Interesting Day

Our meeting at the house yesterday AM went very well as we again reviewed - with the owners - the disposition of the furniture. They have added a couple smaller pieces to what they want to keep and we agreed on all of the other furniture that would remain. I will prepare a list of the pieces that we will keep and that will go onto a bill of sale to be executed this week. They are a very nice, older couple, that is moving just a few blocks away into a retirement home in Sun City.

We took a drive to Prescott following that meeting to visit an RV dealership (Affinity) in that town to see a couple of the motorhome models that we have been looking at online. It was, basically, a disappointment in that one of the models we are interested in seeing was sold. That is the one that we most wanted to see. At any rate, that model is supposedly being discontinued by Winnebago and the salesman was to get confirmation of that from Winnebago and let us know.

While we were already out-and-about, we decided to make a couple other stops on the way home. The first one was at the Casino in Prescott where we each gave a very small donation:

We had played there before and had moderate success, but we didn't have time - or money - to make this visit a fruitful one.

We then stopped in Rock Springs near our RV park to pick up one of the famous pies that we hadn't had in ages.

This time, we selected a blueberry pie that is bound to stall our diet plans - but they are sooo good.

This is the critical week for us beginning today. We hope to get a firm commitment for the close on our house - today. Everything else we have planned rests with that crucial date...

NFL Draft News

The big and exciting news from yesterday was from the NFL draft which was televised live from Dallas. Austin's best friend, Troy Fumagalli, was selected in the 5th round at pick #156 by the Denver Broncos:

There was, naturally, a huge party at his house to celebrate his selection and lots of family and friends were there to congratulate him. We are sure that he will shine as a Tight End in the Bronco organization and wish him well.

Josie had to work yesterday until 2 PM which signaled the start of the Mother's Day marathon work schedule. She is off today and will not have a full day off from tomorrow through Mother's Day. Of course, she will have to take small amounts of time off to tend to house business if necessary. We plan to meet at the house this morning at 10 AM to mark the furniture pieces we intend to keep from all that is being left for us to dispose. There aren't that many pieces that we want to keep, but we want to make sure that nothing happens to them as far as being given away between now and closing.

This afternoon, we will look at more Class C motorhomes to try and decide if there is a good option out there for us. We have a good idea about what we want to use as a replacement for our fifth wheel, but we need to make sure we pull it all together with a good trade. Maybe we can zero in on a fit for us and begin the process of making the switch...

Research on Moving Companies

The emphasis yesterday was on the storage unit and researching moving companies. I went to the storage unit to pick up a key for the new lock that was placed on our unit. See, they had to replace all the mechanisms on the storage doors and they cut all the locks off of the storage units in order to accomplish that. They replaced all the old locks with new ones and I went to collect the key for our new lock. I checked earlier in the week to make sure the keys were ready and they said OK. When I arrived at the storage unit they told me the new key was sent to our mailing address. I was livid. I had visions of our key getting lost in the mail, being sent to the wrong address or some other breakdown. The timing was terrible for this kind of action. I verified the mailing address and confirmed that the key should arrive by around Wednesday of this coming week. Our move will not be scheduled until sometime before mid May so we should have plenty of time.

There are some good deals with movers on Angie's List and I was gathering info and reading reviews on several that specialize in the Sun City area. We should be fine if we schedule a mover for around May 10-12. Of course, we still can't commit to definite dates until we get a firm closing date.

We also have the issue of transferring items from our fifth wheel to the house and/or a new RV. Once we close on the house, we will go full steam ahead with resolving the RV issue...

Ready to Roll

We got the great news yesterday morning - the house appraised for $5K more than the contract price. The appraisal was the final step and the mortgage company submitted everything to the lender yesterday and expects to get approval by Monday. It appears that we could close as early as next Friday, May 4. It is totally out of our hands at this point and the final steps should be smooth sailing. We can now begin to (tentatively) plan for all the things we need to do before committing (or dismissing) a return trip to Jackson in about 3 weeks. Unless something unexpectedly happens, we will be very close to fulfilling our expected departure date to Jackson by around May 17. Right now, the only major obstacle is the RV.

Our fifth wheel has reached the point where we are concerned about problems that could derail everything. There are hydraulic issues, window issues, refrigerator issues, tire issues, transport issues  and other concerns that indicate we could be asking for trouble if we travel very far with the unit. Our goal is to try to trade it out for a Class C motorhome that would fulfill our travel plans for the foreseeable future. Short of that, and no matter what RV we end up with, we would need to find a place to store the unit until a space opens up at the Sun City RV storage facility. Once we get into the house, we don't expect to travel much except for occasional long weekends and maybe a couple months in the summer.

At the same time we will be addressing the RV issues, we have the task of removing all the furniture from the house, cleaning the carpets, floors and vents, possibly painting and moving our own possessions into the home and closing down the storage unit.

It doesn't seem like we have too much to accomplish in a short time, does it?...

Title Commitment

Our commitment for title insurance was received yesterday which eliminates one more step in the closing process. Nothing else happened yesterday regarding the house - at least, visibly.

What was visible this morning were these balloons which are not necessarily rare, but rare to see so many so close to the RV park:

I guess the starting locations for these rides are determined by a lot of factors, mostly wind direction. We haven't seen many so close to us but occasionally we will see one or two. Most of the time, they depart from just south of us and Josie sees them on her way to work. The thing that surprises me most is that I never see the rides advertised anywhere and all of a sudden they fill the sky, with each balloon loaded.

We are beginning to see photos on Facebook of some of our friends arriving in Jackson for the summer. It sure looks nice there now and makes us want to go right away...

Patience Required

I was shocked to learn yesterday that it could possibly be Friday before we hear about any results on our appraisal that was conducted on Monday. I though all of the research on a home was done prior to performing the actual walk through. At any rate, I fear that this delay in the process will be costly as far as getting a quick close. We haven't heard back yet about a firm date to close and we are trying to be patient with all the parties involved so that they can perform their duties. Sometimes, it isn't easy when there are many other events that must take place in a short time.

We have just over three weeks to go before we are expected to return to Jackson. There is always the possibility that we may notify them that we will be late, but that is not desirable. The real concern is that the closing on the house doesn't go beyond the planned departure date. We'll continue to be patient and take things as they occur...

Research

I spent most of the day yesterday researching Estate Sale companies and painters. Along with that, the appraisal was done at noon on our house and we did not receive any word on that activity. Hopefully, we will hear about those results today.

There are several very good companies in the area that handle estate sales and I connected with one that has terrific reviews. They will contact our agent and try to arrange a time to go and preview the contents of the house that would be offered in an estate sale following the closing on the house. Before that, our agent will get a signed bill of sale for the furniture which will make it officially ours to sell.

I also contacted a highly recommended painter in the area and after a couple conversations, we received a quote to paint the entire house. It is a lot of money as you can imagine. It also includes a coat of KILS primer on the entire house to remove smoke odors before applying the paint. Along with that, all of the ceilings, closets, doors, baseboards and door casings are to receive two coats of paint that is guaranteed for 7 years. For a 1750 square foot home, it comes to $4478 which seems like a fair price - if you have the extra money. Of course we could paint the house ourselves but it would take a long, long time to get it all done. They come in and do the job in one or two days which is what you need to have done before moving in your own furniture. Hmm. I don't believe that an estate sale would net enough to cover the cost of painting by a contractor. We'll see.

In the meantime, we wait to hear on a firm close date...

Sunday Breather

It was kind of a relief to have a day yesterday where we could do close to nothing except rest. We have been so busy with meetings and planning and trying to line up all of the ducks for a quick closing that it was a nice change.

We went to the store to pick up a few things in the morning and Josie did laundry in the afternoon while I watched the golf tournament. The tournament was one of those "filler" tournaments where the top golfers take the weekend off and the young, upstart pros get a chance to make some money. It was mostly boring watching a bunch of little known golfers play for a chance to become exempt from future qualifying for tournaments.

Today, we get back to business. Josie has her normal workday starting at 8 AM and I will try to get a commitment for a closing date. The appraisal is scheduled for today and that is the final step in the process to complete the mortgage package. I just hope that we can get a firm date for closing so that all of the other activities can be scheduled with certainty...

Inheriting Furniture

We spent well over one hour yesterday morning with the sellers, seller's agent and our agent, walking through the house identifying furniture that stays and furniture that goes with the sellers. Most of the furniture, with the exception of a couple of favorite chairs and the TV's will stay with the house and become ours. There are only a few of the pieces that we are interested in keeping for ourselves and the rest will be sold at an estate sale to be arranged following the closing on the house.

Our plan is to conduct the estate sale as soon as possible after closing and use the proceeds to complete the rest of the air freshening tasks we face. By painting the entire interior of the home, getting the floors professionally cleaned and having the vents all cleaned should go a long way in removing the offensive cigarette odor. The biggest problem now is the timeframe to accomplish all of this. We will need to get a realistic close date as soon as possible in order to be able to schedule everything and still get our furniture moved into the house and get ready for a summer in Jackson - if we can. We also have the issue with the fifth wheel. If we keep it, we will have to have it shipped to Jackson, and shipped back in the Fall. Not a great option. If we stay here, we have no place to store the RV as of now. We cannot trade it on anything else until after the house closes which adds to the time frame to get everything done.

If we can get an early May closing on the house we should be able to get everything else done if we do proper planning. With all of this going on in early May, Josie has the Mother's Day marathon at the flower shop. I guess I will be handling almost all of the tasks myself. I will certainly be looking forward to the end of all of these activities...

Clock is Ticking

It is a little scary to see the days going by without having a firm closing date for our house. Actually, we do have a date - May 15 - which is way too far out to suit us. We anticipate a close date at the end of this month in order to make everything work for us. We have a very important meeting at the house at 10 AM this morning which will (hopefully) result in agreement on how the furniture will be handled. Whatever the agreement, the furniture needs to go before starting any odor control measures.

We plan to visit a couple of the RV dealers in the area following the meeting. We have been researching Class C motorhomes as an option to having our fifth wheel shipped to Jackson if we decide to go this season. It might make good sense for us to trade our fifth wheel - after 10 years of heavy use - for a smaller, more manageable unit. With the home purchase in Sun City, we will most likely end our full-time RVing lifestyle and just travel seasonally to places and maybe take some shorter trips throughout the year. Whatever we decide, it will have to happen following the closing on our house.

There is so much to do yet, and time is running out...

Closer Yet

We received the results of the termite inspection yesterday - all clear. The paperwork for our repairs - none requested at this point - was done and we wrote out a bill of sale for the furniture. There is a meeting scheduled at the house on Saturday at 10 AM with all parties involved - sellers, seller's agent , our agent and ourselves. The purpose of the meeting is to finalize the arrangements for the furniture. Our understanding is that the sellers want to leave just about everything, but we will know for sure at that meeting.

The final step in the whole process is the appraisal which is scheduled for Monday. Once that comes back - hopefully, right on or near the purchase price - we should be good to go and will schedule the closing.

We are attempting to work out the schedules so that we can still go to Jackson this summer season. With an earlier close, we may be able to get all the inside work done at the house and get our furniture and other possessions from our storage unit and close that down. That would mean closing up the house until we return in October at which time we would complete our move-in. We work with a couple that did that very same thing last year when they purchased a home in Sun City West just before going to Jackson and moved into the home when they returned last October.

There are a lot of things that need to be coordinated to make things happen the way we would like but we are also preparing to implement plan B (or C, or D?) if things don't quite work out the way we would like...

Inspections Done and More

The inspection report and review yesterday morning was a delight. I picked up Josie at work at 9:45 AM to go to the house. There was hardly anything wrong that was noted on the report and only minor problems were discovered. What a change from the inspection on the first house. Our agent informed us that the sellers want to get out of the house and don't want to be bothered with disposing of the furniture and other items in the house and that we can have everything - at no additional charge. Wow! In fact, the inspection was so good that we will not request any repairs in exchange for the furniture. The sellers are moving into an assisted living facility and will not need anything except their toothbrushes and some clothing. That all translates to a quicker close.

We followed that inspection review with a meeting at the mortgage company before taking Josie back to work which also went very well. Everything is on track as the appraisal was ordered yesterday and we may be able to close before the end of the month. That would be, by far, the quickest acquisition of a home we have ever had - three weeks. It is a huge benefit in our planning if all goes according to the new schedule.

Once all of the paperwork is signed which solidifies the new arrangement, we will immediately take steps to set up and conduct an estate sale and use the proceeds to remove the smoke odors in the house. That means painting all the walls and ceilings and cleaning the carpets, cleaning the vents and scrubbing down the cabinets and other furniture that we might keep ourselves.

What an exciting time...

Ahead of Schedule

It was a busy day updating paperwork yesterday for the new house. Much of what is required was already done on the cancelled transaction. The inspection will be today and we updated all of the mortgage papers yesterday and last night. We will meet with the inspector at around 10 AM this morning to review the results. Following that meeting, we will go to the mortgage company to sign more documents for the new mortgage. Also, the sellers want to leave as much of the furniture as possible when they move, so we will look at what might work for us. If they don't charge an outrageous amount, we might consider some of the pieces. With the horrible smoke odor, there won't be a lot that would be acceptable. We are moving right along with the process and hope to close before the scheduled May 15 date.

We had an unusual experience last night. While watching TV at around 6:30, we heard what sounded like a cry for help outside. Our neighbor across the street knocked on our door asking for help for a woman who fell on the ground while walking her dog, two empty spaces from us, and appeared to have injured her leg. I ran out and saw immediately that her ankle was broken and called 911. The medics arrived within about 5 minutes. There was a fire truck and two ambulances that responded to the call. The woman was not in much pain and was taken away to the hospital. We hope she is OK.

The Director of the Grand Teton Association - and our boss - sent an email to us asking if we could arrive a couple weeks earlier than scheduled in Jackson. It appears that the couple scheduled for early arrival had an emergency and had to delay their trip. Of course, there is no way we are able to respond positively to that request. We still have not eliminated the trip to Jackson as we are waiting to find out what will happen with our house. There are some tough decisions that we must make over the next two weeks...

We Got It!

Our offer was accepted on the house yesterday. There were only a couple minor changes - the closing date will be NLT May 15 and the inspection period will last 10 days instead of 14. No problem.

The rest of the day was spent generating forms and schedules and transferring paperwork from the previous home. We had to make sure the mortgage company had all required documents, the title company had all the information they needed and could transfer our deposit from the last house and that the inspector could again, quickly, schedule a time to inspect the new home. We are off and running to get everything done.

Of course, the main problem is the smoke odor issue. We are still researching options and know pretty much what has to be done. The other issue is how much do we want the owners to participate in the odor removal without scaring them off. After all, we did get a good buy on the home knowing that we had to do lots of work to correct the problem. We are excited about the house and know that we can turn it into everything we are looking for in a home.

We have a meeting at the house scheduled for Wednesday AM to review the inspection and to look at all the furniture to decide if there is anything we would like to keep when the sellers move. They are moving into a retirement home and would like to sell everything they have in the house. We might be interested in some of the furniture, but non that contain any fabric that would contain the heavy smoke odor. It certainly will be interesting to discuss costs for acquiring any items we might want to purchase...

Nothing Official Yet

The unofficial word that we received yesterday from our agent was that the sellers will accept our offer but request a later closing date (possibly, May 15). We have learned that unofficial news is like having no news at all and we will wait for the written acceptance or counter offer this morning. They have until 8 AM to respond. We are excited about moving forward with this house and are still researching options for eliminating smoke odors.

Our commitment to Jackson this summer is still on hold until we get assurances that we will close on a house before the scheduled start date which is May 19. Right now, we feel that we will stay here for the summer season this year but if something falls through, we are prepared to go to Jackson and wait until the Fall to continue any search for a house.

The clock is ticking and we are anxiously awaiting word on the offer. We will let you know the details when we know...

Another House Offer- But

For the last week that we were going round and round with the house we were trying to close, we had been following another house that seemed to be too good to be true. It has been on the market for over two weeks with no contract and we couldn't imagine why it was still available. The demise of our contract with our first house made this one available to us. It is more money but is so much more move-in ready and updated.

We drove to the house with our agent at 11 AM and did a long and thorough walk-thru as the owners sat outside on the patio. We fell in love with everything about this house as far as layout, size, location and interior amenities. I will show you these photos of the house and the interior before revealing why, we believe, the house is not yet under contract.

These shots were among those that were part of the listing material:

Fantastic, right?

We knew immediately what the problem was when we entered the front door. The entire house wreaked of cigarette smoke! The owners have lived there since December, 1997, and obviously smoked during the entire time they have lived in the home. We loved the house so much that we came home and did some research on eliminating smoke odors in homes and discovered that it is possible, with lots of hard work, to eliminate the odors. Some of the information suggested that we walk away from the home, and some gave examples of successful odor removal. We decided to make an offer on the house and go forward with trying to make it work for us.

The owners have until 8 AM tomorrow to accept, reject or counter our offer. We'll let you know when we know what happens next....

Killed the Deal

Our deal on the house played out about the way we expected. The list of requested repairs, as previously noted, was extensive. It also included some items that were "must do" for us. The response from the sellers was a joke. They offered to credit us $500 at closing to do all the repairs ourselves. That doesn't even cover the range/oven replacement that was on the list, let alone many more items that would require a plumber, an electrician, a flooring expert and a general handyman. Our response to the sellers was that we cancelled the deal.

As we anticipated this outcome, we are already going to begin the replacement process with a visit to a home this morning. This one is a bit larger and has been substantially upgraded so it will be a much different and better situation. It is more money but will save us lots more in the long run. All of the folks involved in the previous house - agent, mortgage company and title company - are all ready to move forward with another home.

We will take photos of our visit this morning and report the status tomorrow. Hopefully, it will also include another offer on this replacement home.

Now we are having some "real" fun...

No Change

There was no news yesterday on the response to our request for repairs. We are sure that the sellers are evaluating costs associated with the fixes and are sorting out the ones they feel they can agree to complete before closing. Also, they most likely are evaluating sources for actually performing the repairs. The house has been vacant for a couple months and we have no idea where the sellers are presently located which could also enter into their decision. We just hope for the best.

The appraisal has been ordered and everything is a go with the mortgage. We are still looking at possible options in the event this house goes south over the repair issues. Any other option we choose will absolutely have very little updating required, if possible. It is a tense time right now, so stay tuned for updates...

Waiting Game

The five days that are given to sellers to review, change, or agree to fixes and/or modifications is a difficult time for the buyers. We really can't plan any more activities for the house until we know exactly what we will be responsible for repairing ourselves. If the sellers reject some key requests that we have made, we will walk away from the deal.

I did a drive-by yesterday on another house that is more money but according to the listing appears to be move-in ready. That has a lot of appeal to us if this current deal breaks down. We are hoping that something happens today that will give us some idea of what to expect as a response from the sellers. Our agent is in constant contact with the seller's agent, so we may hear something today.

I also visited a storage facility in Anthem yesterday but couldn't find anybody to give me information. I'll pursue that again today as we need to have a plan in place for the RV no matter what happens with the house.

The options will be narrowed down fairly soon...

Critical Stage

We have entered a very critical stage of our home purchase. All is going well with the mortgage company and the title company and yesterday we submitted the Buyer's Inspection Notice and Seller's Response (BINSR) form. The seller has 5 days to respond with actions they will or will not take to remedy problems we requested to be fixed. The list is huge and we have concerns that the seller may balk at performing the requested actions.

Actually, we lost some enthusiasm following the inspection as we realize that the home has never been upgraded in any way. We knew about most of the problems and that is why the home was attractively priced. We feel now that the costs for upgrading to the point we want may be prohibitive. For that reason, we are preparing ourselves to walk away from the deal if the seller balks at performing repairs. They have 5 days to respond to our request and we will cover other bases in the meantime. Those bases include: determine the cost to withdraw and find out if we could get some credits from the inspector and title company for changing the home to another in the event that happens.

We will discuss the options with our agent this morning and agree on a plan in the event that this home falls through as a result of the inspection report...

Alarms

The appointment that Josie had for her shot went according to plan. Actually, it went faster than expected and we went to breakfast at Jimichaels in Sun City following her procedure. There was enough time between that appointment and our meeting with the mortgage company to have a nice, relaxing breakfast while Josie recovered from her earlier anesthetic.

Our mortgage meeting went well and we have all the ducks in a row to get everything done by April 25 - our targeted close date. It was after noon when we completed that meeting and we went back home to wait for our review with the property inspector at the house which was scheduled for 3:30 PM.

Our review with the inspector was an eye opener and set off alarms in our minds. We knew about some of the problems as they relate to the age of the home. Many of those are cosmetic and really can be handled by ourselves over time. There are some that were discovered that can be deal breakers for us. The main one being cracks on the kitchen floor which could be very costly to fix, bad connections and equipment used with the hot water heater, bad valves and problems with the plumbing and another very serious discovery - the oven does not work at all. That sent up a huge alarm to us as we are wondering how anybody could live in a home without the use of an oven. There is no microwave, and the only means for baking is the broken oven.

The net of the afternoon meeting is that our schedule can - and most likely will - be impacted with the fixes that we are going to request. It can, literally, kill the deal if the sellers do not agree to perform the fixes. Our approach is to request an allowance for the floor, another allowance for appliances (there are problems with all of the appliances), and to request repairs on the plumbing issues and other problems that could develop into serious issues down the road. We do not want to be placed in a position to have these problems resurface when we go to get an inspection whenever we decide to sell.

Today will be very key to keeping this home purchase on track...

Full Day Ahead

Before getting into the busy schedule for today, I have these photos that we took on Saturday of our walk-thru. These will serve as the "before" photos prior to beginning the upgrades process:

Our entry/living/family room:

The kitchen with two views:

and the eating/dining area:

It will be nice to get things started and to see some of the upgrades that are planned.

Today, we begin with an appointment (7:45 AM) for Josie to get another shot for her back. We are getting near the end of this series of shots which will result in her final treatment phase - the Ablation. That appointment should end in time for our 10 AM meeting with our mortgage company to review the new mortgage for our home.

The final activity for the day is the home inspection, scheduled for 1 PM. We will meet with the inspector at 3:30 PM at the house to review the results. Hopefully, there will not be any major fixes or repairs required and we can remain on schedule for our planned close on April 25...

Lots of Discoveries

Our walk-thru at our new home yesterday was full of new discoveries. We knew that there would be some new requirements for upgrading before we even placed an offer on the home. It was built in 1977 and there are cracks and other outdated items that we discovered for the first time. There were also some that we knew about and help explain why we were able to get such a good buy on the home.

A couple of the discoveries will not require major fixes. A main one is that there are no ceiling fans in any of the bedrooms which will require running wire through the ceiling from the wall switch in each of the three bedrooms. One nice feature though, is that there is an extraction fan in the attic that is powered by a solar panel on the roof. That will take care of the heat that builds up in the attic during the hot summers. Speaking of the roof, it was replaced with new roofing just a couple weeks ago and will carry a warranty of at least 25 years. Our official inspection that takes place on Monday afternoon will certainly discover any other "hidden" surprises in the home.

The time spent at the home was worthwhile and we took measurements of the areas where we will replace the flooring and also of the laundry area where we will have to place our own (new) washer and dryer. Following the home visit, we stopped at Lowe's and Home Depot to look at flooring options and washer and dryer combinations.

We found out from our agent yesterday that the target for closing will be April 25. That is only a couple weeks away and will be the quickest close that we have ever had on any home. We hope it can happen that quickly as Josie will begin the Mother's Day rush shortly after the first of May. There are a lot of critical activities that must be completed in that short time frame, so we hope it all goes according to plan...

First Detailed Inspection

Today we will be armed with detailed home layout charts, a tape measure and many ideas on how we want to shape our new home. It will be the first real opportunity to do a detailed walk thru and visualize the changes we have discussed. We will be meeting our real estate agent at 9 AM at his office and proceed to the home for what we have been looking forward to for the last few days since we finalized the contract.

Initially, we are thinking that the floors will be the highest priority before we begin moving in furniture. The carpeting that exists in the home needs to be replaced. Starting with the living/family room which is carpeted and we want to replace with a type of wood/laminate flooring. The bedrooms would be next. For those, we are thinking that just newer carpet would work. There are other, almost immediate upgrades that need to be done. It will be a challenge to maintain self control over these changes as the pocket book will be very light following the closing. Another immediate need is for a washer and dryer which were not part of the deal. Sheesh.

Lurking behind all of the house activity is a requirement to arrive at a solution for our RV. Without any assurance of having a space in the Sun City storage facility in time, I will have to research other temporary options. Throw in the fact that we have no tow vehicle now and we have a whole new set of issues.

Isn't life wonderful?...

Schedule Filling Up

Of course, yesterday was the beginning of filling the schedule with house related appointments. Starting with opening the Escrow with the title company. We will use the same title company as we used to sell our Glendale home so that we can complete the discount promise made for dual closings with them. Then, we reviewed some Inspection Companies and selected one that is popular in Sun City and scheduled the inspection for Monday, at 1 PM. We will have a review of the results with them at 3:30 PM on Monday.

We have already mentioned the Monday AM meeting we have scheduled with our Mortgage company. There is lots of preparation that we have begun in order to be ready for that meeting.

We have also scheduled a walk-thru with our agent for Saturday morning in order to get some measurements and to refresh our memory about certain areas of the house. We have tentatively identified areas that we intend to upgrade, and need to prioritize our schedule for those improvements. Most of those will also depend on the money situation which will be tight - at least starting out.

There are several other minor items that were taken care of yesterday and the next several weeks promise to be a race to successfully get everything accomplished before the hot, hot summer sets in...

Offer Accepted

Talk about riding a roller coaster - just when we thought the sellers had rejected our latest offer, we get a call from our agent informing us that it was accepted. We are now starting the process to wrap up the purchase of a new (for us, although built in 1977)  home in Sun City:

The home is adjacent to the 6th green on the Willowcreek Golf Course on Willowcreek Cir in Sun City. It is located between Beardsley Ave and Union Hills Ave and should be an easy commute for Josie to her shop. It is a three bedroom, two bath home that will need some upgrading to make it the way we would like. Fortunately, the sellers didn't balk at our terms and we have a deal that will allow us some room for upgrading appliances and flooring. Eventually, we would also like to remodel the kitchen and perhaps - if the money gods are smiling - add a pool down the road. In the meantime, it will keep us busy making it right for us.

The inspection period begins today and we are shooting for a late April close. Our mortgage company says it should be possible and we meet with them on Monday to review the mortgage and turn over required paperwork and documents to make it happen on time.

It will be a squeeze to get this done before the Mother's Day rush for Josie. We have never backed away from a challenge. Stay tuned for the blow by blow action over the next 6 weeks...

Diving In

We zeroed-in on a house yesterday in Sun City and made an offer. We didn't offer the asking price or agree to all the terms and, of course, we received a counter offer. The houses in Sun City are going fast - at least the good values are. We are not going to be drawn into a situation where we are paying more than we think the house is worth, or a situation where the seller does not show any flexibility in the terms. We did another counter offer to the counter offer, so we will know something today.

Another thing we have accepted is the fact that we don't have to buy a house today - or tomorrow - and we are willing to go through the process of locating the right situation for ourselves. We would really like to have this particular house, but if we don't get it, there will be others. We have this space at Pioneer locked up for a couple more months, so there is no real pressure to move. Our real estate agent may get impatient with us, but that's the way it goes. I've been in that situation and know that no matter how long it takes, a happy buyer is worth the hard work.

One feeling is terrific through this whole process - there are no contingencies as our house is closed and the money is in the bank...

House Officially Sold

The sale of our house is officially done.....almost. The sale was recorded at 3:45 PM yesterday making it final, but the proceeds from the sale were not distributed as the cutoff time for wiring funds was 2 PM. That means that we get our money today. In the conversation with the title company yesterday afternoon, we were told that the money will be wired sometime between 10 AM and noon this morning.  We would have had our money yesterday if our buyers were not doing a dual close. Their home had to record and fund before closing on ours. They are ready to go, and our agent met them at the house last night to transfer the remotes, keys and other items that now belong to the new owners. Good bye Glendale.

We are taking stock of where we will be financially after we finally get our funds. There is not the amount we had hoped for - it never is - but it is very close to what was projected and what was indicated on the pre-settlement statement. We are going forward with plans to make an offer on a house in Sun City. Hopefully, we will have a direction before too long.

Just a side note on the exodus that is occurring from the Pioneer Resort. As soon as April arrived, the floodgates opened for the snowbirds to leave. We had about 8 or 10 units on our row the entire winter season and we are now down to two - ourselves and our next door neighbor. We will lose him early next week leaving us as the sole (temporary) resident on our row. It looks like we will remain until at least mid May. We are definitely getting close to the time when we have to make critical decisions regarding our RV, housing and plans for the summer...

Easter 2018

Our attempt at going to the Easter service at church was derailed, but ended nicely. The Easter service at the Pioneer Resort was our target at 9 AM. As we approached the clubhouse, there was an obvious lack of vehicles in the parking lot. When we went inside, we could see that there was no service at the normal location. It was still early enough for us to go up the freeway to Anthem and attend one of the Easter services at the Cross of Christ Lutheran Church. It was great timing and a very nice service. It turned out that the Pioneer service was held at the chapel in the museum located in the Pioneer Village next door.

The rest of the day - until we left for dinner at George and Cheryl's - was spent reviewing the houses we have visited and with some dialogue with our real estate agent. We are getting closer to making a decision on a house. Today is very important in the decision process as we are anticipating the close on our Glendale home which means cash in the bank to make a move.

Josie will work today, so we will wait to see what happens with the closing and with any changes, if any, in the status the homes we are interested in pursuing.

Our Easter dinner with George and his family was terrific and it could only have been better if we also had Patty and her family there...

Househunting

There were six homes that we viewed yesterday that were handpicked by our agent. Three were in Sun City and three were in Sun City West. A couple of them were not even close to what we want in our next home, but two of them were real possibilities. Actually, there was another home in Sun City that we had previously viewed that is worthy of consideration. One of the homes from yesterday is in Sun City West but backs up to a commercial area. The house was very good, but it also had a small (too small) swimming pool - on a nice, large lot - which probably would not work for us:

The second real possibility is one we saw in Sun City and is on the golf course. The only negative with that one is that the back of the home faces southwest which could be a concern in the hot summer. It would accommodate a swimming pool at some point down the road:

We are considering an offer on one of those three and we will keep you posted on the progress.

Today, of course, is Easter Sunday and we plan to go to church at 9:30 AM. We decided to go to the service here at the Resort which is very convenient and gives us time to research houses and perhaps visit another one or two before going to George and Cheryl's for Easter dinner at 3 PM.

Have a
                           Happy Easter
                                                                              everybody!