Happy NEW YEAR to everyone! I hope that 2008 is absolutely GREAT for everyone in the valley. While it is starting out for me to be somewhat on the negative side, I truly believe it will all work out for the good by the time everything is all said and done. Cross your fingers! I very well may need your help.

What’s been on my mind lately is my living situation. About 8 or 9 days ago, my roommate came up to me and told me that she was giving me a couple of days notice that she MIGHT be moving back to California to help care for her ailing 20-something son and that she would be leaving within a matter of a few hours of hearing what his test results were. She would also be taking only what she could pack into her car – leaving the rest of her stuff behind and that I would need to get a new roommate very soon!

I was a bit alarmed until I remembered that this was the 3rd time in the past two years that the same or similar subject has come up and she’s still here. Plus she has a 14 year old daughter who would be severely uprooted from Basalt – school, boyfriend, her other girl friends, buddies, etc. AND we still had a few months left on our present lease which is in HER name. So, I wasn’t REALLY worried. Some more days passed and nothing happened. Everything’s cool again, right? Wrong!

Yesterday, my roommate showed me a Certified letter she received in the mail from her/our landlord. It was a cheery little note about New Year’s wishes and the like, but the bottom line is that the present lease will expire on March 1st WITHOUT being renewed! The owner has plans to renovate the place so that he can re-rent it at a higher monthly rate or actually sell the place outright.

So, we both have to get out pretty damn soon! I know that this is probably one of the WORST times of the year to look for new digs, but the search is now ON! Neither one of us can actually afford much of anything in this valley individually, so we have to continue to split the rent UNLESS she does change her mind about California. In that case, I’m on my own again, although a good friend and former co-worker of mine told me last spring that her and her boyfriend had an extra, rather large room in their basement and they could definitely use some extra income – I was to keep them in mind if I ever needed a back-up plan for living arrangements. I have a feeling that she was a bit put out that I didn’t jump on it last year. I am presently waiting a bit before calling her just to see what is going to develop (or not) with my present roommate.

Anyway, the main reason for posting this here is get to another “fishing line out in the water” to help in my (our) search. If anyone out there knows of a place available by the 1st of March, please let me(us) know about it. Thanks a lot in advance!

This might be laughable to some, but I (we) are very serious. We are looking for a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment or house in the Basalt or El Jebel area for $1500 per month or less. We have been paying $1400 and really don’t want to go much higher. I don’t know if this is even do-able or not, since I remember hearing on Wendy Lucas’ radio show recently that real estate prices have tripled in Basalt within the past three years! Gotta at least give it a go. 

If you do have any ideas or knowledge of any place available, please e-mail me at: vailjames@netscape.com or call 970-927-0323 (home) or 970-445-7793 (cell). Any input is VERY much appreciated! Thank you!