Maxwell 12: Eleven years of blogging, still got nothing to say

[church_of_dog]

9 hours ago, HereticHick said:

And why did Hot John give up real estate? According to Trulia he has no homes listed: https://www.trulia.com/profile/john-maxwell-agent-overland-park-ks-zgn0gw17/overview

I always thought there was a chance that he got into real estate purely to assist with the family goal of having the kidults (at least the males) find houses near Mom and Dad Dad and Mom.  It can't be easy for a layperson to run a constant search for nearby houses for sale, and even harder to get wind of them ahead of everyone else.  Plus if you're the real estate agent then those pesky 6% realtor fees aren't such a problem...

 

2 hours ago, divadivine said:

Maxwells DO. NOT. FART! It's not Godly! Go to the prayer closet, directly to the prayer closet...do not pass go... do not collect 2 animal cookies. 

Don't you mean 'do not pass g...AS?' 

[Corntree]

Welcome, @BearMom! I look forward to what you have to say.

[Bethella]

52 minutes ago, theologygeek said:

I'm reading the thread backwards and just saw this.  I just looked it up before I even saw your post.  What house did you find?  The only John Maxwell homeowner in Leavenworth owns the house that I just linked to, and that was bought in July of this year. 

Yep, that's it. Thanks for the date.

[Captain Obvious]

14 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

Melanie seems to be from a religious family in Kansas. She has sisters who wear pants.

NR Anna is originally from Washington state. She came from a fundie-seeming family who kept goats. NR Anna made soap out of goat milk. 

Elissa's family was more like Melanie's I think. She was from Kentucky IIRC.

The Mahers (Melanie's family) were family friends I think, from back when the Maxwells attended a regular church in Leavenworth - when the Maxwells were less isolated then they are today. Whether the Mahers would meet Steve's standards today is hard to tell.

Anna and Elissa's families both got to know the family through attending the conferences, so they bought the family schtick. Literally, as it turned out.

12 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

I don't know. The Bontragers do seem much too worldly for a Maxwell - but Stevo is OK with attending their weddings.  

I think the Bontragers are deceptive. They're only slightly more worldly than the Maxwells. They have a wider circle of friends because they attend a regular church, but also because they spend months a year touring the country - just like the Maxwells 5 years ago, just with more talent. 

And I think they're sheltered enough for Steve, because he seems to allow the kidults to socialise with them without him and Teri being there, and the Maxwells were going to preach at the Bontrager Jebus Conference this year before it got cancelled due to all the weddings.

Sure, Allison is allowed to live outside the home but she's only 10 minutes away, it appears to be only at peak times and it's for a business the family owns. Plus, they make it pretty clear on the motel website that they're a Christian family so I doubt they're getting a whole bunch of gay atheists lining up to stay there. Also, I would imagine running a family motel is one of the Grudgingly Approved Fundie Jobs for a woman. After all, it's kind of like home-making on a larger scale. There'd probably be some proseletising thrown in as well. If you read her blog, Alison's brand of KoolAid is pretty Maxwellian: even if she is advocating for women to work, it's only until marriage and only for the purpose of supporting the family; the rest is about deferring to her menfolk and saving money. 

12 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Truth be told, I don't think any of the above males are very good husband material.

No fundie male is ever good husband material. But I'm sure John would be considered an absolute catch, since he (now) owns his own house, has done Overseas Mission Work, has some kind of a job and is good looking to boot. Having a douchey father wouldn't exactly separate him out from the other single men in their circles.

[Palimpsest]

7 hours ago, theologygeek said:

This house sold on 7/21.  https://www.redfin.com/KS/Leavenworth/1712-Thornton-St-66048/home/83441914

It's owned by a John Maxwell.  Could be someone else though. 

That is exactly the sort of fixer-upper the Maxwells would buy at auction.  I don't like split levels but they could make it quite nice.

Good grief, houses are cheap in Leavenworth.

[Palimpsest]

19 minutes ago, Captain Obvious said:

If you read her blog, Alison's brand of KoolAid is pretty Maxwellian:

Yes, I took a look a few weeks ago and found Allison quite insufferable.  Chelsy isn't any better.  She's all about being best friends with your siblings and wrote a 5 part series on doing the laundry!

It looks as though about 10 years ago (when Chels was 12) the Bonts went through a big lifestyle change and became a lot more Maxwellian in outlook.

As the Bonts seem to like double weddings - and Steve missed the opportunity to grab the older boys for Anna and Mary - how about John and Jesse with Allison and Chelsy.  The girls might have to give up sleeveless dress, jeans and make-up but they could blend into Maxhell quite well.

I don't think John will marry for a few months.  That house needs quite a lot of work done on it.

[Coconutwater]

That house needs a lot of work, I'm going to say it's a renovation project for marriage. I was hoping he would be the one to break away...

[anjulibai]

1 hour ago, Coconutwater said:

That house needs a lot of work, I'm going to say it's a renovation project for marriage. I was hoping he would be the one to break away...

Me too. He still might, but it is looking increasingly likely. Blarg. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

How big are all the other Maxwell houses? That house is great for a starter house but not after you have a few kids. It's a little over 1,000 sq ft. I live in a small home (around 1400) with two kids and a husband and if we added one more kid we would have to move. My house is smaller than all my friends' homes too. I would hope John would find a bigger home to fix up after having a few kids. 

[anjulibai]

1 minute ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

How big are all the other Maxwell houses? That house is great for a starter house but not after you have a few kids. It's a little over 1,000 sq ft. I live in a small home (around 1400) with two kids and a husband and if we added one more kid we would have to move. My house is smaller than all my friends' homes too. I would hope John would find a bigger home to fix up after having a few kids. 

They've done all sorts of construction work in the other homes. The basement in Nathan's home was redone to add an office and sound room. I imagine they will do the same for any other houses that need it. The Maxwells do have pretty good construction skills. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

7 minutes ago, anjulibai said:

They've done all sorts of construction work in the other homes. The basement in Nathan's home was redone to add an office and sound room. I imagine they will do the same for any other houses that need it. The Maxwells do have pretty good construction skills. 

They would have to do an addition though. That's the problem with split levels. There typically is not unfinished attic or basement space to renovate. 

[Palimpsest]

That house supposedly has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths.  They could easily pack in 6 kids with bunkbeds in 3 rooms.  The bathrooms must be truly dreadful because there are no photos of them.

[PennySycamore]

That house looks like it needs Tarek and Christina  from Flip or Flop or Property Brother Jonathan  Scott to renovate it*.  It is dreadful looking!  Nothing charming about it at all.

*They could reno the house unless the house has cool pink, green blue, etc bathrooms.  Then they would need renovation by some who respects the vintage vibe like Pam Keubler  and her readers of RetroRenovation. Tarek/Christina and Jonathan would tear the bathrooms out with no thought of salvaging the old materials.

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, Palimpsest said:

That house supposedly has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths.  They could easily pack in 6 kids with bunkbeds in 3 rooms.  The bathrooms must be truly dreadful because there are no photos of them.

I must be looking at a different house. The one I looked at linked had 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, and a little over 1,000 sq ft.

[Palimpsest]

4 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Onus to be looking at a different house. The one I looked at had 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, and a little over 1,000 sq ft.

Could be.  I was looking at this one (and the property details are making my eyes blurry and my head ache!) 

https://www.redfin.com/KS/Leavenworth/1712-Thornton-St-66048/home/83441914#property-details.

I suppose they could convert the living, dining, or family room into an extra bedroom.  Or convert the garages to living space.  

I admit I would hate to be cramped into 1,000 sq. ft. with multiple children, but many people manage.  My in-laws had next door neighbors who crammed 7 children into a 3 bedroom <1,100 sq.ft. house.  Two of them slept in a converted porch.  Most modern American homes are huge compared with other countries.

And the Maxwells aren't used to privacy, after all.

36 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

It is dreadful looking!  Nothing charming about it at all.

*They could reno the house unless the house has cool pink, green blue, etc bathrooms.

It is the worst of the 70s!  I'm prejudiced against split levels.  I hate those half walls and little staircases.  And the tray ceilings in tiny rooms just looks silly, IMO.  

I hope the bathrooms aren't harvest gold or avocado.  Well renovated pink bathrooms from the 1930s can look really wonderful, and I am not a pink lover.

[JermajestyDuggar]

I am not like most Americans in that I think the average American home is huge and most people don't need all the space. However I do know how the Maxwells live and I think a bigger home would actually benefit them much more than your average American family. These fundies all have large families and homeschool. The mother always stays home and the father usually has a job where he can try to be home as much as possible. Your average American family often has only 2-3 kids, two working parents, and kids that don't homeschool. Meaning they spend a lot of time outside the home. Having a small home is no big deal if you are gone for 8 hours a day through the week. But these fundies aren't like that. They need a homeschool room (which means a good sized dining room), maybe an office for daddy to work from home, and everyone is home all day long every single day. 

The Maxwells don't live in an area of the country where the weather is nice all the time. And that yard didn't look huge. So I would imagine a larger home with a large amount of land would be almost necessary in a large homeschooling fundie family. I'm often baffled at the size of some of these fundie homes. Living on top of one another must be so stressful. 

[Foudeb]

Maybe they can swap houses with other Maxhells like Chris did - John and his hypothetical eleventy gazillion kids could move into the mothership while the cult leaders and female attendants move into that 3 bedroom. One room for the parents, one dormitory for the female kidults and here you go. Eventually the parents will die and maybe each sister can have her own room, at the tender age of 60-something. 70-something for poor Sarah who's older than the others.

[Captain Obvious]

2 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

How big are all the other Maxwell houses? That house is great for a starter house but not after you have a few kids. It's a little over 1,000 sq ft. I live in a small home (around 1400) with two kids and a husband and if we added one more kid we would have to move. My house is smaller than all my friends' homes too. I would hope John would find a bigger home to fix up after having a few kids. 

I don't think any of the Maxwell houses are that big. Even the Fathership (because Mothership would never do) isn't that big, considering they built it themselves and the size of the plot that they have - their backyard is huge. But the house itself still only has 3 bedrooms, because they can't have any of the kidults having their own bedroom. 

If they all follow the same pattern, none of the married families would need a lot bigger either. Three bedrooms is all you need, just keep cramming the kids in. 

[Black Aliss]

On 9/13/2017 at 1:23 AM, Corntree said:

@Bethella , good find on John owning a house! IIRC, getting married didn't come that long after purchasing a house for the three married Maxwell "kids" (in Joseph's case I'm referring to the wedding that was called off) though John could be different. But this house seems a little too far from the rest of the Maxwells. Will Teri be able to stand the pain of John living 0.7 miles away?

I guarantee there will be much weeping and wailing at the Maxwell Mothership Fathership on John's wedding night.

1 hour ago, Palimpsest said:

I admit I would hate to be cramped into 1,000 sq. ft. with multiple children, but many people manage.  

I used to live in a subdivision that was built in the early 50's. Every house was 1000 square feet, not counting the full basement and attached garage. Nothing odd about that except this was in a solidly Mormon city. By the time I lived there, most of the garages had been converted to living space and the basements had been finished off, but the houses were clearly intended to handle growing families (two bathrooms, side by side, in every floor plan)

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, Captain Obvious said:

I don't think any of the Maxwell houses are that big. Even the Fathership (because Mothership would never do) isn't that big, considering they built it themselves and the size of the plot that they have - their backyard is huge. But the house itself still only has 3 bedrooms, because they can't have any of the kidults having their own bedroom. 

If they all follow the same pattern, none of the married families would need a lot bigger either. Three bedrooms is all you need, just keep cramming the kids in. 

I don't think it's a huge deal to share a room as long as the rooms are big. Squeezing a bunch of children in a tiny bedroom is ridiculous. 

I actually don't poo poo the Duggars and Bateses for wanting very large homes. Very large homes make sense for very large families. Much more sense than very large homes for 3 person families. But small homes are not a good thing when it comes to very large families. People need their own personal space at times. 

[Black Aliss]

I agree that the house is hideous and it will always be a split entry plan, which. . . ugh! But we've seen the kind of work the Maxwells do and, seriously, I would hire them in a heartbeat to do a remodel, provided they kept their mouths shut about where we're all going when we die. I'm actually looking forward to seeing the end result, even if it means another young woman has been assimilated into the Maxwell Borg.

[meee]

I feel like if it was okay for Anna Marie to sell soap before she got married, it should be okay for Allison to manage a hotel while she's single.

How old are Chelsy and Allison anyway? Are they even the right ages for John or Jesse?

[IReallyAmHopewell]

On 9/13/2017 at 2:18 PM, Jana814 said:

I read the Moody books. The parents are completely based on Teri and Steve. The father's parents to got saved I'm sure were based on Teri's parents. 

Seriously, who else could they be based on. They don't know anyone outside their own family. These books are pathetic.  They remind me of a 5th grade "authors" workshop in a low-achieving school. Almost as bad as the Castleberry Courthship books . Both series are completely designed to reinforce the isolationist mentality of the most extreme Gothard-type homeschoolers. I managed to survive one Moody book. The Castleberry ones are slightly better. I've also read their Homestead Story which was sort of interesting. Their Dad is a buisness or economic professor.

On 9/13/2017 at 0:33 PM, SPHASH said:

New post up about fire safety.  And in typical Poor Sarah fashion a cliffhanger to go with it.

Oh boy! I'm on the edge of my high chair waiting..... And, are those..... NON-relatives?? Could they be neighbors to whom the Maxwell's ministered after a fire? OR....... has John or Jesse started a fire safety business???? Been allowed to become volunteer firemen???  Tune in tomorrow.... same bat-shit crazy time.... Same Bat-shit crazy channel.

 

On 9/13/2017 at 2:26 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

Ok so I really really want to know if Hot John is courting/engaged.

On the houses. Could one be a grandparents home or a rental/income property? I would imagine all the boys will have homes in the general vicinity. They don't have the land the Duggars do to build a family compound. If one is John's then why hasn't he "called a work party"--gotta love Maxhell attempts to sound cool......

 

 

 

[socalrules]

So now that we have seen the house, we know that the wedding is months away to allow for renovations. Here is my question, how does John save up $115,000 to buy a house outright? I doubt his take from the Maxwell business is very much and, and even if he worked as a realtor, he was likely selling low priced homes so his commission wouldn't be much. He doesn't have enough real education for a high paying job. He has to have received some type of help from Steve and Teri. Even if you scrimping and have low to no expenses, it would take a long time to save that type of money with a not great salary. And if he saved up the $115k no his siblings did the work on the house, he would like still need tens thousands of dollars for materials, permits, etc. to make that house habitable. A few of the rooms look like there is water damage, which could mean mold and mold remediation requires contractors certified in mold remediation and an industrial Hygenist to set the protocol. It's not work you can do yourself. That's a lot of money. 

[IReallyAmHopewell]

I didn't see the link to the house, so this is a second post.

Looks like the other brother's house. I grew up in the 60s and this was a very popular floor plan. No one thought anything of having 8 or 9 kids in a house like this then.

As to $115,000. Does it say that somewhere.? My guess is it was on the market forever and he got it for a song since its so dated.

I'll be a very decent home though. Even if I don't share their taste they do take time and effort to redo a house if the last one is any indication (which ever got dumped a week before--that brother)