Monday, January 29, 2007

I Wanna Go Back to the Southland, That "Y'all" and "Shut My Mouth" Land

Ok. So we decide that we want to consider moving to a warmer climate. So we do the rational thing. We had pretty much decided on the Southeast, so we planned a trip. Two weeks in December in the RV. A quick stop in Sun City Hilton Head in South Carolina. A week in central Florida (with a stop at Disney, of course) to check out some Active Adult Communities (the "in" term for over 55). Seven communities in all. That's a lot of work for 2 weeks.

Now here's where thinking ahead comes in. We had a time-share week that we had to use or lose before July. Since we KNOW we are not buying anything this trip let's book a week in Orlando in January. We can leave the car there (instead of towing it back behind the RV). Then we can FLY down to Orlando in January, enjoy our week, and take another look at the communities in which we are still interested. Pretty smart, huh?

The best laid plans...

During our stop at Sun City on the way south we saw a model that we really liked. Oh, by the way... They had an almost finished house that a buyer had backed out of. All the options. Killer lot (lagoon AND woods). Great price. OK. That's nice. But we're not buying now. See ya later.

But every home we saw in Florida we kept comparing to that house. So on the way back north we decided to take another look. Gee. The inventory home was still available. Did I mention the killer lot? One thing more I should mention: to get the great price we had to close by the end of the year! Did I mention the killer lot?

So the rest is history. We now own 2 homes. Wanna buy one? But we love the Sun City house even more than the first time we saw it and really like the community (which, of course, is more important anyway). Did I mention the killer lot? Of course now we still had to fly to Orlando to get our car and then drive to Sun City (about 5 hours on I-4 and I-95). Then we flew back from Savannah, leaving the car down there.

I would guess that during the next 6-12 months we are going to become much more intimately familar with I-95 than I ever cared to be. I guess Alaska is out of the question this year.

As always, we'll keep you up to date.