Nice to be back with you guys.
Good things. Kids are healthy. Wife and I are still together despite some MS moments.
Life is not serene. Stress kills.
Living in Louisiana, the opportunity to deal with hurricanes is an annual event. The past couple of years have been comparatively quiet. The lack of tropical events was a blessing because my wife, a nurse, took a position at the local hospital in charge of home health care and hospice. One of the requirements of this job was to manage the parish evacuation site should a tropical event hit the area. The facility, a high school, would allow people who did not evacuate, elderly, disabled and the prison. This part of he job did not thrill us. But by miracle we did not face that event.
She changed to another job never having to take the challenge of executive of the “shelter of last resort” for the parish of over 200000 people.
Hurricane Isaac approached and we were ready. We have a small house 400 miles away. The house is nice and high in elevation. The house is a place to evacuate to today and possibly retire to later in life. My wife had the concept, chose the property, set up everything and we purchased the house when I was working and earning an income.
Lately she and I have discussed economic reality of low interest rates and low real estate prices make this a great opportunity to get the last, LAST place. She wanted property by water. I do not care. I just want to be with my wife, wherever. Just together.
She found a nice place. We both liked it. The size was larger and it was on a golf course. Growing up, my wife played golf daily, won tournaments and became a “scratch” golfer.
Dating story. About a month after we met, we went to a professional golf tournament in New Orleans. We walked the course and enjoyed a beautiful spring day. I knew she had played golf, but I had not. We started following Jose Maria Olazabel because she “liked his swing.” On the 17th hole, he hit a near perfect drive.
Lisa looked coldly and said, “He is going to win the Masters Tournament next week.” The Masters is among the biggest Tournaments of the year. She said it so clearly; I just knew not to disagree.
Olazabel did win the 1994 Masters as she predicted. Wow.
Back to houses. She found a nice one on a golf course not too big or too small, just right for future empty nesters, as the kids will leave. After multiple offerings, we had a deal. We began to maneuver funding and all things needed to purchase the property.
Then Lisa goes a text from the broker needing an immediate phone call.
The broker’s boss noticed the address. The house had an interesting past.
About three years ago, the ground under the house moved and did some major damage. The incident cored in the middle of the night terrifying the homeowners the slab of the neighbor’s house SPLIT. This house had structural issues and needed $70000 in repairs. The builder is the seller in our transaction.
The builder knew everything and revealed NOTHING.
We wanted out of this transaction immediately. We have purchased houses with histories. One of the homes we purchased had the back third fall off before renovations could begin. We knew this information because the builder told us. We purchased the property, lived there and sold the property a year later.
We put $1000 earnest money down to start the ball rolling when the contract was accepted. When we wanted to cancel the sale, we expected the $1000 earnest check to be returned.
The seller refused claiming we were getting cold feet and all would be fine after inspections. According to the broker, the builder had rebuilt the house himself and was confident all would be fine.
WRONG.
He then expressed concern we would tell others about the true history of the property condition.
WRONG.
We live 400 miles away and have no desire to relive this episode. Lisa is from there and knows people. We lived there as a family for four years and want to return to retire.
Where does MS come in?
My abilities/disabilities guided which house we chose. We could not have selected a home without a downstairs master bedroom and normal to wide hallways and doorways.
I have been blessed not to feel burning exacerbations as these events unfolded.
Stressful events, but the stress was low for me, as I had detached view, little emotional investment and a loving spouse.
I pray we fly or fall together for the rest of our lives.
The blog I have written has rambled, but I needed a bit of soapbox time.
Thank you.
Power to the people.
Power to the cure.