What About The Boat?!

Nirvana ... last year before we removed everything for the winter.

We've been back from Mexico for about 5 weeks, and we're already feeling like another vacation is overdue.  So what have we been up to since we've been back home?

We finally closed on our larger rental, which was no easy task!  After over 13 years in real estate, I've never dealt with such an indecisive buyer.  We wound up agreeing to things we didn't have to (since the inspection and appraisal period were over), and Ken spent several days doing "freebies".  Needless to say, we're glad that ordeal is over.

Our daughter's wedding is over, she graduated from college, we spent a week in Mexico, and we sold our rental ... life should be easy now, right?  Well, there was another rental waiting for our attention when we came back from Mexico ... a rental that was left in terrible shape after we evicted the tenants in May.  With both of us working during the week, our weekends have been consumed with fixing up our rental.  New carpet was installed, the entire interior was painted, broken ceiling fans & microwave replaced, plumbing repaired, electrical repaired ... you name it and these addicts destroyed it. Then, everything needed a good cleaning.  The 4th of July was just another day at the rental, and neither one of us has had a day off in over 2 weeks.  With another work week ahead, we were glad to leave the rental Sunday evening with it clean and repaired.  Thankfully, another tenant moves in today and he passed all the tests ... good credit, good references and good job!

Real estate has been terrible for me, and that's why I took the low-paying administrative job at the real estate office a while back.  But, I'm showing homes to two different clients this Saturday.  I can't wait for a day off, but I'll put it off another day in hopes that I write an offer (or two) this weekend.

While the sale of our rental sure helps our cruising plans, we're still on a really tight (and stressful) budget.  We didn't sell our rental just to watch the profit being spent on bills, so we haven't been able to loosen up on things yet.  We need to sell our own house first, then perhaps we can relax a little.

So, what about the boat?!  Well, we hope to spend time with Nirvana soon.  She's once again filthy after sitting all winter, and we really don't want another summer to go by without sailing her.  We're hoping that within the next month we can get her clean and put the sails back on.

Last night, we grabbed Chinese take-out for dinner and my fortune said, "Chill while you can, a big project is in your future".  I should have taken a picture, because I swear that's the story of our lives!  I read the fortune and thought, "Are you kidding me"?!  The next big project better be moving out of our house, or at least working on our sailboat.

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!