The Saga Continues...

Mike and Tina's Excellent Adventure Continues …

It's summer in southwest Florida. Beautiful blue sky mornings with brief thunderstorms most afternoons bringing life sustaining rains to the Everglades. Wetlands are refilled providing ideal nesting places for all sorts of birds. Across the road Muscovy ducks have hatched and we get to watch the babies grow into replicas of their parents, though fewer in number than when they were born.

Last April we decided to become permanent Floridians, so we put our small condo on the market. And priced it at $75,000 fully furnished. Since buying it in February 2011 for $57,500 we had replaced all the furniture, upgraded the air handler, put in a new fridge and garbage disposal. All together we had about $10,000 invested above our cost.  Working with our agent, Carmen Baden Foege of Real Pro Realty, we spent two months looking for a new home. We set a budget and decided to stay under $195,000 if possible. But as fate would have it we kept gravitating to a new development we'd looked at for a couple of years, Marbella Lakes.

We first saw the unit we really wanted when we were down here in our motor home in 2009 during our   tour of the US perimeter chronicled in “On the Road with Mike and Tina”. After repeatedly looking at the model we wanted (Sorento) it was apparent that we could afford it but we wanted a ground floor unit and the Sorento was only available as a second floor unit. After continuing to look around the Naples area we finally agreed that our best bet was to select a slightly smaller unit, the Positano (http://www.glhomes.com/marbella-lakes#/move-in-ready-homes).

So, in mid April we worked with Karen, the salesperson at Marbella Lakes to lock up the unit we wanted. With a purchase agreement signed we went to GLFinance and worked with John to set up our mortgage application. Selling at a  price of $234,000, with a $6,000 signing bonus and $56,000 down  we only needed to get our other place sold. And so the tale begins...

For several reasons, our best buyer would most likely be an investor or someone like us looking for a winter getaway. At $75,000 and with a nice suite of furniture we had several showings a week. Several offers were made but none of them were accepted as they weren't cash or were lowball offers. Finally, in early May about two weeks after signing to buy a new place we had a cash offer at $72,000. Papers were signed and a closing date of May 25^th was set.

With all parties to the two transactions notified, Tina and I started making plans. Because we liked the way the model unit was furnished we went to Baer's Furniture and worked with Janet, one of their designers, to select our furniture. She also arranged for a contractor to make several upgrades for us – crown molding throughout, painting the two bedrooms, adding some architectural details, valences and curtains. We paid half down and left happy.

Since we knew that it would take about a month to complete closing on the new place once the old one was sold and furniture wouldn't be delivered until at least the first week of July we made plans to fly to Seattle on May 26^th, day after closing, for a visit with family and friends and to empty our storage locker on Whidbey Island.  With all our arrangements made we packed up everything in the condo of a personal nature and put it in storage planning to leave the keys on the counter when we left.

Up to this point everything seemed to be sailing along just fine. Then the first shoe dropped. Apparently, Briar Landings, the HOA where we had our old condo had a clause in the condo documents that required all sales to be offered to the HOA for “First Right of Refusal”. This is commonly called an Estoppel Certificate and is requested by the Title Company as soon as a closing date is set. This didn't happen and we didn't find out until May 20^th. Then, Tina and I were told (incorrectly as it turned out) that we were responsible for getting the Estoppel. By now we're only a few days from closing so we requested an extension to the sales contract to May 31^st, figuring it would only take a few days to complete. The buyers agreed and I submitted the request to the HOA and crossed our fingers. Having done all we could, we grabbed our bags, put the dogs in their soft crates and headed for the airport. Leaving the car in long term parking we caught the shuttle to the terminal, checked in and made it out to the gate for our flight with time to spare.

Before we left we had taken the dogs to the vet for a checkup and prescription for something to help keep them calm on the flight. We gave them a dose 30 minutes before boarding and another after we got seated. The meds were totally ineffective. In fact, they seemed to have just the opposite affect. What a nightmare. For four hours Tina and I flew bent over in our seats with our hands in the crates trying to keep the kids from going ballistic. Another dose about an hour into the flight only seemed to make things worse and the flight attendants wouldn't let us put the crates on our laps. By the time we got to Dallas for our transfer we were almost ready to rent a car and drive the rest of the way.

After talking it over we decided to bite the bullet and fly the rest of the way. Hoping that the first leg was a fluke we tried again to sedate the dogs before boarding with the same results. Finally, an hour into the flight, I asked the attendant if we could put the crates in our laps. She said, “Sure, whatever works best for the dogs.” Ahhhhh, finally a break! With the crates in our laps we were able to unzip one end so the dogs could put their heads out. Eventually we all slept for a couple of hours until it was time to land. The rest of the flight passed without trouble and Tina's sister Shanda met us at the airport and drove us to her house in Lakewood, just south of Tacoma and next door to their Moms house.

Since we planned to be gone a month we spent several days visiting including a trip to the island to have lunch with Mary Jo and Windwalker, owners of Raven Rocks Gallery who are renting our home on Whidbey. We had a great visit and the house and grounds looked loved and cared for. While on the island we made arrangements to rent a U-Haul truck from our friends Maureen and Angus McDonald at the Tartan Thistle. We also had a chance on another day to visit with our friend and broker, Richard Davis. We miss our friends on Whidbey and spending time with our family. Fortunately I was able to get together with a couple of my pool shooting buddies, Pat and John to shoot a little pool. Daughter Marni celebrated her birthday as did granddaughter Nakeisha. We also got to see grandson Joshua at his home in Federal Way.

Then the other shoe dropped. On June 4^th we got a call from our agent Carmen that since the Estoppel Certificate hadn't arrived by the end of the contract (by Florida statute they had 15 business days to provide the document), the buyers backed out of the deal and we had to put the place back on the market putting the new house purchase in jeopardy. This was followed by lot's of emails back and forth between all parties to keep things moving forward. Fortunately our lenders and people at Marbella Lakes were very understanding and wiling to be patient while we worked on a new sale.

Eventually it was time to think about packing up and leaving so on June 14^th we jumped in Moms Buick and drove to the island, picked up the truck and went to the storage unit. Our oldest daughter Lori and her boyfriend Patrick met us at the storage unit and helped us pack the truck. Four hours later we finished, said our goodbyes and headed south to Moms for one more night where we met everyone for a final dinner at Olive Garden.

"Admiral" Tina at the wheel

Saturday morning the16th was cool and with blue sky overhead we headed for I-90 and our first day driving across Washington State, Idaho and through the Rocky Mountains into Montana stopping for our first night in Missoula. We had great weather, no traffic to speak of and no problems with the truck or load. We made a nest of pillows and blankets on the jump seat between us for the dogs and they settled in with no complaints.

View from the passenger seat

The next day we continued on through to Buffalo, Wyoming. Another great day with lots of sunshine, green fields and rolling hills. By trading off driving every few hours we were able to make good time and at each stop stayed at a pet friendly hotel where we could get a continental breakfast.

Wicket and Punky on the jump seat

Monday we left Buffalo around 8am and continued east on I-90 stopping for gas and food along the way. Another beautiful day with light traffic and no problems on the road making it to Sioux Falls South Dakota around 4:30 in the afternoon where we stayed at the Best Western Ramkota Hotel.

Pool Party

Since we didn't need to be back to Naples until the 28^th we had altered our route to go through Wisconsin to visit family and it only added a day of travel time to our drive. So our next leg was to Salem Wisconsin with the following day taking us to Tina's sister Denise's house in Trevor Wisconsin. We arrived early in the afternoon for a three day stay. So far we'd covered a little over 2,000 miles in four and a half days.

We had a great visit joining in the festivities at a big pool party and BBQ but all to soon it was time to leave for home. Again we had great weather and light traffic as we drove to Nashville Tennessee and a night at the La Quinta Inn. We decided to get home early in the day so we could take a break from driving before putting everything in storage. So we made a longer day and drove from Nashville to Lake City in northern Florida staying at the Jamesson Hotel for our last night on the road.

The next morning we were on the road early and drove down I-75 to the airport to pick up our car. Leaving the airport we completed the last 30 miles in tandem arriving at our condo parking lot around 2:30pm having traveled a total of 3,500 miles spread over 8 days. The next day, with our trip back from the northwest complete we unloaded the truck and dropped it off at the local U-Haul office. Now we could get on with the condo saga – heheheh!

Well, to cut a long story short, we got lucky and another cash offer was made a few days after we got back. We agreed on a price of $70,500 and set a closing date of August 20^th to give us time to get the Estoppel Certificate completed. With a new buyer, new Title Insurance and new people who knew what needed to be done, we were able to complete the sale closing by the 15^th instead of the 20^th. The new owners agreed to let us rent for 30 days while we completed our purchase and move into the new place so we didn't have to stay at a hotel.

Finally all the approvals for the new loan were complete and we were able to close on the new place on the  morning of the 22^nd getting our welcome packet and keys that afternoon. We took formal possession with photos of Tina making the ceremonial first opening of the front door! Wheeeeew!!!

Whewww! Everything from storage fit!

With keys and a garage door opener, we spent the next day getting a U-Haul truck and emptying out two storage units – the small one with all our stuff from the old condo and the big one with all our stuff from Whidbey. Everything was put in the garage with some boxes going into closets in the den or one of the bedrooms. Once we got the truck back we decided to take a break and start emptying a few boxes into the kitchen.

Tina organizing the kitchen

Meanwhile, the contractors arrived and spent three days installing the crown molding, painting and putting up other trim work. While all that was going on we did lots of running around to pick out fans, tile for the kitchen backsplash and set up schedules for deliveries of carpet and furniture and installation schedules. We also picked up our water feature for the lanai and looked at lots of lamps and mirrors.

Making progress, the TV and sound system is in place

With furniture arriving and most of the upgrades completed (still waiting for the tile backsplash in the kitchen) we have been able to do more unpacking and putting things away. We spent most of our time today getting Comcast hooked up (internet and TV), the TV, sound system, and Blu-Ray DVD player installed and everything working correctly. Unfortunately the set-top box from Comcast doesn’t work so they’re sending a technician tomorrow. So it’s movies tonight. Tina made a salad and spaghetti for our first dinner in our new home!

Our first dinner in our new home - Hurray!!

There’s still lots of unpacking to do plus we have to go clean the old place now that we’re moved out so we can send the keys to the new owners. That’s about it for now but stay tuned, there’s bound to be more surprises as we motor down the road of life!