I apologize for the long delay. I left off in TN in February. While there, the 5th or 6th night, in Savannah, or Parkers Crossing, respectively, Dad and I encountered bed bugs from the motel we stayed in. It was pretty traumatic. We had to fly out with the critters. I felt pretty bad. We didn't have time to hit a laundromat before our flight after this discovery. Once we arrived back in WA, we took a taxi home (sorry) and then I stood at the bottom of my dad's driveway and soaked anything we could save in rubbing alcohol. I put anything else we could save in double garbage bags and put them in the back of my pickup and took them to a laundromat for a double wash on highest heat and a long time in the dryer. Much of our clothing and all the luggage we threw away.
After that debacle, we began our search for houses in earnest. Simultaneously, I began to prep dad's house and my own for sale. This ended up involving 3 staggered estate sales at dad's and two at my own. I sold my Harley and bought a 26' Fed Ex diesel box truck. I sold a bunch of my antique furniture and bought a 20' covered trailer.
My dad was freaking out pretty badly at first. He had lived in that house for 49 years. Tools, piles of wood and metal for various projects, and so much more needed to be sold off. In a true miracle, my brother Erik found a buy for his house in like 4 days. Which was amazing, but really put the pressure on me to sell off his stuff. Additionally, my brother and I had been storing thousands of items we had purchased during buyouts and estate saling in order to help make money since I am not teaching.
It was pretty horrid. To add insult to injury, the former Fed Ex truck came fully loaded with yet more crap that needed to be sold off.
On Facebook, I joined a group called Californians moving to Tennessee, since there isn't a similar group for Washingtonians. There are 7000+ members on there who were really helpful answering questions and helping to give good info.
We found a place in Tennessee that we really loved in late March. It is about 45 minutes north of Jackson, Tennessee. 25 acres, 16 of it leased to a local farmer. 2 ponds, one seasonal, the other with 6 types of fish are there. It is quiet and peaceful and wonderful. Dad moved in with us until we could close on the TN house and get ours on the market.
Buying a house 2300 miles from you is not fun. My realtor was magnificent. She went out and did a video showing and we made an offer that was accepted right away.
She gave me a list of people I could use for inspections. It was harrowing. The old man who owned the house wouldn't let the septic guy drive on the grass to inspect that, so we had to waive, otherwise, it passed.
SInce the owners were aged, we let them stay in an extra 15 days in order to move out. This was fine, since I was going to have to organize a convoy that wouldn't get there until the 15th of May or so in any event.
Dad, my wife, and I flew in for the actual closing. The house was great, but needed some updating. The land was amazing and even had a footprint where a hog shed was wiped out by a tornado some time back. Fun!
The house has a basement with a storm shelter (
) that we will be finishing out as a walkout apartment for Dad. We did a final walkthrough and then met at an attorney's office for the papers.
The owner was con-tank-or-ous at that meeting, demanding this, accusing that. His realtor was a local kid who literally hid behind the guy's wife. It all settled down, and then the lawyer said, "All good, all we need is proof that Dad's house is sold."
Sidebar: Dad's house hadn't closed. BUT he had gotten pre-approved for the loan needed with no consideration of his current property. We were to pay him off once our house sold with the equity. I expressly said to the bank that his soon to be sold house was not to be considered for this process.
My blood went cold in that room. I went out and called not the vapid ho who had structured this nightmare, but the original bank guy who was referred to me by a nice realtor in southern TN. He answered the phone and said, "Hey Mike, How's the loan going?" I replied, "NOT TOO DAMN WELL!" and explained what had happened. He told me this was the first he heard of it.
Summary: The owner was super old and has like 15% of his heart working. Literally we had discussed the possibility of having to sign at the hospital. I was freaked he'd freak and end up in the hospital and we'd lose this house. Our house hadn't sold yet and we were completely stuck in THIS process. The banker restructured the whole loan in 4.5 hours and we were able to sign by 5 PM. To show how wrong they knew they were, they took $600 of the price of the mortgage.
I will end here, with the house in hand. More to come.
After that debacle, we began our search for houses in earnest. Simultaneously, I began to prep dad's house and my own for sale. This ended up involving 3 staggered estate sales at dad's and two at my own. I sold my Harley and bought a 26' Fed Ex diesel box truck. I sold a bunch of my antique furniture and bought a 20' covered trailer.
My dad was freaking out pretty badly at first. He had lived in that house for 49 years. Tools, piles of wood and metal for various projects, and so much more needed to be sold off. In a true miracle, my brother Erik found a buy for his house in like 4 days. Which was amazing, but really put the pressure on me to sell off his stuff. Additionally, my brother and I had been storing thousands of items we had purchased during buyouts and estate saling in order to help make money since I am not teaching.
It was pretty horrid. To add insult to injury, the former Fed Ex truck came fully loaded with yet more crap that needed to be sold off.
On Facebook, I joined a group called Californians moving to Tennessee, since there isn't a similar group for Washingtonians. There are 7000+ members on there who were really helpful answering questions and helping to give good info.
We found a place in Tennessee that we really loved in late March. It is about 45 minutes north of Jackson, Tennessee. 25 acres, 16 of it leased to a local farmer. 2 ponds, one seasonal, the other with 6 types of fish are there. It is quiet and peaceful and wonderful. Dad moved in with us until we could close on the TN house and get ours on the market.
Buying a house 2300 miles from you is not fun. My realtor was magnificent. She went out and did a video showing and we made an offer that was accepted right away.
She gave me a list of people I could use for inspections. It was harrowing. The old man who owned the house wouldn't let the septic guy drive on the grass to inspect that, so we had to waive, otherwise, it passed.
SInce the owners were aged, we let them stay in an extra 15 days in order to move out. This was fine, since I was going to have to organize a convoy that wouldn't get there until the 15th of May or so in any event.
Dad, my wife, and I flew in for the actual closing. The house was great, but needed some updating. The land was amazing and even had a footprint where a hog shed was wiped out by a tornado some time back. Fun!
The house has a basement with a storm shelter (
) that we will be finishing out as a walkout apartment for Dad. We did a final walkthrough and then met at an attorney's office for the papers.The owner was con-tank-or-ous at that meeting, demanding this, accusing that. His realtor was a local kid who literally hid behind the guy's wife. It all settled down, and then the lawyer said, "All good, all we need is proof that Dad's house is sold."
Sidebar: Dad's house hadn't closed. BUT he had gotten pre-approved for the loan needed with no consideration of his current property. We were to pay him off once our house sold with the equity. I expressly said to the bank that his soon to be sold house was not to be considered for this process.
My blood went cold in that room. I went out and called not the vapid ho who had structured this nightmare, but the original bank guy who was referred to me by a nice realtor in southern TN. He answered the phone and said, "Hey Mike, How's the loan going?" I replied, "NOT TOO DAMN WELL!" and explained what had happened. He told me this was the first he heard of it.
Summary: The owner was super old and has like 15% of his heart working. Literally we had discussed the possibility of having to sign at the hospital. I was freaked he'd freak and end up in the hospital and we'd lose this house. Our house hadn't sold yet and we were completely stuck in THIS process. The banker restructured the whole loan in 4.5 hours and we were able to sign by 5 PM. To show how wrong they knew they were, they took $600 of the price of the mortgage.
I will end here, with the house in hand. More to come.
