So much for getting my blog up-to-date. Today I will try again. We shall see how this goes! I think I’ll focus on what I consider “the big changes” in our life. My last post was related to Hub’s job change in October of 2020. He is still with this company, and the job continues to go well.
November of 2020 was a sad time for me as our close friends, a few doors down from us, abruptly moved away. It was all very odd. To this day, we don’t know all that happened but heard through the grapevine that it was job-related. Their house had an offer the same day they put it on the market, and they were gone a few weeks later. They left me with a key to their house and did a virtual closing.
Another odd thing is how little they wanted to take with them. Our friends offered/gave us so much stuff; it was crazy. As a minimalist, I cringed bringing things home. I was careful that whatever we accepted would be items we could use or upgrade what we had. One example is their Christmas tree. I donated ours and kept theirs. One big-ticket item they gave us was a Yeti solar-powered generator. We offered to pay them, but the answer was always no, except for a couple of things (an expensive kayak~ they reluctantly accepted $100). As a goodbye gift, we gave them a set of Corinthian Bell Windchimes. Since their move, we’ve exchanged a few texts, messages, and calls, but nothing significant.
In December 2020, my brother finished settling our father’s estate. Although we knew it was coming, getting the check was bittersweet. For months leading up to getting the check, Hubs and I discussed what we would do with it once received. For me, it was important that whatever we did would honor my parents. And then one day it hit me…
Why not buy the vacant land next door to our property? While I say “vacant,” it did have a 16 x 28-foot cedar-sided cabin…err, boathouse that was built in 2008. Rumor has it that this cabin was built too close to the shoreline, so the owner changed the windows to an overhead door (hence then calling it a boathouse) to make the township happy. According to the seller’s realtor, the (out-of-state) owner hadn’t been back in years. It was on and off the market for years, but we always felt it was out of our financial reach. With the drastic change in the housing market, we saw more activity on the land and knew it was just a matter of time before it would get snatched up. So, we called a realtor…
Our realtor suggested a lowball offer of 46.6% less than the asking price. Shockingly, within an hour, the seller accepted our offer, and we were on our way to owning an additional 2.5 acres and 141 feet of shoreline! What is crazy is that the seller had paid $60,000 more for the property when he bought it in 2006. And – the property was unimproved. No driveway, no cabin! I have no idea how much it cost him to put those things in but talk about taking a huge hit. Ouch. We did have to get a bit creative with the funding as we wanted to hold back some money for some changes to the cabin, but we made it work. And this is where things get more interesting. Stay tuned!
Glad to see you back.
Thank you!
I was glad to see you pop into my inbox. Looking forward to hearing more.
Thank you. Was going to write more yesterday but the day got away from me. Catching up a bit now but being under a wind storm warning, know at some point we will lose power.
I’m glad to see you back!
I’ve been checking often to see if you had posted anything new.
I’ve been a “lurker” at your site for ages!!
I love lurkers! Thanks for checking in. Weather permitting (we are under a wind storm warning) I should have another post up tomorrow.
Hi Lucy! Glad to see you. I think using the inheritance check to buy the property next door honors your parents. Glad you were able to do. Things here have changed some too. The biggest thing for me is that older granddaughter is now in kindergarten and I keep her 2 days a week after school. Little granddaughter is 17 mos now and comes on Fridays. Hubby is still working. He has 2.5 years until he retires. We are still saving as much as we can for then.
Goodness, it seems hard to believe the oldest is now in kindergarten. They grow up way too fast! How fun, though, to get the extra time with your granddaughters. 2.5 years will go by fast! Keep on saving ~ I know you will!
You made a good decision about buying that property.
I think we did too.
Yeah you’re back!!
Thank you!
Nice to see you back and catch up with everyone!
Thank you!
I am so happy you’re back. What a great way to use your inheritance-are you going to “name” the “boathouse” after your dad? Looking forward to future posts!
Thank you. We have given the property a name. More to come!
Nice to see you back and you did really well with buying that property!
Thanks, Jan! We feel really good about the purchase.
Agreed, glad to see you are back, there are very few blogs I enjoy any longer as most are self serving. Looking forward to more posts!
Thanks, Patti! I hope things have continued to go well on your journey!