Back to the Counterculture of the 60s

I ran across my 30-year-old college economics book in the basement yesterday, paging through to see if after 30 years I might actually understand it.

Nope.

So I took the book outside and pressed the last of the summer flowers between its pages.

Pacific yurts manufactures a variety of styles, perfect for counter culture adventures.

Maybe a traditional home is not the answer. Maybe I should go rogue, escape the boundaries of my old attitudes and embrace a new cultural norm…or the old norm of the 60s when we challenged everything to find a more humanistic society. So, I took the digital approach to research more humanistic housing: Google.

I found YURTS. Yeah, I could live in a yurt. I found these creative, beautiful and inexpensive, very sturdy tents. They are based on Mongolian yurts, or gers, that nomads have lived in for centuries. Look how beautiful they are. Romantic, comfy, stylish, modern, and I think, sustainable. They use few resources, don’t need a 30-year-mortgage, or a herd of contractors. Constructed in one day, I could get back-to-the-earth, be a minimalist, take an environmentalist approach. I could even become a vegetarian.

Hmmmmmmmm.

Naaah!
Cross that idea off the list.

How Do I Combat this Gripping Fear of Retiring?

Is this the time to delve into the real estate market and buy property and build a house? 

• The Dow is down 15% from August 1, and the other exchanges reflect similar drops. 
• Housing prices actually have been inching up in Frederick, but the market is so slow. 
• There will be no federal employees raises for 3 years, and this affects all my savings plans. 
• The European economy is posing threats to all nations, and the U.S. markets react to every little negative newscast  or comment by Bernanke. 

How far is this shoe going to drop?  How vulnerable will I be?  Who am I to ignore the experts?  What am I doing?  I found the property to build on. The seller signed the contract and settlement is in 2 weeks. I’m going ahead with the land purchase, because that’s where I want to end up. But, WHEN DO I SELL MY HOUSE?  WHEN DO I BUILD?

I need a glass of wine right now.

Where to retire. A decision long pondered.

I thought about staying in Frederick, Md.  But taxes on my house are over five thousand bucks a year, and then  I pay Maryland State taxes, income taxes…..  I think I am one of those who pays more taxes than Warren Buffet.

Pennsylvania is close to my dear sister, but it’s so cold in the winter.

West Virginia, the state of my birth, is also too cold and lonesome as I know no one there.

Hawaii?  Oh yeah, but I’m not that brave, too expensive, to far from the grandkids.

Italy?  I  will just have to visit every year, as I have done many times in the past.

The final decision was made on these factors:

• I have been going down there for 25 years and I love it.
• I know lots of people down there.
• It is within my price range.
• I can continue to work – a mix of  telework and commuting to D.C.
• It’s within my price range, at least the land is.
• There is plenty of water, I can have a boat, the kids can come for crabbing, boating, fun.
• It’s only 2.5 hours from my sons and their families.
• Taxes are affordable.

Ok, where is it?  The Northern Neck of Virginia, where the Chesapeake Bay tidewaters and rivers and creeks influence a slower pace.  The “Neck” is actually a peninsula on the western short of the Potomac River.  Lovely.

Since dear friends live their, I know the region.  I have been down thee times in the last several months to stomp around lots.  And I have now put a contract on some land, and it may jinx it if I describe it.

Yes I am superstitious.  Wait until I have news and I will tell you all.

In a few days….

Carolina

A Dream Home Imagined

In life, we  need to have tunnel vision.  To see the end result and focus on the journey. It’s been the way I have lived my life and now I am going to take on a dream that at first appearances, may seem impossible. It might be.

Perhaps I am dreaming beyond my financial capabilities.  Perhaps I am not equiped to manage a project of building a new home, from a distance, while working long hours, and without a partner to assist.  In other words, at 63 years of age, I am going to take on a building project that will be my magnum opus. Hopefully not my magnum oops!

These are the steps, as I see them.

1. Decide where I will build this house. Where will I retire?
2. Find property I can afford.
3. Purchase property.
4. Research homes. What kind of home do I want:  cabin, Cape Cod, rancher, modular, stick built, adobe, yurt, teepee, cardboard box.
5. How much can I afford to pay?
6. Where do I start?  Survey property again, plan septic, build foundations?
7. Get building permits, local authority…hmm.
8. Plan building timetable.
9. Determine when to sell my house: prep house, decide price, pray market recovers.
10. Build a cadre of advisors.

Now that is the reason for this blog.  I really don’t know what I am doing and I am going to call on the resources of my friends, family and the world to tell me what they would do.

I will listen to all advice.  So, come back again often  and help me out on my journey.

This will be an adventure.

Carolyn