I always have money deposited in my Italian bank accounts. Saves on the taxes.

Also, I have a Sicilian girlfriend. This helps in multiple ways that I will refrain from explaining.

The offer on our place was this. On the place we bought we said subject to inspection. We made them fix some things.

We aren't rich enough to do this and I don't see a girlfriend in my future.

Our buyers have asked if they can move in "a few things" from a moving van they are hauling here, into our place for a week before we close. Not sure I'm on board with this.

I would say no as a default. Circumstances might change my mind, but I doubt it.

(If you have room).

Sure, I'll rent you storage space. $300/day.

no problem if they have given you enough deposit that isnt refundable and you have it in your account not held by the escrow company. as if then it doesnt get released if there is a disagreement.
you can always tell them to close sooner.

just remember as long as you own it your liability is in effect for anything that happens.

but i never interact with the buyers. they have to go through both realtors or attorney and have any request in writing..

Everything is going through the realtors, which is causing some confusion. He said they wanted to leave their stuff here sunday, which we interpreted as today, a week before closing. But on the phone this morning he said next Sunday, the day before closing. We'll be out by then, which makes no sense because they were talking like they assumed we would have stuff here.

Both closings are good to go. Just wired my balance to the escrow account. Movers scheduled. Hotel booked. Everything falling into place.

Shopping for insurance....

Nobody will insure our house because of the age of the roof. It is a tile roof in great condition, but it doesn't matter. I'm somewhat reluctant to self insure but I'm also reluctant to replace a perfectly good roof just to get insurance.

Huh. Wouldn't have guessed that. I would've figured tile roofs are pretty much forever, except for the occasional hailstorm/hurricane/other exceptional event.

Good luck. Hope you can find something reasonable, or have no incidents.

It's really bad here in Florida. The agent I talked to said most of the companies won't even insure a house as old as the one I'm buying.

Talked to a roofer. Seems that materials are hard to come by. Tile and metal are taking a loooonnnnggg time to get in. Asphalt shingles are available but I don't want to go that route.

Gonna miss these.

Wow, that is nice. New dock east-facing?

I believe it faces southwest but we won't have an unobstructed view of anything.

I'm not really sure what the track of the sun will be. We looked at the house on a very overcast day.

Buyers have a final walkthrough today. House is a disaster.

In a few hours I'll be taking in our cable equipment. No internet for 3 days

i just self insure. even with a good claim they try not to pay out a big amount and will cancel you anyway when you make a claim.

after you spend 30,000 on a roof the say its okay next year they drop you anyway. or tell you yuou need some other expensive repair.

if you have a mortgage that requires it then you are stuck. or if you cant afford to replace major damage.

i took 50 years of mostly self insurance and put it in the stock market and land purchase. did better.

Yeah, Ray, thats what we decided. We'll just bank what we would be putting in for premiums and invest, like you said.

In the no good deed goes unpunished file.... Ive spent a ton of time trying to match paint and repaint any places on the walls that need it. Its been several trips because it didn't always match perfectly. I hate painting which made it even worse. Anyway, Ithe buyers had a final walk-through yesterday and they told me they were going to repaint the entire place. Sigh.

House update.

Moving day sucked. The movers were 2 1/2 hours late. Between the time I reserved a time and moving day the company decided to squeeze in another move before ours. The movers were already tired and annoyed when they got there. Plus, there were supposed to be 3 but only 2 showed up.

The head guy was somewhat surly the whole time. He bitched about his partner, who was working twice as hard as he was.

Not everything fit in the truck. I can't blame them for this, though, they had it packed tight. However, the waited to put my dad's artwork in last and they ended up tossing it around to try to get things to fit. I told them repeatedly to take it easy on the art but they kept mishandling it. I haven't unpacked it yet to see if there was any damage.

Then, to top that off the buyer's real estate agent showed up in the middle of the move to tell us that they buyers wanted to do one more walkthrough when it was "clean" even though they had just walked through it two days ago. They didn't tell my agent anything about this. Pissed us off for sure.

The closings went really smooth. Not much to sign when everything is a cash transaction.

The move in was somewhat better but the same two guys showed up and the main guy still had an attitude. They got it done, though.

We are still unpacking.....................

The biggest glitch is the boat lift isn't working. Plus, it seems like it might not be strong enough for our boat. Someone is coming to look at it today. Fortunately, the guy that bought our old lift said we can keep it there for a month.

We LOVE the house. The layout is perfect.

However, it is dated and there are a TON of things we want to do to get it where we want it. We've already gone on a buying binge. Our credit card is aflame.

I will be remodeling our bathroom asap. It is huge but not set up well at all. I can do everything myself but I suck at tile. Fortunately, my wife's stepfather is really good at tile work so we'll enlist him. I guess I can continue on the building boondoggle theme again!

That's how I found your blog, back in the Austin boondoggle days! Glad you got over (except the boat). Good luck in the new place!

My first project of boondoggle 2 is to put a door in the toilet room. I need to be better with before pics, but the opening was finished so I had to take off the sheetrock on the inner frame. Easy peasy.

Interior framed doors come with trim already attached now. Sweet. Plus each side of the frame fits together. We'll see how well.

Gotta get some stuff to get this finished. Trim nailer, shims, screws, square, mitre saw. Feels like I'm starting all over.

Where does the other door go to?

There is no other door.

The room the toilet is in is basically a nook. When you are sitting on the pot you are looking at the tub. Not really ideal for two people. Plus, the door to the bathroom is a pocket door so getting up in the middle of the night to pee is pretty noisy if you slide the pocket door. This will be much quieter in every way.

Speaking of pocket doors, almost every interior door in the house is a pocket door. Not a bad thing but not something I'm used to.

We set the door in yesterday. Not too hard but for some reason I struggle with doors. I always have. But, we got it in. Need to cut some trim with my brand new mitre saw and slap some paint on. My wife and I agreed that she will do any painting since I suck at it.