Playing House

We are considering renting a house in September. It is tiny but the yard is big and right now we really need a place for the kids to get outside and run around.

There is a paved bike/jogging/rollerblading trail behind the yard. The houses on both sides have fenced in back yards and all of the houses on the street seem pretty decent. I noticed today that the house directly across the street has toys in the yard like a preschooler lives there. The owners of the house we are looking at told us that there was an attorney living across the street. I don't know if that is the same house or not.

The neighbors to the left appear to be a nice older retired couple and when we went to view the house they were lounging in their pool. Today I saw her out in her driveway in a moo moo with her cat.

The house to the right of it is beautiful. It would appear that the back yard is across from a nice housing development with a privacy fence all the way around it. I have been told that the Head Coach and some of the players for the Dolphins frequently jog on the bike path. There are also a lot of horseback riders that go past.

This little town is sort is sort of an oddity, as it is as country as you can get in the suburbs of a city. There are tons of horse farms. Every building looks like it is from the old west. This is all intentional, of course. It is the only town around here that still has space between the houses and where a farm with cows doesn't seem weird looking. There is a feed store and plenty of tack shops and then you have the country western bar where you can see live country music and line dance. We went there the night before my second hysterectomy (who knew how horrible that was going to be). Everyone was sporting cowboy hats and cowboy boots, the whole works. I have no clue where these people came from as we aren't really in an area where you would expect such things. We neither drank nor danced that night. We made our way through the crowd and around the outskirts of the dance floor and decided to go home. After all, I was going into surgery first thing in the morning.

The house sits sideways. It doesn't face the street. No clue why except that it is very old. The new owners have completely gutted the place and redone the walls, electrical wiring, installed new appliances, new cabinetry and light fixtures, completely new bathroom, and everything new in the kitchen.

An addition is being built off of the kitchen which will house the laundry room, pantry, and storage shelves. They are also building on a screened in patio next to the addition. They had all of the window glass replaced and brand new screens put in. The central air is new, the water heater is new. There is pretty new tile in the kitchen and bathroom and the rest of the floors are the original hardwood that she is having refinished before we move in. It has a fully renovated and functioning fireplace with a brand new stone hearth and mantle.

I don't know when we would get to use it but I don't put it past monkeyboy to turn the air conditioning down real low and fire it up once or twice a year just for kicks.

Our lease isn't up here until September. They are still working on it and it won't be done until at least August. So that works out pretty well. Our only concern at this point is storage/closet space and the lack of a dining room issues but at this point I would give up a lot to have a screened in porch and a yard. Actually, I think this is the universe's way of testing me to find out just exactly how much I am willing to downsize before it grants me my wish of an RV and a mobile income for my monkey.

The couple who owns it plan to retire in about six years and are looking for a nice family to take care of it until then. They liked us and I am supposed to meet with her to fill out the lease sometime at the end of June and put down a holding deposit. She worked with me on the move in costs and seemed to really want us to consider taking it as they have had several people look at it that they didn't feel would be good or trustworthy tenants.

When we discussed the back patio I commented that I would love to have outdoor dining furniture for it and she told me not to run out and buy any because she had some in storage that she would bring over for us. I am not sure if I should be relieved at finally finding nice people down here or suspicious.

It will be finished in about 6 to 8 weeks according to them. He works for the city as a building inspector and she works in an office of some sort. They have grown children and their youngest is just graduating high school. They bought the house in January and have been working on it on the weekends themselves except for the wiring which they had a professional do. Their son takes care of the lawn and the landscaping and as Mr. Monkey understands it he will continue to do so. We have told them that we want to go ahead with the process to rent it and they seem very happy. No money has changed hands and nothing is in writing yet and I have learned to trust no one, so I won't say we are really moving until moving day is over.

So, that is it. The children are very excited and so I hope they don't get their hearts broken. They wanted to go over and play in the yard today and didn't understand why we just couldn't do that.

Posted by gwendolyn on June 13, 2003 at 08:33 PM