organicgreendoctor: whirlwind 3

WHIRLWIND 3
we made the decision to drive right through to california
allowing one stop overnight in tucson arizona

my memory of that trip is blurry
but
one thing i know is that its a long long drive
from austin to el paso

we left on a sunday morning and arrived here
on a monday afternoon
tired but happy to make it

we had rented an airbnb sight unseen
ok our kiddos looked at it for us
a college professor rented it to us
it was a mother in law apartment
rented for 3 months

the next day after arrival we i mean i
went over and planted my garden at the
community garden site

then
we spent our days getting settled in
we also had to do a closing on our house
the country n
but
we were able to do that long distance at a local title company

before we went over to do the final closing on
our country n
a relative texted us
a fellow employee told me today that there is a condo
for sale in the complex he lives in

i told my wife she
remember we plan to rent long term
we have no plans to buy here

so
after the closing
we well just drove the few blocks to the condo complex
to well see what its like

now coming from the austin area
to california
is the wrong way to do it if you are planning
to sell then buy
its usually done the other way around
california folks sell then buy in texas
they come out way ahead when they do that

so we parked on the side of the street
walked up to the condo
it is a older complex
it has that old santa barbara look
retro looking

as we stood outside looking up at the unit
we both looked at each other
weve been married too long
we both were thinking the same thing

i mumbled under my breath to my wife she
remember
the minimalist thing

then
up popped this head with sunglasses and grey hair from
a front porch
hi there she said
a lengthy conversation enused
you want to look at my condo to see what they look like
sure we said
but you dont even know us
she didnt care
then
the neighbor next door wandered over
struck up a conversation

you know they call this the graveyard
huh oh i thought
thats not good
no
she said
cause its so quiet

an hour later
up walks the president of the hoa for the complex
oh i know that realtor
the one listed on the sign
here illl call her
130 ok with you guys
she will show it to you then

so we went to lunch
talked about it
you know this place well it just feels right
its us
no foofooness to it

we looked
we liked
we contacted a local realtor that was helping us find a
rental
told him we want to know more about this place
toured the place with him
we both looked at each other
said
we want it

we made an offer
they counter offered
forget it we arent paying that much
we dont have to buy it we will just keep renting long term
knowing that we wont find an old school place like this one
again most likely
ok we will take your offer they said

then whirlwind 3 started
we were told
dont open any new bank accounts
dont do any travel

ruh ro
well
we didnt follow the rules
we did both
we felt like we needed a local bank so we had opened a bank account
later
the mortgage company came back on the original day of closing
we need more records on your bank account
you have to get on the phone with us and with a representative
of the bank at the same time so we can ask questions
that was almost the straw that broke the camels back
we almost were at the point of
just forget about it

i must say
the amount of paperwork that we accumulated doing this buy
was unbelievable
more than one tree was sacrificed for this transaction to occur
especially compared to what was required in texas

we have this huge donald trump huge pile of paperwork in our
closet from this transaction
plus
most of the other stuff is online
thank goodness for the internet
or this would never have happened

now
i had to go back to dallas for the research study three times
doing the escrow period
no
the mortgage folks the title folks the realtor folks didnt
like that at all

we spent close to two weeks in texas and arkansas
part of the time in rural areas with sketchy real sketchy cell service
and internet service

when we would come back into cell coverage
our cellphones would just go crazy
we dreaded looking at them to see what more stuff was needed

it was amazing the documents that we had to complete
records we had to obtain
while we were traveling

once
while we were in dallas we had 2 hours to get all these records
sent it
i had to be at the research center for my mri etc
the fax machine at the hotel didnt work right
we couldnt do it online
so
we went next door to the hotel next to us
they let us borrow their computer and fax machine
to zap all those documents to the folks who wanted all this stuff

it seem like every time we came out of the cell desert
some new crisis seem to pop up

all i could think was
i should have just written a check for the condo and be done with it
but
i didnt
so
we had to go through all this stuff to get our retro condo

also
i thought
a few years ago
if you were breathing they just gave you the money
now
they make it hard at least out here to get your mortgage done

that two weeks in texas and arkansas
had a lot of ups and downs in it
but
our persistence paid off eventually

we had finally decided
you know
we werent really looking to buy
it just sort of fell in our laps

as my wife she said
if its meant to be...

of course
thats not the way i operate

why did this process seem so hard to get through
ours should have been fairly straight forward

then
again
on the day of closing
sorry
you have to pay off your car loan
well
i tried to pay it off when all this started but was told not
to do it
also
since my wife was retiring and hadnt received her first
pension check
that money didnt count
you have to set up these transfers from your retirement ira
into your checking account
before we can approve this note

ok
all that
almost made us tell
them
forget about it
we are just going to rent
but
we both sat down
took a deep breath
let just do whats asked
to get this done
so we
did
we wired the bank to pay off the car
did the transfer
and
looked at each other