So Much To Do, What's Next?

It's Sunday in tiny town Alabama. If I thought yesterday was shut down, oh no. We are IN the bible belt, more-so then Texas ever was. Everyone goes to church and everything is closed, except Walmart, of course.

We need to eat. And surprise, get more shit for the house. I feel like we are in this never-ending circle of needing shit. It's hard, being between two houses with damn near nothing. It's an adventure, to say the least, but an adventure we both signed up for, knowing it wouldn't be easy. Bring it on, because this is what you do with a second chance at life. You have more adventures, new ones, along with many, many other things.

Back to the house, what else can we do? By now I've started cleaning here and there, but we have a lot more to do. I want my husband to take advantage of this time while we are both at the house to do whatever needs to be done in a pair, whatever will make things easier for him while I am able to help. Instead, with things being closed, we decide to clean both bathrooms. I'm sure when we were done, with my lungs burning, CSI could come in and find zero evidence. No DNA. Not a fingerprint. Nothing. We scrubbed those bathrooms so hard. They are still ugly, but now clean. If you are wondering, how after a few days of being there why we hadn't cleaned the bathrooms already, at least one......I have answers for you. We arrived on Thursday afternoon. Water was turned on on Friday, then shut off due to the leaks. We have been peeing outside. Haven't showered yet. So we weren't using the bathrooms at all. Other priorities took over. We are roughing it. It is like camping used to be long long ago, or how it is when you go hunting (from what I have been told).

I have the biggest ever bottle of hand sanitizer, and we use that, a lot. We also have lots of bottled water, soap, hand towels, etc. Some conveniences, just not necessarily in the way they are typically used. It's fine for now. I think I could be in a way worse situation personally, and as for my husband, well he is a man, and this is just part of what they probably do that they think is "normal". Ha. Makes me want to take an online poll.

I swept the entire house, there was just little stuff all over. We had been keeping the doors all closed too and not going into the other rooms, so it was no big deal. But I wanted to make sure there was nothing that would hurt the dogs paws, so I cleaned up. Slowly moving along......but every time I turn around, I think, oh ya, let me do that, do that, and that list in my head just never ends. it's almost hard to know where the best place to start is and what to do exactly. Slowly it's coming together. 

I cleaned off the end of the one side of the driveway because it was buried in pine needles. We have a delivery coming tomorrow, and I want the truck to pull all the way up and around the house, so let's make this easy for him to see.....because I forgot to mention, our mailbox is laying on the ground. Don't exactly know how that happened, but it was like that when we arrived. I don't need anyone saying they couldn't find our house, or some other lazy bullshit excuse and that's why things didn't get there. Nope, I don't have time for that shit.

Sunday was the perfect day to spend cleaning with almost everything being closed. Us getting our once-a-day trip to the store finished early on, that allowed us to focus on the house, inside. Cool. Time just goes too fast and there just isn't enough hours in the day.

As the day comes to a close, the night sky is pitch black, we discuss the game plan for tomorrow, some ideas for the house itself, with some possible new layouts, knocking down walls is a consideration, enlarging our utility room, who knows. The possibilities are endless, unlike our bank account. It's just some ideas I have had over the past few days, looking around, imaging all the things we could do, and it's exciting. So much so, we are worn our and call it a day! And it's still early by most people's standards. We've just had enough for today!

Let's Explore Some More

The weather is great. Considering it's early December and around 60 degrees during the day while the sun is shining, it is more than bearable. The heater helped out overnight and we were toasty warm, all of us. It's Saturday. Every day we have had to run to the store, some kind of store, for something. To be expected. We haven't moved in yet, don't have our stuff from our other house, only whatever my husband packed up in the mini van we are driving so he had some tools to take care of whatever he could.

So what is on our agenda today? We don't have a means to cook at our house, so we have been eating out, which I am not a fan of. Neither of us are, but it is what it is for now. We have a plan on pulling this all together, it just can't happen overnight. We got into town, only to find out that most things, including restaurants are closed. What?!? Welcome to small town, Alabama. Wow. I had no idea. We drive a little further, found a great restaurant, made some other stops, and headed back to the house.

We decide to go exploring on the property. My husband has been getting up before dawn every day, and taking walks around our property. There is so much to see, we don't even have a clue. He found some cool things, and wants to take me and show me what's what. We take the dogs and go up the hill. We go to the private road and up that to the end of our property. We find a hunting blind. Cool. We see all kinds of wildlife prints in the mud. Wolf, coyote, bobcat, turkey, peasant, deer and more. Wow. How neat.

One of the things I am looking forward to personally, when we are all settled, is going hunting. I have never hunted in my life. My husband did with his father and grandfather when he was younger, but I have zero experience. What makes it even better, is that we are able to hunt on our own alnd! We don't need a license since it's private property. Wow, awesome. We still have to follow the laws in terms of what hunting season it is (right now it is deer and quail season), so those are the only things we can hunt. Fair.

The property itself is gorgeous. We walk around, dogs in tow, and I didn't think we went too far, not at all. Up, yes, and points where it was steep. I turn around to look, but with all the trees, it is so dense, we cannot see our house. Holy Shit! That's kind of cool. We are out walking our property and are secluded. That's so great!

Once of the things I really wanted was land. Property. I could almost care less if there was a house on the property. I just wanted space to breath. Not a house 15 feet from mine where I feel like we are all piled on top of each other, and I got exactly that. Peace and quiet. This is like no other experience! 

We don't walk our entire property, there's far too much of it, and we didn't bring a weapon with us (bad idea, especially if you encounter wildlife and are not prepared). Next time. I guess I didn't think we were going all that far, and we really didn't, but there's much more to explore another day.

Our neighbor J.B. sees us outside and comes over to chat. How weird for me because at the house we have been living in for 8 years, we never have conversations with our neighbors, rarely even wave. This place is so very different, all in great ways! My husband asks him if he knows of a landscaper in the area, our yard needs to get cleaned up, grass mowed, etc, and we don't have any lawn stuff here. J.B. says yes, he knows someone. Ok, great. I am sure after living in the town all these years, he knows everyone.

That afternoon, a truck pulls into our driveway. It's the landscaper, Richard. He stopped by. Wow. What service. My husband goes over what he wants done and cleaned up, including all these branches and broken tree limbs scattered near our front tree. Richard tells him it'll cost $400. Seriously? That's it? Damn, what a deal. Tiny town living already has it's perks! Richard says he will be at the house tomorrow with his son to get started. Perfect.

J.B. has come back over and we talked to him for a while again. He is a wealth of information. So helpful. It's great to have his as a neighbor. 

We wrap it up, and go into town. We need to eat and pick up some more things. Jesus. A trip to Walmart (don't even get me started, but it's the ONLY store in town without having to drive 45+ minutes), and who knows how much money later, we are going back home.

It's dark, we are tired, but damn, I feel like I didn't accomplish one fucking thing today. What a waste of a day, or maybe not since I got to check out our property, finally!

Water.......Drip, Drip

We spent our first night in our new house. It was very quiet and peaceful. The dogs are our of whack and don't know where to sleep. They too are in a new space, so it's an adjustment for all of us. We are all tired, and sleep, but not good. It was super cold in the house.

There are so many things to do. So many visions I have for this house. And with all of that, it's a mystery on where to start and what to do. The water company is due to come out first thing in the morning. By mid afternoon, they still hadn't arrived. I call to find out an ETA and was told we could turn it on ourselves; there was a big water leak that the guys have been working on all day and they don't know when that'll wrap up. My husband turns the water on. We check faucets, tubs, shower, etc. There are a few leaks; nothing major though. We run to Tractor Supply to get what he needs to fix the leaks. He gets them fixed pretty quickly, while I run into town to get insurance on the house, make a quick trip to the store and a few other stops to get him some additional things he needs.

I get home and the water leaks are fixed, but, there's more. The shower/tub in the master bedroom is leaking behind the tub from the fixture. Good to know. Not an emergency, but will have to get fixed. Not today, because that gold tub/shower surround is coming out, so we will address it then. One of the faucets in the master sink is broken. No big deal. A new temporary faucet gets put on in the hall bath because it was leaking. Fortunately we found a plumbing supply warehouse a mile from our house. Bonus! The water line that runs to the washing machine was left on in the utility room so when the water got turned on, that was spraying everywhere. Whoops. So a bit of a mess, but nothing catastrophic. Kitchen faucet is broken. It's cheap and will be replaced. So for now, I don't care. Leaks are fixed or things are capped off or whatever needs to happen. He turned the water back on but the water pressure sucks. Ok, something is clearly going on somewhere. Let's just take a break from this for now, and we do.

We decide to go over and meet the neighbor. There is one house directly across the street from us; the only house almost within sight. Nice. We are thinking, it's probably a good thing to find out who lives over there and what kind of person/people we may be dealing with. Not only that, but with our house being empty for a while, we didn't want anyone to be startled that all the sudden someone with an out of state plate is there. Who knows what anyone may think. So let's get that established too. There's a man, J.B., who lives in the house. He is 79 years old, hard of hearing, but super nice! His son lives with him, but he isn't home, so we will meet him another time. We chat with J.B. for a bit; one of the first thing he tells us is that there is a broken pipe and we have a water leak in our front yard. Great, that helps, thanks for letting us know. It turns out that J.B. has lived in his house for 53 years, so he is full of all kinds of knowledge, and knows a lot about our house. After a nice chat, we head back across the street.

It's been a long day, lots of work and shit to get done, but we are spent. We look around the property a little more, but nothing extensive. We notice there's a lot of debris on the property, stashed behind the garage, and things just thrown around here and there. Weird. Who would do that? From what we were told by J.B., the people that used to live in that house were slobs, and just threw stuff everywhere. Wow. We will have to get it cleaned up. All in due time. But for now, we are stopping for the day. It's dark by 5p, and it's pitch black outside. You can't see a thing. 

We are camping out in the living room on an air mattress, because for now, that's what is happening. It was the best room to set up. The house is cold as the temperature drops at night. We dont' have the gas turned on yet because a pressure test has to be completed first. It's Friday and that likely won't be completed until Monday. I picked up a little heater while I was out earlier since last night it was cold in the house. We are more prepared now. Lucky for us we were able to close doors since every room has a door so the heater didn't have to do more than the space we were in. Perfect. let's hope we get better sleep and more sleep now that we wont' be so cold.

Welcome Home!

We arrive at our new house about 330p. Not bad, it's sunny out and we have lots of great natural light. When we pull up top the house, we realize we have a circle driveway, and the best part of that is that it's concrete and goes around the back of the house, instead of the customary front circle drive. Oh, I love that already! What a huge perk that its concrete! 

We pull around back, I open my email to get the lockbox code, and we enter the house. It's clean, no trash laying around. No squatters, no animals, no rodents, no sign of mice or roaches or anything! What a relief! Good deal. All the what if questions went flying out the window.

We walk around the house. The pictures we had previously seen couldn't tell you the layout of the house, and it's quite interesting. You can walk from room to room, in a circle jerk, and end up right back to where you started (all with the exception of one bedroom). Interesting. Unique. I like it's character. 

There are original hardwood floors throughout the house, Amazing. I had no idea. What a great surprise. The cabinets in the kitchen are custom built, and built well. Reminds me very much of the custom cabinet work in my first house, when people took pride in craftsmanship. Not like the shit these days. The bedrooms all have unique color themes. One bedroom is painted like a football field, another with wide teal/purple stripes. The master is plain as is the other bedroom, with the exception of the camo ceiling fan. Lol.

There are two full baths, and OMG, they have probably not been remodeled since before I was born, or around that time! The hall bath is baby blue. Ok, not my choice on colors. but it isn't just paint. The entire bathroom including the shower, floor to ceiling walls and the ceiling itself are all done in 4x4 tiles. Eeww. No. The interesting and exceptional thing about this bathroom though is more custom cabinetry work. Like a space where maybe you throw you dirty clothes. Almost like a laundry shoot but on the same floor. Neat. The master bath, gold, and more gold. Gold tub surround, gold double vanity with globe like light fixtures hanging from a chain off the ceiling in each corner of the vanity. Classy. Not. But as someone I met said, "You know when the guy who redid the bathroom was done, he stood back, looked at it and thought, I cant wait for everyone to see this!". Well said. you know the guy was proud, and I am sure at the time, it was great. Just not anymore. 

What else about this house? There are surprises around every corner, and they aren't bad surprises. We find out that we have natural gas! Wow. I would have never expected that in the boonies. I haven't had natural gas in 10, almost 11 years. Damn. That's such a bonus! We also have a gas fireplace in the living room. I love that! Funny side note about the natural gas; I had to go to the gas company, about 1 mile from our house, and fill out a paper application to have it turned on. OMG, I think we are moving to Mayberry!

We also find that we have an underground storm shelter on our property, just outside the back door. Awesome. And it's a great size too. Plenty of room for both of us, our dogs and neighbors too! 

On our 10+ acres (still not exactly sure what the exact size of the property is as that info has also been conflicting), the grade of it goes way up just after the storm shelter. The elevation is not something that any of the pictures we previously viewed gave away. Ok, not the end of the world. We have a lot of space to explore.

We find an old chicken coop with the roof  blown off, another building with a door and lock on it that we don't have a key to, a well house (what?!?), a workshop that's huge, and who knows what else yet. That's all we immediately see. There's lots of other land to explore still.

Beep! Beep! Time To Hit The Road!

We officially closed on December 6, 2023. You bet your sweet ass, we left here at 4am on December 7th to head that way. The drive is about 9.5 hours, and I wanted to get there during daylight hours. Just in case.

Here's some fun facts. The town we are moving to, population is about 4,000. In the entire county, the population is about 16,000, and it appears to be a decent size county. Here we come, small town! It's perfect. Just what we wanted. Peace and quiet. 

I had already found out about utilities by calling the city. I had the electricity turned on effective December 6th, and the water was due to be turned on December 8th (we wanted to make sure we were there when the water was turned on to ensure that if there were any leaks or faucets on or anything else, we wouldn't arrive to a flooded house). Good call, no thanks to my husband. I am glad he mentioned that because that would have never occurred to me.

So here we are driving to our new house. So many things we discussed on the way. So many thoughts, from both sides. Then a light bulb comes on, and I think, oh shit. What if we have squatters in the house? We dont know how long it has been empty. What if there are rodents or animals in the house? Like a nest? An infestation? What if there are roaches? All the things we wouldn't want. Fuck. What will we do? We will deal with whatever comes our way. I am already ready to book an AirBnb if necessary. But we are prepared to sleep in the house on the air mattress we brought with us.

We are both excited the entire ride, anticipating what we bought. A house somewhere around 1,500 - 1,600 square feet or so, on 10+ acres, with the cutest front porch that's covered, the house has a steel roof (bonus), a garage and some buildings around the property we aren't sure of what they may be. Oh the anticipation. The ride goes quick. It's a sunny day, the dogs are sleeping their day away in the car. Perfect.

Ring Ring..........Ring Ring

Yahoo, I finally got the call I have been waiting for. The bank finally signed the deed and we can set a closing date. It's about damn time. Now, fair to say, and I also didn't mention this previously. The contract did say approximately 30 days to close, but I was thinking it would be a lot sooner. I am sure with the Thanksgiving holiday, that slowed things down some, but whatever. Closing date was set. We closed at day 28. No shit, they were pretty spot on.

We get the information that we need to close. Great. I am thinking, hell, this will be easy and quick, and it was. Good thing I am a planner though because there were things I couldn't anticipate. Like when I sat down to send a wire, my bank wouldn't let me do it online. What? I just did this a few weeks ago. WTF is the problem Carl? (Don't worry about Carl, you don't need the back story). So I call the bank. What's the issue? Oh you have to come in in person to request the wire. Well, fuck me. Now I have to go out when I wasn't planning on it for some bullshit. Thankfully the bank isn't far and I get that all wrapped up. As it turns out, the bank puts a limit on a wire transfer you can perform on your own, and they make you come into the branch to make sure there is no kind of fraud going on or anything out of the ordinary. Ok, thanks, I get it. Thanks for watching out for me.

I get the wire transfer completed, call the mortgage company to let them know it was sent and received confirmation they received it. Then I get the email that says, here's how to access your property. Awesome. Let's go.........time for a road trip.

Congratulations!?!

I get an email saying Congratulations, you won the auction. I am super excited and nervous all at the same time. I get several emails. It tells me what all the next steps are; sign the contract, send the escrow amount via wire, send proof of funds, send a copy of my drivers license, hurry up and then wait.

Ugh. Waiting. For what? I don't really know how all this is going to work, but I am in the process of finding out. I read the contract, and it isn't exactly what I expected. My husband looks over it too, and we call auction.com. We have questions. 

What questions do we have? The first and most important one for us is why the contract states we cannot have an inspection done. We are told this is because buying the house at auction means you accept it as is. Done. Oh, wow. We ask if we are able to back out of the sale. Yes, we can, but we will have to pay $500 in the future should we choose to use auction.co again. Ok, fair. They don't want a bunch of people bidding out of boredom or bullshit. Fair enough.

So we discuss it. We go over the pros and cons. We agree to move forward. I can't wait to close, let's get the show on the road. We sign the contract and send it back. Sent in all the other required information as well, and wait some more.

What are we waiting on? Title check. The bank has little to no information they can really give us about the property. Hell, we have found conflicting information online as to the square footage of the house and also about he year it was built. Ok then. We have no idea how long it's been vacant, how we can access it, who the utility providers are, etc.  Congrats and good luck!

I reached out to the title company. They stated that they will check title, and assured me it won't take long. Not in Alabama (I forgot to mention that's where we ended up buying), it's pretty quick. Awesome. So we wait more. Thinking that all we were waiting on was the title check, I was thinking we would be able to close in about 2 weeks. Nope. Wrong. We also had to wait on the bank to sign the contract which could take up to 10 days. Thankfully it didn't. The bank signed the contract the same day they received it. Cool. What's next?

I thought we were done. Bank signed the contract, title check was complete, so tell me how to pay you and what I owe and then we're done, right? Wrong again. Of course. Now what? Now we are waiting on the bank to sign the deed. The bank only signs deeds on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Of course. When do I find this out? Wednesday late in the day. And don't count on it too soon since there's a holiday next week (Thanksgiving was coming up). Fucking great!

So I get the "I'll call you when the bank signs the deed and we can set a closing date". Ya, I had already talked to this guy in the past and found out he wasn't a man of his word. I would probably fall off the grid before I heard from him. So what do I do? Wait more.