2017 Trip – Blog #5 – More Houses!

                

Note:  I heard some folks were trying to make comments on the posts but were having trouble, so I went in and changed the settings. I think I fixed the problem so now you should be able to make comments if you wish.

Wednesday, May 31th, 2017…..  We slept in this morning and had breakfast in. We cleaned up the coach a bit and then drove north to meet with Aimee at the Oak Creek property in Lebanon.  The house was really nice!  Just what we were looking for. We spent extra time there really looking hard as this is a contender! They had an HOA and CC&Rs back in 2002 when the tract property was developed and the 5-6 homes were built. Aimee spoke with a couple of the neighbors and found out that the regs are no longer enforced.  There is no longer an association or board members or fees.  So that’s in our favor. We talked about it all the way home so we are definitely interested.  Later, Mary called and we firmed up our appointment for tomorrow for the Leaburg home. She also gave us a new listing in Harrisburg that we will drive by tomorrow morning and let her know our interest.    

Thursday, June 1st, 2017…..   We showered and prepped for the day and then drove out to Harrisburg to have breakfast at Molly’s Diner.  We drove by the newest listing (no interest) and headed to meet with Mary and drive out to Leaburg.  Now this home is nice!  Really cared for.  No RV garage but hookups for RV parking. The owner is an older gentleman who will soon be moving in with his daughter. They had tried selling before but had the house priced too high. Mary will be giving feedback and then will be getting a list price shortly but we think it will still be too high considering all factors.

Ok, she came back with a quesstimate price so we now have two contenders! 

After the Leaburg tour we headed home and wrote down the pros and cons of both places.  

Food for thought:  Leaburg is more remote and that’s a big factor.  We drove back to Thurston, and ‘civilization’, which is 15.1 miles.  We still have to check out the local medical facilities but at least we have the area figured out.  The Lebanon property is country living but is 1.2 miles from town and about 4 miles from local medical.  The Leaburg house is larger and has larger rooms and a huge kitchen but that will need work.  It has rv parking but I do not like it.  The driveway flares out in the backyard so there is room but the whole thing is on a side slope, more than is comfortable for rv’s.  There are two hookup locations, one with 50amp, and one with 30amp, and sewer cleanouts.  The Lebanon place has smaller rooms and a nice looking kitchen but Lydia says it needs work as well. There is good flat rv parking but no hookups that I could see. But the garage/workshop has plenty of power and there is a sewer cleanout. Neither homes have an rv garage but both have room to build them. There are more things to consider:  Leaburg has 120 trees kind of in a circle around the back of the property.  Lots of privacy and nice but a lot of maintenance.  It is also a more manicured lawn and flowerbeds.  Also more maintenance. Lebanon has nice curb appeal but has been set up as a minimalistic landscape – only a few trees and flowerbeds but they will need some tlc. Both are large properties so the upkeep is mixed. There are more things to consider when looking at these two properties so we have some thinking to do.      

We left again and drove to Albany and to meet with Aimee.  Afterward, we found Los Dos Amigos and had a nice meal and drove home, still talking about everything we have seen this past week.

 

Friday, June 2nd, 2017….. Lydia had a tough night and was up with acid reflux so today she will likely sleep while I drive.  We have to go to the bank and she wants to go find a place to get her hair cut.  We found out that Bank of America is only in Eugene and Corvallis so we may have to rethink our banking depending on where we end up. We needed to go back to see Aimee in Albany so we headed to Corvallis after that.  Next stop was the AAA office in Eugene and after that I dropped her off at Supercuts while I went back to the rig to pick up some insurance papers we needed which I dropped off.  Meanwhile Lydia was done and had walked over to Walmart where I met up with her and we shopped and then went back and made dinner and settled in for the night.