The house is now starting to appear to be in the early stages of disintegration. Packing boxes, tape, plastic wrap and markers are everywhere. Susan is in a state of panic. Fortunately, Jan West, Susan's assistant is a tremendous steadying hand.
We leased our storage facility today, and the home inspection was conducted. Susan and Jan also selected and signed an agreement with a company to conduct the estate sale.
But always in the back of our minds is the question, "When we receive a response to our offer on the boat, what will it look like?" By July 26th, we will be homeless. Actually sooner, because the estate sale is scheduled for July 21st, after which we will have nothing left in the house; no beds, kitchen stuff or food.
We're pooped, and ready to crash now.
Goodnight
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
We Sold Our House!
Yesterday we accepted a full-price offer for our home. Now we are in panic mode, since we must close and vacate by July 27th!
Today, we submitted a formal offer to purchase the boat initially pictured here in our "Ship's Blog". (72' Angel Trawler) Let the negotiations begin!
We are now furiously working on sorting out the items we will keep in long-term storage for the future; those that will go with us to sea; the items that will be given to our children; and are engaging an estate sale manager to sell the rest.
Essentially, we plan to store one of the cars (the M35), plus enough furniture, artwork, and the essentials needed to set up a small home or condo upon our eventual return to shore.
So things are moving fast now.
Keep a good thought for luck with our boat negotiations!
Today, we submitted a formal offer to purchase the boat initially pictured here in our "Ship's Blog". (72' Angel Trawler) Let the negotiations begin!
We are now furiously working on sorting out the items we will keep in long-term storage for the future; those that will go with us to sea; the items that will be given to our children; and are engaging an estate sale manager to sell the rest.
Essentially, we plan to store one of the cars (the M35), plus enough furniture, artwork, and the essentials needed to set up a small home or condo upon our eventual return to shore.
So things are moving fast now.
Keep a good thought for luck with our boat negotiations!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
The Search
As we go about searching for the "perfect" boat for us, we'll try to describe some of the processes along the way.
Since we are located in the desert, away from either coast, we felt we needed to engage an experienced and principled buyer's broker to represent our interests in any negotiation, and to provide informed answers to our thousands of questions along the way. Susan did the research, and found the perfect guy (I'll call him Cap'n Jim). I'll reveal his name once we've completed our business, but suffice it to say that his background, experience, and credentials are extensive: Career Coast Guard officer, with duties ranging from Vessel Commander to Base Commander. Once retired from the Coast Guard, he established his own Marine Surveying company (similar to home inspection), and later his own Marine Brokerage business. We spent several days with him in February, reviewing boats up and down Florida's eastern coast, during which we learned much from him, and he worked to establish our requirements. Most importantly, we feel that we established open communications based on mutual respect and trust.
This past week, we identified a strong candidate boat, and discussed it with Jim, who for the first time, was really enthusiastic about one of our "picks". Today, we engaged a marine surveyor to provide a preliminary report and photos of the boat. If his report is encouraging, Susan and I will fly out to see the boat in person, and decide whether or not to take the next steps.
We've been actively looking for seven months, and have eliminated many, many boats from the running.
My next post will describe some of the selectioncriteria we have established.
Since we are located in the desert, away from either coast, we felt we needed to engage an experienced and principled buyer's broker to represent our interests in any negotiation, and to provide informed answers to our thousands of questions along the way. Susan did the research, and found the perfect guy (I'll call him Cap'n Jim). I'll reveal his name once we've completed our business, but suffice it to say that his background, experience, and credentials are extensive: Career Coast Guard officer, with duties ranging from Vessel Commander to Base Commander. Once retired from the Coast Guard, he established his own Marine Surveying company (similar to home inspection), and later his own Marine Brokerage business. We spent several days with him in February, reviewing boats up and down Florida's eastern coast, during which we learned much from him, and he worked to establish our requirements. Most importantly, we feel that we established open communications based on mutual respect and trust.
This past week, we identified a strong candidate boat, and discussed it with Jim, who for the first time, was really enthusiastic about one of our "picks". Today, we engaged a marine surveyor to provide a preliminary report and photos of the boat. If his report is encouraging, Susan and I will fly out to see the boat in person, and decide whether or not to take the next steps.
We've been actively looking for seven months, and have eliminated many, many boats from the running.
My next post will describe some of the selectioncriteria we have established.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Launch of our ship's blog
This is our first posting of this brand-new blog. We should probably refer to it as the "Ship's Blog" for the next several years.
Our plan is to buy a well-equipped, used long-range cruising yacht and begin living aboard her and cruising as much of the world as we can reach before we are "forced" ashore (by advanced age, poor health, or we run out of new destinations to visit).
Our plan is to buy a well-equipped, used long-range cruising yacht and begin living aboard her and cruising as much of the world as we can reach before we are "forced" ashore (by advanced age, poor health, or we run out of new destinations to visit).
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