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Tag Archives: delays

Why No News on Washington?

What a great question! We expected to be sharing the news that we closed on the Washington house in scenic Cameron, Texas a few weeks ago.

When will the new owners walk in?

The first delay was our fault – the inspection pointed out something we felt really should be repaired, so we had to wait until the contractors were available to do the work. But, now the house is all glowingly perfect, and just sitting there creating holding costs. Oh, how I dislike holding costs!

The next couple of delays have been due to the type of loan the buyers are getting. A VA loan is a great idea if you are a buyer who’s a veteran of our armed forces. You get good interest and other helpful benefits. We’re happy that people can get them! In fact, Carol and Russell get VA loans on their personal properties, thanks to his years in the Navy and Army.

However, from a seller point of view, a VA loan requires a lot more red tape, hoops to jump through, and rules to follow. Then, there are the delays. That’s why Washington didn’t close last week and probably won’t close tomorrow: there’s a final inspection that must happen, and the government inspectors have no real incentive to do it soon after one is requested. So, we just be patient. And incur more holding costs (keeping the electricity running, keeping the lawn mowed, paying insurance on the property – that all eats into any profit we make).

We do think we’ll have some more good news for you soon. We’re busy busy behind the scenes!

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What’s it Like to Move Your Office and House at the Same Time?

We had a request for a better picture of the bathroom vanity lights. I love these! Very reasonable price at Lowes.

Answer:

It’s not a lot of fun.

We are incredibly excited to get moved to the church and rent the current office out (to tenants moving to Cameron, who will be a real asset to the community – more on that in another post). We are also very excited for my family to get moved to Rattlesnake and rent out the Travis house I am currently renting.

That doesn’t mean that we are excited for the physical moving part of it, though. We are partially packed up, so it makes finding things in the office a little more difficult. Plus it is very bare in my office with the shelves cleaned off, and the furniture all gone except two chairs, my desk, the futon, and a small table.

Empty office shelves. It looks a little sad. Not for much longer, though.

Rattlesnake Blues

My house is pretty well packed up. It needs a good, deep cleaning and some repairs before a new family moves in. We can’t do them until we are gone, though.

It’s really hard to live out of boxes. We’ve been all geared up to move, and things just keep happening that gets it postponed. It is exhausting and it is frustrating to be living like that for the last couple of months that have passed since we were told “two weeks” the first time.

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Plans – And an Update on Mandi’s New House

This blog post is inspired by plans that don’t come together the way we think they should, and how do we find the silver lining.

Remember your ABC’s and keep on movin

Most people have a “Plan A” and a “Plan B” with “Plan C” being completely thinking on the fly, and “holding your beer and watching this” type of situation. We should bear in mind that there are 23 other letters besides the first three in which we can make plans by.

I have not seen many Plan A’s work out in comparison to Plan B and C’s. It can be disappointing for sure when the first plan doesn’t work, but that shouldn’t dictate the attitude or mood. Sometimes having to change direction can help us learn new things and meet new people. If the plans you have involved a team, it can be a great way to see how strong that team is and how well each person does with their part of the plan not working and finding a new solution.

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Window Woes

Is the Bobcat Lair house finished? What do YOU think?

light

Hey look, the upside-down light fixture is fixed!

Of course not. But, it should be ready for movers by Monday (today!), and this time I actually believe it. Work is progressing on the mantel and the desk in the office. We purchased mirrors for the bathrooms. We even got wine racks to go in the wine room. This is all good. Movers show up Wednesday. I’m moving my things from the Villa Park casita on Friday, and Anita is working on scheduling the move of her stuff.

The window delivery date kept being pushed back. The last information we had was that they were coming on Friday of last week. I was chatting with Ruben the GC about it, when he said to me, “It’s too bad that you won’t have the built-in blinds you wanted.” That was the first I heard of that! A couple of rounds of “he said-he said” ensued, were Ruben said he told Lee (the money man in this operation) about it and Lee said he had no idea of the change and had just been told they were ordered. As you might imagine, I was one unhappy client at that point.

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Is Patience REALLY a Virtue?

living

The flooring used as a backsplash in the living area looks great, but the white outlets have to go.

One thing that’s become clear since we started this business is that we behave differently on houses that are our personal homes versus houses we buy for the business. The beleaguered Bobcat Lair is a great example of this. The delays and broken promises on this property would have caused us to abandon this one if we were trying to make a business profit on it.

And that’s right, we still haven’t moved our things into the house, though it had been rescheduled for May 23. That seemed like a great date, since the contractor had promised that the house would absolutely, positively be finished on May 20 (other than the windows that have to be replaced). I suspected this might be an issue, since he was fixing up and moving into a new house of his own (which our sister business, Hermits’ Rest Enterprises just happened to sell to him). But, a promise is a promise.

beams

A lot of effort went into finding the perfect stain color for these beams. Glad I didn’t make them white.

Well, except with contractors who have other priorities and other clients. Ours tend to be lower priority, because we are more flexible. But, I didn’t feel very flexible earlier this week. I want to live in this house I’ve owned for 3 years now. I guess everyone has a breaking point in their patience.

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