Is the House Search Over?

We looked at four places yesterday.

Tamara wants to make an offer on the third best of the four.

I woke up this morning thinking maybe she was kidding, but no.

I guess the third best isn't terrible, but I am disappointed that she rejected the option that's perfect in every way (including a lower listing price and lower county taxes) except for her commute being 10-15 minutes longer.

The good news on the selected home:

Off the beaten path but convenient to Gainesville and Archer, with good road for all except the last quarter mile or so.

Very large lot, with the home placed such that we could actually build a "real" house on the front area if we wanted to.

Good internal condition, good space layout, nice rear deck (that I will probably enlarge), decent storage shed, the bones of a chicken coop (looks like it was a fairly sizeable dog kennel), good roof, fairly new (and covered) AC unit, decent appliances included, good fence.

Shielded from the "road" (more like a game trail, but short) by foliage, no old trees situated such that a hurricane might bring them down on the house (which happened to us once, and probably happened at this house in the same 2017 time frame, as the roof looks like it dates from about that period and there's ceiling repair barely visible in the kitchen.

Once you hit the paved road, it reminds me of the nicer parts of West Virginia if it had much elevation change and if the trees changed color in the fall around here. There's a "tunnel of trees" effect for most of the mile or so before you hit highway.

The storage unit has a couple of old man-made beehive units in it; if those are abandoned by the owners, I may take up beekeeping again. This being mostly a farm area, they'd have plenty of pollination work to do.

It's also 10-15 minutes from where we live now, so moving would be easier than the 40-mile-away perfect in every way place.

My response to every house we look at is "I could live here." As long as I have a roof that doesn't leak and Internet access, I'm good to go.

If the offer is accepted, etc., my own first modification to the property will likely be purchasing an additional shed, or perhaps a carport frame/cover, to be used as a motorcycle and lawn mower garage.

Wordle 1568 Hint

Hint: Olympic sport played with four-person teams and batons.

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First Letter: R

A Leisurely Ride 'Round the Countryside

Here's the Lifan KP Mini 150 at not quite 1,000 miles, parked in front of a house I wanted to ride by today and that I hope Tamara will find satisfactory to buy after we are formally shown it by the realtor.

It's a little further from Gainesville than I had initially assumed Tamara would be comfortable with, but she's had us looking at places basically that far away recently, and while the commute to her work would be a little longer than from some other places we've checked out, it wouldn't necessarily take longer.

The house is on a "dirt" (but not soft "sugar" sand) road, only 1/4 mile from a county road which leads directly to a highway that leads directly to her work. Good road all the way, reasonably high speed limits most of the way.  Maybe five miles from a one-stoplight town with the bare basics (gas stations, convenience stores, the ubiquitous Dollar General / Dollar Tree, a handful of restaurants, etc.); ten miles or so to a two-stoplight town with a Winn-Dixie, more restaurants, etc.; and half an hour or so to Gainesville.

It also happens to be about 1/4 mile from one of my favorite outdoor concert venues, and very close to two kayak-friendly rivers.

If the listing is accurate, it ticks all the necessary boxes, including recent roof, recent AC unit, and recent well.

After having a look from outside, I went and visited reader GregL, who lives a few miles away, for a little while, got a tour of the general area (which I have been through a few times but am not greatly familiar with), and passed the 1,000-mile mark on the ride home.

I put about 100 miles on the bike all told -- from my house to look at another house, then partially back home before a turn and substantial ride to look at the house above, a little bit of lost wandering finding GregL's place, then home.

So far, the bike's been a champ. I haven't installed the better front sprocket yet, but it already tops out above 60 miles per hour and cruises pretty comfortably at 50-55. Other than the very early "ah, my rear sprocket bolts are trying to come out, better go through and put thread locker on everything," it's given me zero trouble. Handles well in town, gets me where I'm going at a reasonable speed in the country. Today's gas mileage, about 75 per gallon. Over its first thousand miles, it's averaged about 78 and has never fallen below 70.