Chapman Kids Blog

It is Mother’s Day in Mexico (not until Sunday here in the USA) and we just signed off on a piece of property closer to town where we hope to build a house. There is a lot of work ahead, but some of it is the kind we really love and we can get through the rest with such a great end in mind.

We spent the afternoon, yesterday, talking to the builder and designer, God willing, for the new house. I think it is going to be an incredible process that we will enjoy greatly, but it has dawned on me that, at a minimum, it is going to take at least a year. We have to get our current house sold, move our earthly goods into short-term storage, and move to Mexico. We will have to live with Grandma Conchita if the house at least one of the floors of our house in San Pedro is not finished. Then, the foundation will be put down on the property we are in the process of purchasing. After that, we were told it would take an additional eight months to complete the house.

Lorena and I drove over to look at the property and the surrounding neighborhood. It was just amazing because we are finding more and more stuff there all the time. One of the main things is the 4½ block (~0.3 miles) walk from the house to the “Historic Granbury Square.” But we found more shops and restaurants and a University arts training center, and fun neighborhoods, and etc., and etc. The designer called us right after we got home–we told him we would annotate some images of the things we liked and did not like about houses where we previously lived. That was very fun and informative and it is just the beginning of the process.

Lorena and I drove to the office of our builder in Acton today to meet the guy who is designing our house. He is actually retired and only does projects that interest him with builders and customers he feels good about. We felt like we really hit it off with him–he is about my age, retired, and living in the same community. He and his wife walk together in the same area that Lorena and I hope to walk when the house is completed. Best of all is that, in addition to having many, many years of design success and recognition, he knows the specific, historic neighborhood where we plan to build and has ideas about what SHOULD be built there. It is especially gratifying that he, the builder, and Lorena and I want a house design that is more than something that works for us, but that will be of value to the community writ large. We are very excited about working with him and with Brad. I was especially encouraged by the attention they gave to what Lorena wants. It is great that her ideas are totally in sync with what is consonant with the ambiance of the town.

It is never the case that there is no drama when it comes to making large purchases (large being a relative term). The sellers accepted the offer, but changed the document to say “buyer is aware that property is subject to moratorium.” Our real estate agent called the city manager who told him that did not apply to our property because it was already platted, but our builder said that sometimes the higher ups do not know the actual rules, so he wanted us to sign and then take the seven days to figure out whether what the city manager said was actually true. So we signed. The ball is now in our court. If there is a moratorium, we have the right to pay $100 and back out, but if not, we now have the right to buy after we pay the earnest fee tomorrow morning. Really excited about that. In addition to all that, our builder introduced us to a rock star house designer with whom we will meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of him doing our design. Can hardly wait.

I always get nervous buying or selling real estate when an agreement on price has been reached and we have done all the signing our side, but are waiting for the other side to do the final signing. That is where we are now. We are chomping at the bit to get started, but will be moving in and out of storage and selling our current house before the first shovel of dirt gets moved. Best case, we are still 3-4 months away.

Currently we are in a one acre lot with a fairly large house out in the country. We really love the house, but it is a long way from civilization (25 minutes to the closest full-size grocery store. We decided that, as I am very close to real retirement now, we probably should get closer to town on a smaller, easier-to-maintain lot. Our offer to buy just such a place was just accepted. It has the added benefit that we can walk to a ton of different restaurants, parks, the river, the lake, coffee houses, live theater, etc., etc. And the grocery stores are five minutes from the house.

Lorena, very impressively, fixed the non-filling of our toilet by installing a new float apparatus. And she did it all while I was not looking nor aware by watching online videos. I am totally amazed, but not at all surprised. She can do ANYTHING!!!