Well, now letterboxing has gotten me into trouble... not really, but I was almost perfectly content with our home before we went out the other day to scout out a new park. (I said I was doing it for the kids, but I was secretly looking for hiding places!). Backing up to this new park was a home for sale with lots of picture windows overlooking the area. We knew it would be way out of our price range (and it was), but then we got curious and followed another For Sale sign. It led us to a beautiful 6 acre lot in the woods, adjacent to a small lake and a creek, with pasture land, etc. In other words, it was the house we've been saving up for to buy when we retire (not for another 30 years), and here it is only 15 minutes from our current home and at a price that we can afford! So now, all of a sudden, we're looking at selling the house we just built 20 months ago in a subdivision FULL of kids. But we think that if we pass this up, we'll always regret it! The whole reason I took up LB was to get us out into the woods more, and now we're going to live in them!

So anyway, after we get through all this, I'm sure there will be a number of new letterboxes in that [currently undisclosed] park!

How exciting! Good for you!

LW PhD

buy the second house and rent is out. that way you will have the house you just built with all the children around in the neighborhood but can keep the other house until you are ready. I have my house I'm going to retire in...bought it 2 yrs ago. my husband and i are a good 15 yrs from retirement but the house is there. We just rented it out to help pay for it. Works out great.
good luck.
-CCL

beautiful 6 acre lot in the woods, adjacent to a small lake and a creek, with pasture land, etc.

Whoa! If I found a 6-acre lot like that I'd make my OWN letterboxing park! Provided, of course, that the house is tucked off to one side or a corner and not smack dab in the middle of it...

actually that sounds great congrats

I just wondered what the downsides were if any to renting something in which you plan on living in the future?
six stars

If you carefully screen your renters and outline very carefully in the contract what they will be responsible for it should be ok...my parents rented out a cottage they planned on retiring to for about 7 years. They were lucky they found a family that loved the place and wanted to be there forever...I think they even ended up selling it to them, because they changed their minds on where to retire to.

Good luck with it.

Hey, maybe if I plant a letterbox at my old house it will sell faster?

This is the voice of experience--have the rental professionally managed.
Chickadee

Quote

This is the voice of experience--have the rental professionally managed.

and as a renter I would say get a GOOD one! I live in a "professionally managed" place which is about the single lamest rental situation I've ever been in. (I've never owned and have quite a bit of some rental experience!)

The owner "only pays them to rent" Read: collect the checks with NO maintenance! It takes DAYS to even get a call back for issues that come up..like flooding, not to mention "less serious" issues.

ANY maintenane issue that goes unacknowledged/unrepaired that long leaves me a very unhappy renter. I can ONLY imagine why a property owner would NOT care for his/her/their property and be willing to pay for it....

preboxed

My dad has been into rentals for as long as I can remember. He buys and sells property all the time. He's had some really bad stories, but some really great ones too. He's dealt with tenants who tear up and trash the place, people who are dirty, people who won't pay their rent on time, won't pay at all, people who pack up and leave without telling him, and the list continues. He has been sorta forced to take people to court over different issues. He has had to evict a time or two. Of course, he's had wonderful renters who always did everything right, too. He's always running around doing maintenence work for his tenents; keeps him pretty busy. (He's a carpenter, a jack-of-all-trades, so his skills save him from having to pay others to fix things at his rentals.) Anyway, from what I've heard over the years with him, I'd say if you have a place you love and are considering renting out, please just be sure it's someone who loves the place and who you don't think will do you wrong. Check their rental history and references! Also though, of course, there's the fact that you'd have to eventually throw them out if they loved it so much they wanted to stay til around the time you are ready to move in yourself. Just my two cents. Good luck!

Becky :)

I appreciate all the info about renting (I hadn't even thought of that), but no way! It's beautiful and I want to live there now! The prinicipal of our current school said the kids should do just fine at the new one and friends I know that live on acreage say their kids love it, and we'll only be 15 minutes from where we are now, so we can still invite the old friends over, so I think we're just going to do it!

And I had thought of planting a letterbox on my property... would people call ahead if I asked them to?

yes, especially if you put it in the clue like this...

"here is how to get to our house. call and tell me when you're coming and I'll email you the rest of the clue."

that way they can't come hunting it without your expecting them.

better yet, put your email in the clue, not your phone number...they can still get hold of you, BUT they can't interrupt your dinner etc...moree private that way, do you want the entire world to know your phone number? then don't post it online.

night writer