We made the decision to hold tight and reset. Now we had to lay out some real plans and see what that meant for us.
We decided on a minimum two year time frame before looking for the next boat. This would give me time to find a job, give us time to get the work Lola Jo needs done and pay for it, give us time to get more experience sailing, and give us time to save up to hopefully pay most if not all cash for the next boat.
Next we had to decide where to land for that two year span. We have friends in Texas, and our boat is in Texas, but most of the catamarans we had looked at were in Florida.... did it make sense to try to move now? Being in Florida would allow us to get out and look at other boats more easily, but it also meant figuring out what to do with the Lola Jo. Would we sail her to Florida? Could she make that trip? Would we pay someone to move her to Florida? Or would we try to sell her before we left, which would mean not getting any sailing experience for the next couple years? We also had a storage unit here in Texas that would need to be packed up and a car to move - so if we took the boat with us, at least two of us would need to fly back to drive the car and the u-haul with the rest of our stuff....
We decided selling the Lola Jo was out - we definitely did not want to go two or more years without sailing (or being at someone else's mercy for sailing time). With that decision, we decided to hunker down in Texas for now. The logistics of moving to Florida were pretty high, the cost would be higher for both the boat and the place to live, and we just weren't ready to tackle that now. Besides, we had some great friends here and we weren't quite ready to leave yet ;-)
That left the last steps - finding a place to live in Texas so we could get off the boat, and finding work to start building our catamaran kitty!
We started looking at rentals - we decided on a house because we were going to be here long enough we wanted the extra space and privacy. When looking at the first couple, we realized that it might make sense to just BUY a house. After all, minimum two years, plus we could then rent it out once we moved onto a catamaran! So, we switched gears, we started looking for houses to buy. We looked at a few that were... questionable... (we were still trying to stay in a reasonable rental budget), and finally found the perfect one. It was a brand new build, but in an older section of town. It had been an empty lot, and a builder had bought it, put a house on it, and was now selling it. I had never lived in a new house before! It was mid-size - about 1400 square feet, with a decent backyard and a two car garage. It was nothing like our house in New Mexico, but we all thought we could be happy and comfortable here for the next couple years.
We put an offer on the house the first week of February, started the process for a mortgage, and got our ducks in a row. The offer was accepted, with a tentative close date of March 6, but we were trying to close by the end of the month (the lender thought it would be possible) - definitely needed to stay on top of things.
I FINALLY got an interview February 22nd!!! It was for a combo delphi/c# position, but it paid well, so I was very interested. (For those of you currently in the tech market, I found it through a recruiter - the market is tough right now!)
The interview went well, and the next day they offered me the job! Yay!!!! I was going to start March 11. That would give us about 10 days between closing on the house and me starting my job - assuming we could close by the end of the month.
Of course, since we sold EVERYTHING when we moved from New Mexico... that meant the first things we had to do were find beds and desks - everything else could wait, but we would need that to move in and start working. Also, this house did not have a refrigerator, so that was kind of a necessity.
Of course, we still hadn't confirmed we were closing by the end of the month... I reached out to the lender and determined we were just waiting on the appraisal - so we were crossing our fingers and hoping it would come through - those extra days would REALLY help us to get settled before I started working.
The appraisal came in just in time, but we had failed to notify the title company we were trying for an earlier closing! They rushed and pulled it together for us and we were able to close on February 28!!! That was a crazy week, and I am really glad I wasn't working or I don't think it would have come together, but I am super thankful to everyone who made it happen!
All is well that ends well! It was an exciting time, we got beds, and a fridge, and desks all delivered and set up the first week and I was ready to start my new job bright and early on March 11.
That's all for now friends, stay derpy :-)
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