House Swapping - Part II

 Few weeks ago wrote about our latest escapade; selling a home in Galveston and purchasing one on the coast in Mississippi : House Swapping.

What I didn't mention in that blog post is we hadn't closed on the home yet.  We flew in from Mexico last Wednesday, got some rest then jumped in our vehicle and headed to Mississippi Friday morning.  We had a house to close on that afternoon!  Up at 0600 hrs we rolled, pulling in 8 hours later to a home we had never seen in person until then; talk about stress.  I mean ... what if ... we pulled up and said "oh hell no!" .. hey ... could have happened.  But actually the opposite happened.  The home was nicer than we'd imagined. The current homeowner and our realtor were there for our walk through.  This home is seven years old and pristine.  All the appliances are top end.  All the plumbing fixtures are top end. We had zero issues with anything. Every corner I went around, I saw things that were above and beyond what I thought.  The height of the ceilings.  The quality of the flooring.  The quality of the doors and windows.  The list could go on and on.  Lets just say ... we were happy!

Hour later we're downtown in the small community and meeting up with a nice local lawyer whom is handling all the paperwork.  I'm used to Title company's'; he's essentially the same thing.  Thirty minutes later we're all done and Amy, our realtor, comments this was the easiest sale she's made in 18 years.  I told her it'd be when I called her that first day. We knew what we wanted, offered full price, bought all the outdoor furniture from the owner at the price he asked... and ... we were done!  Just needed to make it official.  She brought us over a couple bottles of White and Sparkling Wine ..and .. the deal was sealed.

 

There is zero furniture here in the home.  We brought a blow up King Size Mattress and pillows and a few other things.. but otherwise .. nada.  Over the next few days we'll head to Walmart to grab a TV but ....  they are sold out. WTF?  We go to another Walmart. Same thing.  We're told between Stimulus checks and Tax Refunds, consumers have gone crazy buying them all up. We could have turned up the heat and gone further to locate one, hit different types of stores, but Leanne found one on Amazon and two days later, they'd deliver it to the front door; literally.  Setting up all the utilities was simple but I failed to get Internet Service.  My AT&T phone service gets 125Mb down there, so was able to flip the phone to 'Hot Spot' mode to get Smart-TV services (Netflix, etc). Next up is furniture.  We hit four different stores, buying from two of them but got reminded of the Wuhan Virus crap; delays!  Everywhere we went, if you didn't buy off the floor (most won't let you), its a 4-12 week wait due to the supply chain issues to build the furniture.  If it's all wood .. few weeks.  If it's a upholstered sofa, be patient.  Well, our game plan is to move up some outdoor dining stuff inside for a short period if necessary.  We've already got a few fold up chairs in front of the TV.  By Summer, we'll be good to go.

The home sits on a 3/4 acre lot. It's actually about seven skinny house lots combined, dwarfing pretty much all the neighboring properties with a 7 acre park behind it. My next concern is lawn service.  I'm a lil worried how much this is going to cost but I'm pleasantly surprised when I received two quotes; $60 and $75 .. per cut.  That's grass, weeds, trimming, etc.  I'm digging it!  

 

 

Crazy lot sizes/shapes

We spent five days down there getting the home in order and visiting family and friends.  The reason we chose this specific area is to be closer to my Nephew and his family. Over the last few years, we've fallen in love with the area.  It's not 'touristy' but has all that one could want.  Beach. Restaurants. Bars. Close proximity to New Orleans and other "beachy touristy" destinations. We'll be less than a block from the beach so our golf cart will be headed that way to live in the garage.  My Indian Chief Vintage "Sugar B'" will have a new home there.  And we have a Jeep (we call it Grey Wolf) in the process of getting upgrades that will find a new home there. 

Just figured out the local Combat Vets (CVMA) chapter is 30 minutes down the road, so I see some good times rolling with local Brothers.  The Jeep scene is crazy active here.  The beautiful white sand beaches are calling my name .....

Let the good times roll!

 

 

Sugar B'

 

Grey Wolf