Bontragers and Bowers 2

[Themanda Duggar]

I’m sure they left the furniture for staging purposes.  They have 2 grandchildren coming this summer, so they know they’ll be back, and can pick up what they want to keep of it.  There may also be pieces of furniture there that they’ve already given to their daughters, they just won’t get possession of it until the house has sold.

[JermajestyDuggar]

Some people will leave some stuff that “comes with the house.” Often it’s stuff that people don’t even want but their stuff goes nicely with the home so it might be enticing to some buyers. 

[Jana814]

1 hour ago, Pianokeeper said:

An apartment for sale near me has the option of purchasing two parking spaces -- each an additional $65,000 on top of price of apartment.  Talk about different cost of living...

I’m always amazed at stuff like that. A house in my area could be over $500,000 and would be very small. Yet for that same price in other parts of the country it could be the price of a mansion. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

20 minutes ago, Jana814 said:

I’m always amazed at stuff like that. A house in my area could be over $500,000 and would be very small. Yet for that same price in other parts of the country it could be the price of a mansion. 

A lot of the price is the land. At least that’s how I think of it. I imagine the land is fairly inexpensive in that area. So they are paying way more for the buildings than the land. But in a large city, sometimes you’re paying more for the land than the home. Because it can be tiny and falling apart but the land is what makes a crappy little home 300,000.

[Georgiana]

11 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

A lot of the price is the land. At least that’s how I think of it. I imagine the land is fairly inexpensive in that area. So they are paying way more for the buildings than the land. But in a large city, sometimes you’re paying more for the land than the home. Because it can be tiny and falling apart but the land is what makes a crappy little home 300,000.

According to my property taxes, the value of my home is around 250k.  The land is worth ~210k, and the structures are worth the remaining ~40k.  It is not a large lot.  

Edit: Also, my house is on the smaller side, but in good condition, well maintained, and (at least I like to think) with curb appeal.  It's just that structures often don't go very far in terms of value in most cases  

[acheronbeach]

Literally not a single person I work with has spent less than a million on their detached house in my city.  Even townhouses tend to cost around 800k to 900k and condos average around 600-700k.   The prices of homes in some places literally boggles my mind.  I pause to point out that I believe the only (semi reformed) fundie I'm aware of in Vancouver/Lower Mainland is Joshua Harris and I doubt he's got a house around UBC/Regent College (unless it's on lease land on the nearby reserve).  

Then again, I'd love to see some Fundiegelicals make an attempt in Vancouver.  It would be hilarious to see conversion attempts amongst the old hippies and the massive Chinese population.  Neither would be interested whatsoever.  

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

5 hours ago, acheronbeach said:

The prices of homes in some places literally boggles my mind. 

I find it helpful to remember that places with lower housing costs usually also have lower wages, and often fewer jobs available. A $100,000 house is still very expensive, if your pay is only $8/hour. 

[CurlyWurly]

I can't snark on that house, they've done a really lovely job doing it up and it looks like it would have suited them well. Pity they had to move.

Mr Curly and I are currently looking at spending the same amount of money ($420,000 AUD) to buy a dinky two bedroom flat in our city... although in Australia we have a more reasonable minimum wage, it still feels like a lot for not very much in return.

[ophelia]

I love this house!! Although I would get rid of the carpet and have hardwood floor in all rooms!

Can't stand carpets for some reasons I can't really explain.

[usedbicycle]

On 5/24/2018 at 10:48 AM, HereticHick said:

They did an excellent remodel; now I need to figure out how to find out how much they paid for it--I guess they only bought it in 2016.

Looks like they bought it for $180,000 in October of 2016, less than 2 years ago. I would guess they put around 30-40K of work into it to remodel bathrooms, kitchen, replace windows, refinish floors, tear down walls, etc. Their pictures from the renovations are super impressive. I can't believe the amount of work they accomplished in just 2 months, October-December 2016. If they sell it for the asking price, they're making an amazing deal. 

I'm having intense pangs of jealousy towards these families with built-in crews of unpaid workers and extensive construction skills! We just bought an old house that needs a lot of work and it's been a full-time job finding contractors, getting estimates, just to get ripped off anyway and wait forever to get the work done. If I didn't care about child labor laws, I would gladly pay the Bowers to swoop in for a week! 

[HereticHick]

I doubt that they will get the asking price, but even if they get $280,000, they are looking at a $60,000 profit if they put in $40,000 in renovations. Not bad.

So perhaps flipping a house and offloading 2 daughters was worth living in Iowa for just two years! Although they are probably missing those girls in the kitchen & laundry, since they don't have any preteen daughters to step in as sistermoms.

[JermajestyDuggar]

4 hours ago, HereticHick said:

I doubt that they will get the asking price, but even if they get $280,000, they are looking at a $60,000 profit if they put in $40,000 in renovations. Not bad.

So perhaps flipping a house and offloading 2 daughters was worth living in Iowa for just two years! Although they are probably missing those girls in the kitchen & laundry, since they don't have any preteen daughters to step in as sistermoms.

I think they actually posted that the boys had to learn to cook because the girls were getting married. It’s funny how the fundies are so strict with gender roles until they have way more of one sex than the other. Then those rules slide. Because mom and dad don’t want to pick up the slack. 

[HereticHick]

Bowers have a new post up from Alabama. They state that they attending a church 2 hours away (I don't know if that is one way or round trip).  Why white fundy Protestants like the Bowers can't find any acceptable brand of church in freakin' Alabama is a mystery to me.  What a waste of time and gas.

Although maybe they are wife hunting for son Charlie (who I think is 19 or 20) and this church has some acceptable maidens.

[JermajestyDuggar]

Why are they having their 10 year old mow 6 acres with a push mower?! Please tell me he only has to do a tiny spot and everyone else uses a riding mower. The way they worded it seemed like he was doing all of it. I sure hope not. 

[HereticHick]

Underneath their Pinterest-y gleaming white teeth exterior, there is something deeply weird and unsettling about the Bowers.

Why the f**k are they mowing 6 acres anyway? Why not let a few acres go natural? They mentioned that their 10 year old mows the 6-acres a little bit at a time, which certainly sounds like he does the whole thing.  And then turns around and starts over, I guess.

I noticed that they mentioned that most of their books had been in storage in Iowa--and they had earlier pics of at least a dozen large storage bins of stuff they couldn't fit in their house there. I would guess a bin or two would be clothes for the little kids to grow into--and maybe stuff for future grandkids--but why they kept so many bins is mysterious, and why they bought a too-small house.  I am becoming more and more convinced they moved to Iowa solely to marry off their 2 daughters in  semi-coerced marriages, and to flip a house.

[JermajestyDuggar]

10 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

I am becoming more and more convinced they moved to Iowa solely to marry off their 2 daughters in  semi-coerced marriages, and to flip a house.

Although I was snarky, I was serious when I said I thought they moved to Iowa to marry off their daughters to Carson and Joshua. I am not even on the fence about it. That’s what they did in my opinion. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they did it again in the future.

[petrushka]

Kind of intrigued as to why more Bontrager weddings didn't develop from within their Baptist church friends, other than Mitchell's.  Wonder how the Bontragers are viewed by the rest of the congregation.

[JermajestyDuggar]

16 minutes ago, petrushka said:

Kind of intrigued as to why more Bontrager weddings didn't develop from within their Baptist church friends, other than Mitchell's.  Wonder how the Bontragers are viewed by the rest of the congregation.

Maybe some of the singles in their church were too liberal. Things like going to public school or being supportive of the LGBTQ+ community could be a deal breaker for them. Even if they agreed on a bunch of other stuff.

[JermajestyDuggar]

Manly conversational? Wut? I would love to know what topics this kind of conversation covers. Peeing standing up? Wide manly stances? 

[browngrl]

Joshua wrote "You will also learn how we can point others to Christ through godly marriages"

NONE of the Bontrager marriages point me to Christ. Courtship, their patriarchal ideas, their wedding speeches, the "I'll obey" vows for the women...all of it points me in the opposite direction. In fact I used to classify myself as an agnostic but since I've been more aware of fundamentalists and since I've seen more of the actions from the church (from the abuse to their support for Trump) I have moved on and now I think I'm an atheist. Specifically regarding Joshua Bontrager: every post he writes points me away from his church. 

[HereticHick]

I read the blog post of Josh, self-appointed pastor, so you all don't have to.

"In playing her part well, the wife finds true fulfillment in her God-ordained role. She represents the Church, the adorned bride of Christ. Her submission reflects that of the Christian who submits to Christ’s lordship in every single area, trusting that He wisely knows best"

 

He's a puffed up little prick, isn't he?

[JermajestyDuggar]

38 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

I read the blog post of Josh, self-appointed pastor, so you all don't have to.

"In playing her part well, the wife finds true fulfillment in her God-ordained role. She represents the Church, the adorned bride of Christ. Her submission reflects that of the Christian who submits to Christ’s lordship in every single area, trusting that He wisely knows best"

 

He's a puffed up little prick, isn't he?

I’m honestly surprised there aren’t more like Joshua Bon in the fundie world. There are quite a few. However I would expect most to turn out like him. They are raised to be exactly like Josh. How some stay humble is rather amazing. 

[singsingsing]

1 hour ago, HereticHick said:

I read the blog post of Josh, self-appointed pastor, so you all don't have to.

"In playing her part well, the wife finds true fulfillment in her God-ordained role. She represents the Church, the adorned bride of Christ. Her submission reflects that of the Christian who submits to Christ’s lordship in every single area, trusting that He wisely knows best"

 

He's a puffed up little prick, isn't he?

He does seem like a truly dreadful little manchild.

[pandora]

15 hours ago, petrushka said:

Kind of intrigued as to why more Bontrager weddings didn't develop from within their Baptist church friends, other than Mitchell's.  Wonder how the Bontragers are viewed by the rest of the congregation.

Eh, they've only had 4 kids get married, 25% married to friends from church seems like a fair amount to me! They've talked about being close with their pastor's family (Chelsy even had his wife as a bridesmaid) so I'd assume from that plus all their volunteering for that Christmas play and other stuff they're probably pretty well liked. 

[Pecansforeveryone]

On 5/28/2018 at 4:29 PM, HereticHick said:

Bowers have a new post up from Alabama. They state that they attending a church 2 hours away (I don't know if that is one way or round trip).  Why white fundy Protestants like the Bowers can't find any acceptable brand of church in freakin' Alabama is a mystery to me.  What a waste of time and gas.

Although maybe they are wife hunting for son Charlie (who I think is 19 or 20) and this church has some acceptable maidens.

As someone raised fundie-lite now atheist this has always fucking slayed me. My evangelical sister and her husband have told me in all seriousness how hard it is to find a good church in South Carolina.