Category: Colorado

Pretty Amazing

gacott 2 Comments

It’s really amazing how we have gotten this place that we are, not just physically but figuratively. The process really started when we decided to go to Harlingen for the month of November (2016) and see what we thought of the area. And the plan even got better when our great Friends Steve and Katie threw cation to the wind and decided to take their own trip and meet us down there as well. Pretty darn cool.

By the time Steve and Katie made it down there, pretty much mid-month I believe, we were knee deep in negations for our property.

Harlingen House

That’s the house there – actually on the right, 100% covered by trees and plants. The part on the left is the extension.

Although we hadn’t planned on it, we went back home, put our house up for sale, got an offer four days later and closed five business days later, for the asking price. Then we moved to Texas lock-stock and barrel.

On one had it seems so long ago, on the other, it hasn’t even been 2 months! Just nuts. So much work being done and so much more to do.

We have met some awesome people down here and I think in a lot of ways it’s really allowed us to make some personal changes as well. I do have to say, we really miss our friends and we hope we are able to stay connected, that’s all part of changing your life, isn’t it?

I was reading a Facebook post from one of our dear friends this morning, about her needing to make some changes. My message to all of you (and to ourselves) is DO IT!! It’s your life, you get just one. Create the life that you want for yourself! Make it amazing and EVERYTHING you want it to be. Only YOU have the power to do that for yourself.

And by the way, there hasn’t been a single minute where I have wished we had not done this. It’s been hard, a lot of work, we miss friends, comfort, real plumbing etc, :-), but man is this living life!!

And to all of our friends – come visit!

The end and beginning of two different life journeys

Vivian Acott Leave a comment

When Garret and I began looking for a warm inviting climate to move to South Texas was at the top of the list, over and over again. And as everyone knows we are here, for over one week now. It was quite the journey getting here but we made it, and so did our things. More about that in my next post.

I want to truly thank my good friend Michelle for helping. Her hard work and positive attitude was, is and will always be truly appreciated. She took time to label boxes and containers and was helpful with keeping the labor guys moving along . Michelle was very instrumental helping us right until the moment we left. I love and miss you Michelle. BYW Michelle you have a lovely singing voice!

Garret’s good buddy Scott helped pack and kept the party alive with his positive attitude.  Our good friend Steve helped and he also loaned us his dolly to move boxes and stuff onto the trailer. Somehow the dolly made it to TX with us, sorry Steve. Katie brought over home made cookies, which everyone loved, “thanks Katie”. We also had an awesome crew of guys loading the trailer, educated in moving by the seat of their pants… and it appears that everything made it here in good shape! And my sweet loving husband cracked the whip the last couple of days to assure we left our beautiful home of 16 years on time Monday Februaryt 13th.

We said our “see you soon” to our family,  friends and neighbors and headed on down the road to write a new book of our life adventures.

Don’t ever move

gacott Leave a comment

I mean it, moving sucks. What a PIA, even forgetting that once we decide something it’s balls to the walls. Vivi had a bunch of stuff boxed up before we left but there was still so much to do, uggg.

We hired a “U pack it” type trailer, they would leave it at the house for 3 business days, and we had to be packs and ready at the end. We asked for it on a Wed, looking to get the weekend as extra days.

We got the trailer (of which we were supposed to take just half of) on Wed as planned and started hiring help off of Craigslist on Thursday.

With the help of the CL folks, and a few really good friends, but Monday we had taken the full trailer – BUT we were ready.

The 94 Camaro that I had gotten from my Dad, would make the trip in behind our truck on a trailer I had bought in the Denver area.

Caution to the wind

gacott Leave a comment

We did it, we decided we will sell the house in Fort Collins, use that money to build the dream in Harlingen, then come back to Colorado and build on some other land we had there, for the summers.

We built a real nice website for selling the house, placed an ad on Craigslist and a few other spots and decided to go at it on our own, without a realtor. If everything went right, we’d make just a bit more than if we had a realtor, it would sell quickly and save the buyer some money as well.

Four days later we had an offer for $5K less than we were asking. Much to my wife’s shock (she had though I’d listed it for $15K too much), I said no. The buyer immediately came up to our price.

The deal was for cash and we closed 5 business days later.

To Go Or Not To Go

gacott Leave a comment

So at this point, we are $15k in at Harlingen, none returnable. $15K down on a dream, that just went to hell in a hand basket. The bank pulled back on the equity deal we were working on – we had other money but it wasn’t available as it was all company money. Hmm. Things got a bit bleak. Do we give up the dream and the $15K, or just find another way to make it happen?

We, as a couple of are lot of things, quick to give up is not one of them. We hadn’t planned on leaving Fort Collins anytime soon – but – we had a nice house, in a great market, with a lot of equity into it. We knew that this was equity that we could get to if needed. But, it would mean leaving FTC and all of our friends. And honesty, the best friends two people could have. BUT, we had a dream and we REALLY believed in it.

Shit Hits The Fan

gacott Leave a comment

We were about two hours away from home after returning from Harlingen (about 16 hours on the road) when we got the call from the bank . . not good.

We had been working a deal in Fort Collins that would allow us to leverage investments there and use that money for the work we wanted to do in Harlingen. Never had it entered our minds that the particular deal in Fort Collins (of all of the balls we were juggling) would not go through. If asked, we each would have said 99% sure that deal would have gone smoothly. After all, we were just tapping into existing equity.

So two hours outside if FTC, the deal went 100% sour. By 100%, I mean the bank went from no issues at all with the deal, to not wanting to do the deal at all. We were stunned. Everything we were planning counted in this money. As I said, we had never even considered it wouldn’t be there.