitors. Can it hold every person? Is there enough car parking? Are there sufficient washrooms? Is it environment controlled? These are all important points to keep in mind prior to making the decision to schedule a place.

It is indicated to be enjoyable and interesting. Here at WeddingWire, we have a quick and simple means to locate as well as compare wedding venues in a snap. If you're asking yourself, "Where are the very best wedding celebration locations near me?" We'll help you locate them. Seeking a destination wedding celebration rather? No sweat.

Top Wedding Venues In San Diego, California

Wherever you end up holding your wedding, you and also your partner are destined to have one of one of the most unforgettable days of your lives.

Sue Kessler Christian Oth Studio Ranking right up there with involvement rings and also wedding apparels, browsing with locations is just one of the most lust-worthy components of the wedding celebration planning process. Yet with alternatives substantial and also endlessand at every price pointit can be a complicated task to deal with, especially if you aren't certain where worldwide you intend to wed.

From European chateaux to exotic beaches and special stateside places, right here are our leading choices for the most stunning wedding event locations around the world. New York City Public Library When it comes to luxury New york city City wedding celebrations, The New york city Public Library is as classic as you can getwith an ample dosage of beauty.

The most effective part? The iconic landmark has several occasion spaces within the structure, making it easy for visitors to migrate from one area to the next. Maintain in mind that each room can play host to a different vibe, from your enchanting event to an all-out dance celebration. New York, NY, UNITED STATES Suite Balbiano This spectacular villa, located simply outside Lenno in a private position on Lake Como, is one of the ultimate locations to wed in among the world's most impressive destinations.

San Diego Wedding Venues: Voted Best Venue For 2020

If you're wanting to see just how the rental property played host to one of our preferred wedding celebrations, see just how Kristen and also Zack made it their own on MARKET New bride. Ossuccio Carbon Monoxide, Italy The Historic Royal Palaces Yes, you can obtain married at the royal palaces. From Banqueting House and also Hampton Court Palace to Kensington Royal Residence (where the Cambridges as well as Sussexes reside), allow magnificent official gardens, stylish cobbled yards, and also splendid Tudor and also Baroque design be a stylish yet grand British backdrop for your wedding.

London, England Blackberry Ranch What was uncovered originally as a wild blackberry bramble (hence the name) in the Great Smoky Mountains, is now a completely extravagant farmstead that has thrived into a pastoral 4,200-acre estate. From Luke Bryan performances to Billy Reid fashion reveals, you remain in good company when it comes to intending a wedding at Blackberry Ranch.

Walland, TN Resort du Cap-Eden-Roc This 5-star Oetker Collection property is the ultimate setup for an exclusive French Riviera occasion in high style. The remote grounds include excellent gardens, personal Cte d'Azur coastline full with an infinity swimming pool and also a diving board into the sea, as well as deluxe occasion spaces with illustrious history and also attractive views at every angle.

Pro tip: For the supreme in exclusivity, reserve Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in its totality for a really customized celebration. Antibes, France Hayfield Wild lawns, sweeping stretches, as well as ancient trees are simply a couple of details that this Catskill State Park place has to offer when creating an unreal setup for your wedding ceremony as well as reception.

7 Scenic Wedding Venues In Grand Junction - Visit Grand ...

If bryllup københavn you're searching for concepts of exactly how to design this barn place in a method that's anything however standard, take signs from EXCHANGE Features Supervisor, Olivia Fleming, and also her hubby, Matt Rubin, who joined below. Maplecrest, NY Frederick Loewe Estate "Quintessentially Midcentury as well as not contrived by any means" is how MART Bride Christy Baird explained this Palm Springs wedding celebration place.

This venue is ideal for the modern-day (and also trendy) new bride. Christy and also Brian's wedding, pictured below, is instance in point. Palm Springs, CA Ballyfin This 5-star high-end lodge in the heart of Ireland's countryside is set at the foot of the Slieve Bloom Mountains. Here, you'll find no distractionsjust pure love, history, as well as design.

Laois, Ireland 4 Seasons Sea Club From The Cloisters to the Versailles Gardens as well as Terrace, this Bahamas oasis on Heaven Island will supply you with the very best of both globes: a traditional coastline wedding event and also life escape done in one, topped off with the level of solution one anticipates whenever they lay their head at a 4 Seasons.

[lrfya]

Little Rock River Market MysterYAy Hike!

Hi, I’m Macy from The Truth about Forever. Today, I’ll be your guide on a Mystery Hike in downtown Little Rock, in what we call The River Market! I’m not a paid tour guide – I am doing this for extra credit – so tips will be greatly appreciated! We have started here at the Main Library for the Central Arkansas Library System because I work here at the information desk, so please feel free to stop by and see me any time. I also work a second job in the River Market, so I’m sort of an expert.

I’ve positioned a bunch of my YA friends in locations around the River Market. You’ll recognize them from some of your favorite books. Find a YA character you know, and they’ll tell you about the location they’re in! Let’s go!

(Psst - throughout this hike, my commentary will be in bold.)

SIMON SPIER and BEX PORTER

Hey! I’m Simon from Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, and this is Bex from The Royal We. We’re hanging out at the Ron Robinson Theater for Terror Tuesdays, when they show vintage horror movies for $2 admission. This week’s showing is Rocky Horror Picture Show!

CELAENA SARDOTHIEN

Hi friends, I’m Celaena from the Throne of Glass books. Next door to the Ron Robinson Theater is one of my favorite clothing boutiques, Fringe.

Now that you’ve met a couple of my friends, you’re off to a great start! Let’s take a lunch break at one of my favorite music venues – Sticky’z Rock’n’Roll Chicken Shack. Come back tomorrow to catch Brilliant or Catastrophic’s show - you probably heard about them in Saint Anything. Let’s head across the street - I see a couple of familiar faces.

CRICKET BELL AND NATASHA KINGSLEY

You made it! This building is the Museum of Discovery, and it’s filled with lots of really cool science exhibits. We’re always tinkering around in here. Cricket from Lola and the Boy Next Door loves to see Kevin Delaney do experiments (you might’ve seen him on Jimmy Fallon!) while I, Natasha from The Sun is Also a Star, loves the human body exhibits.

Let’s grab a cup of coffee before we go to the next spot. I love Zeteo Coffee next door – looks like Gansey & Co. from The Raven Cycle are here. They hang out here a lot, but it’s odd that they always order five drinks even though there’s only four of them. On to the next stop!

JAM from BELZHAR and PRISCILLA from BONE GAP

Welcome to the Heifer International World Headquarters! Heifer International is a charity organization working to end hunger and poverty around the world by providing livestock and training to struggling communities in third world countries. I’m Jam, and I help out with the goats here, and Priscilla takes care of the bees.

Here we are at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. This is where I work my second part-time job, helping cater events for Wish Catering. The current exhibit at the library is “Xtreme Bugs.”

WAVERLY CAMDENMAR

Hey guys! I’m Waverly, and I’m currently getting my prom photos taken on the Clinton Pedestrian Bridge, where lots of people come to take photos. This bridge connects the trails known as the Arkansas River Trail. I run this all the time with my friend Jessica Darling, and sometimes Macy joins us. It’s 17 miles and connects Little Rock and North Little Rock (which are two different cities separated by the Arkansas River, rather than two parts of the same city).

WILLOW from COUNTING BY 7S

If you follow the Arkansas River Trail along the river, it leads you to the Arkansas Nature Center. It focuses on all of the outdoor recreational things that Arkansas’s fish and wildlife resources provide. I’m Willow, and I’m obsessed with nature, so I intern here part time.

ARIEL from ROSES AND ROT

This is the First Security Amphitheater. It’s the main stage of Riverfest, a music festival held here, and is used for various other events and performances, like my vocal performance tonight!

Here’s La Petite Roche Plaza. This rock outcropping is one of the most important landmarks in Arkansas. Early travelers on their way up the river noticed that this rock marked the transition from the alluvial lands of the East to the rugged hills of the Ozarks and Ouachitas. The rock afforded a natural landing for boats. This is how Little Rock got it’s name!

ANNA OLIPHANT

Right behind La Petite Roche is the Junction Bridge. This is for pedestrian and bicycle use and it links both sides of the Arkansas River Trail. It is an integral part of our skyline. Me and my boyfriend Etienne put a padlock on this bridge to remember our days in Paris. 

JACK from THE ANATOMICAL SHAPE OF A HEART

Nearby is the Medical Mile – an artistic expression of health. It includes a 1,300 foot three-dimensional mural wall, a wellness promenade with artful displays, as well as a Body-Mind-Spirit entry plaza. I helped paint the mural.

Next up is my favorite part – the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden. This is home to dozens of sculptures in the River Market district. New sculptures are voted on annually to add to the collection, and my boyfriend Wes makes amazing angels out of scrap metal and has a sculpture entered into the competition. Let’s head down to the Old State House Museum next.

BEATRIX from THE ANATOMICAL SHAPE OF A HEART

Right now, the Old House State Museum is hosting a “Cabinet of Curiosities” exhibit – kind of a greatest hits collection of weird Arkansas artifacts. It is very diverse – there’s everything from dinosaur toes to Ming Dynasty pottery. I’ve been coming every day to sketch some oddball anatomy pieces.

FAIR FINLEY from WILFAIR

Howdy! I’m Fair, and I grew up managing my parents’ hotels. They have hotels all over the world so I’m a bit of an expert, and The Capital Hotel in Little Rock is one of my favorites. It’s really old and grand - the balcony that overlooks the road here is called the “Front Porch of Little Rock.” Rumor has it, the elevators are humongous because they were built to accommodate Robert E. Lee...and his horse.

CATH from FANGIRL and JOSH WASSERSTEIN from ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER

The Statehouse Convention Center hosts all of our biggest events, including the Little Rock Comic Con – as you can guess, we are always in attendance. I love to dress up in Simon Snow cosplay. Josh is a little too cool for that and mostly just comes to get his comics autographed.

Let’s head back towards the library, there’s many things on President Clinton Avenue to point out.

LARA JEAN SONG

Here’s the H.U. Lee International Gate and Garden, a tribute to the founder of the American Taewondo Association which also educates people about Korean culture and salutes the martial arts.

WYLAN from SIX OF CROWS

Across from the farmer’s market are many bars, restaurants, and shops. You’ll find many people you know working or shopping here. There’s the piano bar Ernie Biggs – it has dueling pianos, and the best night to go is when I duel against Seraphina. Here’s Revolution Room, a club music venue – next week The Mortal Instruments from City of Heavenly Fire plays, you should definitely try to make that show.

DILL from THE SERPENT KING

Here’s a downtown Little Rock favorite bar – the Flying Saucer. They have all kinds of beer on tap and have acoustic shows on the weekend. Lately I’ve been bringing my guitar and playing to get used to a crowd. Also, Lia from The Kiss of Deception picks up shifts here from time to time, to stay grounded.

BLUE SARGENT

This is a tiny little spot on President Clinton Avenue where my mom and various aunts and cousins do palm and tarot card readings. Come in if you feel like learning some things about yourself!

Here’s the Little Rock Farmer’s Market. This is where my boyfriend Wes was discovered selling his angel sculptures, so it will always have a magical quality to me. It has two outdoor open-air pavilions overlooking Riverfront Park and the Arkansas River. It has Arkansas crops as well as vendors selling their homemade arts and crafts.

And now we’re back at the library and your mystery hike is complete! Hope you had fun exploring downtown Little Rock and meeting all my YA friends!

[viewfromthedrumstool]

Sri Lanka Diary, Part 1/4

London to Kandy to Nuwara Eliya

It’s early on a rainy Thursday afternoon in January when I leave Oxford. Even under grey skies it still looks beautiful but I’m glad to getaway all the same. As per tradition, my January is fairly empty work-wise — the musician’s quiet month — so Harry ‘Deaco’ Deacon (bass player with Razorlight and Willie J Healey, among numerous others) and myself are heading east to Sri Lanka!

Two weeks of freedom in ‘The Land Of Serendipity’ is a tasty prospect – even without mention of the food. So to Heathrow I go, where a Thai waiter called ‘Servinio’ serves up my final taste of England - a passable fish pie - at The Curator before I board Sri Lankan Airways flight UL504 and we soar up to 31,000 feet.

↑ For your own safety and comfort please stow your bongos securely

It only takes American Sniper (better than expected) and half of Django Unchained (I‘ll be back for the rest) before I pass out. Deep in slumber I remain for the duration of the 10-hour flight before waking to a tasty Sri Lankan fish breakfast and a rapid descent into Bandaranaike International Airport.

Inside the airport it’s clinical and clean and the staff all wear white – though ominously a solitary Pizza Hut greets us before even reaching Passport Control… hopefully not a sign of things to come.

It’s early on a sunny Friday afternoon as I emerge from the terminal, dazed and disoriented, into the frenzied bustle and hustle of a Sri Lankan street. A hundred tuk-tuk drivers spy my pale skin and circle like vultures... airports are heady hunting ground for grifters the world over and it takes a feat of negotiating to convince a rickshaw driver to take me to the nearby bus station for less than the cost of my return flights...

Deaco has been out here for a few days already and has journeyed as far as Kandy, a small city in the middle of the island. It’s a four-hour passage to get there by bus and we meander along at a fair pace, slowly picking up elevation as the journey progresses. I’m a little weary but it’s an enjoyable ride – and very cheap too at 162 rupees (70p)!

There’s barely a junction or a turning to be made on the route east, just a long winding road up into the mountains, flanked by huts, houses, schools and shops. As they say in Asia: Same same but different. And despite being on another continent, many of the characters on the bus are familiar: a group of young mums gossip, school kids play, and my new friend and seat-mate Hashan, on his way to visit an Aunt, promptly falls asleep in my armpit.

The bus pulls in at Kandy station and Hashan peels himself from my underarm. I disembark and hop in a final tuk-tuk up to the pre-emptively named ‘Best Hostel’ where Deaco awaits. It’s his Birthday today! Many Happy Returns to the chap, and after a joyous reunion, we enjoy a celebratory dosa in town with a third travelling companion, Tom, from St Louis, MI.

Kandy is a vibrant little city popular with tourists and centred around a man-made lake. There’s a wiggly road that skirts its perimeter and I can’t help but think it would make for a great tuk-tuk Grand Prix – or at the very least a Kandy Lake track level on Mario Kart.

Harry takes me to see all the tourist attractions – which is kind, given he’d already been to see them before I arrived. We start at the Botanical Garden, a scenic spot with an impressive suspension bridge and a beautiful display of different grasses (who knew there were so many). We bump into old friends of his too: an odd pair of Russians with whom he shared a hostel earlier in his trip. The tourist trail is a well-trodden one and bumping into familiar faces hundreds of miles down the road is a common occurrence ... I suspect it isn’t the last time we’ll see them.

Next we enjoy a display of ‘Kandy Kultural Dancing’ (plate-spinning, back-flipping, fire-walking and some enthusiastic drumming) before heading over to The Temple of The Tooth, the centrepiece of the city and one of the biggest attractions in Sri Lanka.

As the name suggests, the focal point of the large Buddhist temple complex is a single tooth mounted atop a magnificent gold shrine. And not just any tooth! Indeed, the famous fang is allegedly one of the Buddha’s very own, pulled from the funeral pyre of his body back in 543 BC. It has a chequered history and the controversial canine has already been responsible for more than one war...

We barely catch a glimpse of the shrine, let alone the tooth itself, which as it turns out is safely tucked away inside a box within a box within a box within a box within a box within a box within a box. Only a handful of people have ever seen the holy fragment which leads one to wonder whether the tooth is literal or simply more a state of mind...

Tooth or no tooth, there’s a lively atmosphere in and around the Temple as night falls, while tourist and Buddhist alike are harmoniously integrated in a melange of worship, ceremony, prayers and music.

Feeling a little more spiritual, we rise early the following day and head to Kandy station for the 0847 train to Nuwara Eliya. It’s another small city further south in the hill country of the Central Province. The scenic journey that will take us there is apparently the stuff o’ legend and needless to say we aren’t the only ones with the idea. The platform at Kandy station is soon teeming with tourists – including a pair of familiar Russians!

First Class has long since been reserved by the coffin-dodgers on the package tours, so it’s a tight squeeze in the Second Class compartment. Not concerned with seats, we locate ourselves by an open door for the duration and take it in turns with our fellow travelling companions (the usual suspects – Aussies, Germans and more Russians) to hang out the side, take pictures and wave at those who call this beautiful land their own.

↑ Third Class can be found at the rear of the train, attached by rope

The train canters along at a pleasant pace, weaving in and out of tea plantations while the native folk enjoy their peaceful Sunday in the beautiful Sri Lankan hill territories. With much more rain up here, the scene is more colourful than the sandy beige of the lowlands, with plants, trees, grasses, shrubbery and foliage in every shade of green. Many of the quaint little stations (my favourite is called Ohiya) along the way have a distinctly English feel, reminding me with fondness of the Malton-Scarborough route oft ridden in my youth.

After 4 idyllic hours watching the country scroll by and chatting with new friends, we disembark at Nanuoya Station and our friendly cab driver Pryantha (+94 778 880213) takes Harry, myself and a handful of Aussies into Nuwara Eliya to drop us at our respective hotels.

At least that’s the plan, except Pryantha nor anyone else that he asks has actually heard of the ‘King’s Lodge’ and when we eventually arrive at the hotel in the picture the staff there don’t recognise the name either.

All the same, it’s such a pleasant spot overlooking the town that we decide to stay anyway. They show us to their last remaining room, a ‘triple’ which one presumes would surely contain at least two beds given that a triple bed doesn’t exist. In Sri Lanka however, it does, and it looks like tonight Harry and I will be sharing a bed, albeit a large one. (It’s good to know that the liberal Sri Lankans consider a three-way relationship quite normal and are prepared to cater to that in the design and manufacture of both beds and bedding.)

We wander into town for a bite, passing a sign for Grymsby Holiday Bungalow. As a Mariner myself, it’s nice to feel close to home – despite the misspelling – and a passing stranger poses with me for a photo, insisting that it was his Uncle who named the hotel and that it really is named after “Grymsby City in Engerland”.

We’re rapidly becoming fans of the cheap local eateries where the food is always fast and fresh (and there are lots of vegetarian options too). In Nuwara Eliya town we spy a vibrant spot teaming with locals and lay out a mean £1.70 on a dinner of vegetable kotu, egg rotis and dhal curry.

Nuwara Eliya isn’t called Little England for no reason. That night an almighty rain unleashes an unrelenting torrent that bounces off the roof and fills our room with a resonant 80dB of white noise. It’s not until daybreak that the downpour ceases – apparently this happens most nights – and I grab 6 minutes of uninterrupted sleep before heading down to breakfast.

We’re taking a tour of the surrounding area before training down to Ella later in the afternoon and our friendly hosts have hooked us up with their friend Hamza to show us the sights.

He rolls up bright and early in his well-kept rickshaw complete with rain flaps, CD player and anti-marijuana stickers. He’s the happy-go-lucky sort, with enough spoken English to get by and a friendly demeanor. It’s only when he smiles his generous smile that I first glimpse the most rum set of gnashers I’ve ever seen. There’s a section of ill-fitting false teeth, a couple held together with string, and some that barely look like teeth at all. If the Buddha’s canine was anything on Hamza’s I can see why they keep it locked up inside seven boxes.

First stop: Ramboda Falls. The journey alone is a thrill: an endless vista of tea plantations as far as the eye can see. These hill territories are carpeted with them and it’s easy to see why, after the overnight downpour.

Our rickshaw winds its way along the mountainside on a road peppered with pretty stalls selling fresh vegetables: aubergine, potatoes, curry leaves, onions, green chillies, carrots and unexpectedly to me, leeks, which it turns out are a delicious feature in many Sri Lankan dishes.

We swing a final right in a sharp descent and are suddenly confronted by 109 metres of sheer waterfall, a magnificent sight, and in fine thundering voice after the long nights rainfall.

Ramboda Falls holds the claim of being the 729th highest waterfall in the world, a fact which massively undersells what is actually an impressive spectacle. There’s a dangerous and slippery path which snakes up the rocky mountain face, and Hamza insists that it’s well worth climbing for a closer view of the natural wonder. Thankfully I had my Loake brogues only recently re-soled...

While our nature-loving guide takes a moment to scrawl our initials into a tree, an elderly native appears in the undergrowth. The water supply to her village some 5kms away unexpectedly stopped, so she traced the pipe halfway up the mountain to the spot where it was broken and is undertaking a repair job.

The descent is even more deadly, made all the more tricky when two Chinese schoolgirls wearing flip flops execute a reckless overtake and I almost lose my footing. Luckily I needed no dramatic rescue because Hamza’s attention was entirely on Harry. “I like your hair” I overhear him say to my friend. “You look like Robin Hood...”

The next stop on our tour of the Nuwara Eliya district is the Blue Field Tea ‘Factory’. It was opened in 1921 and has changed very little since. Everything is still done by hand and much of the machinery originates from Lincolnshire, Birmingham and Belfast. It’s atmospheric and rich in Colonial, vibes which I love!

Our tuk-tuk swings into the ‘Damro’ factory next but we’re done tea-tasting and ready for something a little more substantial, so Hamza takes us to his favourite buffet. The food is delicious, however, our respective understandings of the term ‘buffet’ are quite different. After sampling a little of everything on display (dhal, different kinds of rice, mackerel, swordfish, curried aubergine, egg curries, sweet and sour vegetables) it’s to our dismay that we’re charged the full price of a meal for every dish! Thankfully the food is so cheap that it doesn’t amount to much.

Finally we’re dropped off at the train station. It’s been a fine day in the company of our friendly tour guide and his willingness to shuttle us around from place to place without constantly asking us for more money is refreshing. Your teeth may be among the worst I’ve ever seen, Hamza, but we’ll miss you.

Part 2/4 follows shortly!

Mike