Asking questions and making connections

Spring break offered a chance to visit some government offices in our new community and ask questions. A stop at the city office finds that building permits for remodeling and mechanical work are very cheap. $10 - $25 at most. It could have easily been ten times that much. And as it turned out, the secretary there is originally from Joy's hometown. Joy knew her dad and went to school with her aunt.

We next stopped at the public works office to ask about a sidewalk alongside the house that is in a state of great disrepair. A city worker we encountered in the parking lot said - "Let's go look!" So off we went. There are sections of this sidewalk that are completely impassable because of a huge sycamore tree that has pushed up sections as high as a foot above grade. I would like to take out the entire length of sidewalk along that side of the house. The city worker who came to see what I was talking about is going to try to find out for me if that is possible. He said it is very unlikely that the city would want to repair the sidewalk.

And then while Joy visited some of the shops on the square I visited a local bank - a community bank based in another east Texas town not far away - with about 12 branches all around northeast Texas. I think we will want to, in the next few years, transfer our banking accounts here. And again, the woman I talked to had done what we are planning. She and her husband moved here from Mesquite and her daughter had graduated from West Mesquite high school where I teach.

And then a final stop at the appraisal district office in the county seat of Greenville. We were able to get some more information about this house. I will need to return in May to see if I can get the appraised value down. Their current documents are showing an outbuilding that no longer exists - plus it appears it also is showing an older two car garage that has probably been torn down and replaced, not with a garage, but with a storage shed. Since our purchase price is much lower than the current appraised value I hope to be able to save some money here - although it might be only temporary. Eventually our remodeling and improvements will raise the appraised value back up.

Retirement Home

This past fall Joy and I purchased a 1920's era bungalow in a small east Texas town about an hour from Mesquite. It is in a town that we are very familiar with, one of a short list of possible retirement communities we were looking at. And that is the plan! To fix this house up over the next several years and then retire there.

And it is in need of a lot of remodeling! But it does have a lot of features which we think will eventually make it a showplace. Original wooden floors, high ceilings, a great corner lot within walking distance of downtown and other community features. As you can see from these pictures there are several large trees on the lot, sycamores and elms. There is a back yard pool. A large front porch with a swing.

It is going to require that we tear it back to the original walls and start from scratch. As you can see from the one picture the walls underneath the paneling is wide solid wood planks, probably pine. We don't know what kind of wood the woodwork is made of yet. Right now everything is covered in paint. And the kitchen! Well everything is going to go! We are already making plans on changing the floor plan, opening up walls, etc. This is not a single year's project, but several. We do have a large advantage in that we will be able to park our RV in the lot and be able to hook up to water, electricity and sewer while we are remodeling.

Anyway, there you have it. This blog is going to be a record of our efforts and accomplishments with before and after pictures, etc. We hope you enjoy it. Bye for now.