75 degrees this morning. Walked 55;11 minutes. (Rain started right as I ended my walk)
The three most important values of real estate (location, location, location) and the cliche “Act in Haste, repent at leisure” were reinforced yesterday as we looked for a possible YMCA.
We actually had selected a house in another part of town, but the Lease (the house was owned by a national company who bought out a bunch of houses to rent out and hopefully sell at a profit in the future) was grossly unacceptable.
Although we liked the house, the Lease was unacceptable, it proposed a 10 increase in rent after one year, and required that we would be responsible for the fence (which was in extreme disrepair) and other items as well as responsible for any repair under $100. We may look like fools, but we aren’t an dee told them “no thanks”, even though we loved the house and the location.
The location included an “off the road” walking/bicycle path that we could take for exercise, but also connected to commercial and community activities as a post office, major grocery store and a lot of service provides such as a pharmacy, Doctors and Dentists offices etc.
Yesterday, we realized it was also within walking distance (less than one mile, and directly connected with an off road bike/walking trail) of a major, brand new YMCA.
It also is located in the City I that believes a City is supposed to upgrade the living experience of the residents and the city emphasizes bike and walking trails, landscaping of major streets etc. Just a lot better environment.
The trade off for all of this is that traffic is horrible if you want to get any place other than the places you can walk to.
At our current house, we are within a mile of a major mall, and, like in Lakeland, are within two miles of any restaurant you would like to eat at and a Wal Mart and Sams etc. (Here they don’t have a Firebirds or a Steak n Shake, but they do have a Braum’s!) There are also no walking paths/bike trails and sidewalks are there, but not always really usable.
Also, we have convenient access to an interstate and can get anywhere in the area quickly. At the other location, it probably would take 15 minutes more (much more when traffic is bad) to get anywhere.
Since we had only a few days to find a house, we made the best decision we could, and it may well be this house was the best decision. (The other specific house was not a factor, since I would never sign such a lease.)
Anyway, the decision was made and there are a lot we enjoy about this house (the easy access etc.) and since we are leasing it isn’t like we can’t review our decision and made another decision in a year.
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We continue to deal with downsizing and deciding what to do with items. We took five more boxes of books to the Library last week and I continue to see books I can “weed” and hopefully find a home for them. A lot of other items that we probably will get rid of when I mentally accept the idea that I don’t need them or can easily replace them if I need them.
Watching a boxing match I copied last night as I read this, I noted that frequently the “knock out” punch is difficult to see. Kind of like life.
That’s it for now, Sunday, August 10, 2014
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