Someone once told us that we don’t let the grass grow under our feet. Someone else said that "Time is fleeting and waits for no man (or woman), so why should we, at our age. After hearing about this last change of our plans, you might be inclined to agree.
After buying a lot in Star Valley Ranch RV Resort, two years
ago, we fell in love with BOTH this place and State. It seemed that we made so many
more friends here, than we did in Arizona, so despite the fact that it is a far
different climate and it gets really cold here in winter, we purchased a lot in
the RV Resort. However, they close the resort between around October and May
the following year, to avoid frozen water lines, as these with RVs will freeze.
After just one year, wanting to stay longer than October and possibly returning
before May, we opted to sell our SVR RV Resort lot, and since Bill is experienced
in Real Estate, due to savvy marketing we ended up making $9,100 in the
transaction. Not bad for a 1-year investment, eh?
Then, our next plan was to buy a golf front lot in the Town
of Star Valley Ranch, where we could build a small (1200 sf living area minimum
by subdivision requirements) with a 2-car garage plus an RV garage to keep the
41 ft motorhome safe from the elements. Well, the plans to that end took longer
and longer, and as the time flew by the prices of building materials grew
exponentially as well, so we opted to wait until we returned to SVR before committing to build.
In the interim, given all the problems we had with the
Tiffin (that are supposed to be sooo gooood) Phaeton XSH 40-IH we had gone to the
Tiffin Service Center for more warranty work in Red Bay AL, but again had to
leave before they were able or willing to complete all the work. During that
time we also drove down to Florida in the truck, to vote and for Mary to talk
to her Medicare advisor. But then, after leaving Red Bay with our as yet
unfixed motor home, we went on down to Central
Florida to visit our good friends, Karen Burk, Mike and Magda Miley, Eric and
AJ Haugg, Sandra O’lear and Steve, and others. During that time we also (on
December 19th) did our
volunteer work for Wreaths Across America at the Florida National Cemetery in
Bushnell and a few days later took a wreath to Sebastian Inlet to float a
wreath in honor of Mary’s dad, Howard Thrunson. During this time, until March 1,
we styed at Clermont Golf and RV Resort (twice) and at the Thousand Trails Orlando
Resort (twice) and for a month at Southern Oaks, before heading back to the
Tiffin Service Center for more warranty work in Red Bay AL, but after2 more weeks
there and seeing that they were still not going to finish all the repairs; and
worse, that Bob Tiffin, who everyone says is so reachable, STILL would not meet
with US, Bill started investigating the possibility of selling the motor home
with minimal loss. As it turned out, partly because he used to sell cars too
and knows how to negotiate, aided by the fact that RVs are hard to come by due
to the pandemic, he was able to sell it back to LaMesa corporate (the same
company that we had bought it from 10 months earlier, in Tucson) for the same price
that we had paid for it NEW. One can’t pass up on an opportunity like that, so
we didn’t… We sold it. Now we were truly homeless!!
While in Red Bay and while still unsure what to do about building, with construction costs rising as quickly as they have been and out of just plain curiousity about the prices of lots, Mary had kept looking at the For Sale ads on Realtor.com and Zilliow.com, to see how the value on our lot had escalated (already about $20K higher than what we bought it for)... when suddenly she came up on a new listing which had just come up that day, for a big and beautiful log-styled house, for a not too bad asking price. It is a Golf Course lot on Cedar Creek, over-sized 3 car garage (32’X36’), 173 sq. foot gazebo just waiting for a hot tub. Fully landscaped yard including mature aspen and pine trees and sprinkler system. Charming log accents all around, including banisters, gas stove in the kitchen, a full walk-in pantry, balconies from the master bedroom, looking east for canyon breezes all night. Dining and living room decks wrap around for mountain views and golf course views. A propane fireplace for warming up. The walk-out basement has a family room including built in serving area, 2 bedrooms, bath and laundry room. 2 gorgeous designer log beds (about $7K each) were included with the home, and they offered the almost brand new Troy-Bilt 48” 4-wheeled snowblower for just $800 ($2,400 NEW). It sits on a quiet cul de sac lot. This home is spacious and inviting. So we contacted our Realtor to go check it out (with a contract in hand) and offering $6,000 more than they were asking to beat any competition and get a quick reply. There was one other offer with ours, but they were looking for a short-term rental house and these owners who have taken such good care of the house wanted someone who would live it permanently… so WE GOT IT. See the photos to see what a beautiful and inviting home this is.
Then the issue was that we had to empty out the entire motor
home into a 6’x12’ U-Haul trailer and move it in the middle of winter to SVR
in Wyoming. Roxy was having a bout with her IBD, so we couldn’t stay in a hotel,
in case she had a sudden attack of diarrhea, so we decided to drive straight
through. Had that been the case, bad as it would have been, it actually got
worse. We were going to take the shortest route, heading west on I40. But past Little Rock AR, we
noticed that a major storm headed our way had intensified and it would not have
been a safe trip, so we had to deviate and head back South to go down to I-10,
go across the bottom and then straight North to SVR. All in all the trip was
2,600 miles… non-stop (except to sleep here and there) with Roxy in the back
seat on her hammock. What a trooper she
is!! She never complained.
Well, we did make it. Being truly homeless our full-service realtor Ed Koontz of Continental Realty, offered that we could stay at his house in the basement, as his wife is currently attending to an ill son in Maryland. So we arrived in SVR about 10pm and spent the first night at Ed’s house. Unfortunately they have recently moved to that house from a much bigger house and there was not too much free space left for us and Roxy to be able to move around, so the next day we opted to look for alternate accommodations and were able to find a log cabin motel, called Wolf’s Den (for the owner Cory & Pam Wolfley) which was about 20’ x 30’, for just $1,200/ month, so we took it as we needed a place to put all the freezable items inside, from the back of the truck…. You know, the 3 cases of rum, 6 cases of wine, 12 boxes of wine, 1 case of Dripping Spring vodka and 4 bottles of Pusser’s rum, that we picked up in Texas for our friends Cliff and Venise Mee, since they can only get it in Texas, at a good price.
Closing is on or before April 19, 2021. Because it is a 3-story
house (including the walk-out basement) we will be getting some help to move
with at least 2 strong men with a truck, to help carry the furniture that we
have, primarily to the second floor and some things to the third (master
bedroom) floor. Except for minor repairs that Bill can do on his own, the only
more involved work that it needs (given our own particular taste) is to repaint
the second full bathroom in the basement and the ceiling of the garage, which
by the way has a bigger footprint than the house.
For the time being we will hold onto our other golf-front
building lot (22 Ridgecrest Circle) which is already valued at around $70,000,
having paid $50,000 for it 6 months ago. Property values are going up in leaps
and bounds. The word is that all the conservative Billionaires moving from
California and other purple and blue states, to Jackson (Hole), where even a
1/1 condo cannot be touched for under $1Million, is pushing the Millionaires down
to Star Valley Ranch, where EVERY road
in/out to/from here is a SCENIC BYWAY.
