Next stop: trying my hand on the home health circuit in Eastern VA!
As we made our tour of good ol' VA over the past week, we stopped for a day to look for housing. The first stop was an older home. Very quaint (ie small) with new paint and a new kitchen. It was just off the main road. This means it was 4 miles from town, which consists of a real estate office, a craft store, 3 cafes which serve as bars in the evening, a thai restaurant, and several store fronts that were for sale. We were invited to church and Sunday school in under 10 minutes.
We had time to kill before our second appointment, so we drove by to see if it was legit. There were 4 homes, each consisting of two town homes, a couple of them with a small apartment (maybe the size of a garage?) on either side. They looked nice from the outside and were about 1 mile from The Food Lion. When we got a tour later in the afternoon, we were unfortunately surprised to see that the inside does not match the outside. The townhome was very spacious, however extremely outdated and greasy. This one was quickly scratched off the list of possible choices.
Our third option canceled as they decided to rent to someone for a year, which is understandable. However, this left us with only two options.
The final appointment wasn't scheduled until the evening, so we drove around looking at other places to snoop.
We drove by the one apartment complex in town that offered a 6 month lease. It was similar on the outside to the townhome, however it was hard to tell how many apartments were in the large box like buildings. The grounds and homes were very run down and two of them were even boarded up. The cars in the parkling lot were all old and run down as well. We nixed this off our list.
The Best Man had spoken to an older gentleman on the phone about his "fishing cottage." We didn't have any pictures to go by, so the gentleman spoke with The BM on the phone for a good 17 minutes (to be exact). His "cottage" is 3 inches off the ground on cinder blocks. There was a flood back in the 80's. He didn't think it would flood anytime soon, but you know, wanted to mention it, "just in case." There was a community dock near by and you could see the water on both sides. The gentleman repeated several times that it was an older place and needed some upgrades, which lead us to nix this without even making an appointment to see it. However, we did drive by to snap a picture or two. . .
We drove down a sand road and passed other cottages. Most of them had out houses out back and even in one case a port-o-potty.
After seeing the home itself, we were pleased to see our intuition hadn't steered us wrong.
Now, up to this point our only option is the small home just outside of town. We had one other home to see, however it was more expensive and would be a longer commute for me. We drove by to get an idea of the location, length of commute and scope out the exterior prior to meeting with the home owner later in the day.
This home is located on 3 acres on the water. Complete with pool, hot tub, private dock, crab pots, and a guest house. We were interested in renting out the guest house. Our jaws dropped the minute we pulled into the drive. A majestic weeping willow greeted us as we entered, veiling part of the house. Behind the house green lawn could be seen, as well as the pool and the guest house. We giddily drove back to town discussing our options, weighing commute distance, internet availability, rent, water access and peace of mind.
In the end, before we even saw the inside of the guest house, we decided there was decent internet access for The Best Man, we'd do it.
We headed back to town to eat and kill some time before going back out to the property to meet with the owner. We went to a local cafe and got some sweets to snack on while we worked on our lap tops. The cafe had free wi fi, local art, and sweet treats! I foresee this being a hangout spot for us during our stent in the area.
Then, we went to dinner at the Thai restuarant downtown. It was amazing. We split our favourite dish, Panang curry, medium hot. It was fantastic. The BM, overheard one of the owners mention "a honeymoon in Thailand." When she came to refill our water, he asked her about going to Thailand for our honeymoon. She was thrilled to talk and mentioned a few "must see" cities. She spoke of how cheap it is to visit, the most expensive aspect is the plane ticket. She said "you must go for 2, 3 weeks, at least. No 5 days." Online, I'd seen that certain types of the year are more rainy than others, so I was surprised when she said we could go whenever. March and April are the best. She mentioned that the air prices are more expensive when "the kids get out of school." She suggested going after that time. Later, when we went to leave, she said she'd contact the Embassy for more details on traveling there. She'd let us know when we returned she said. She must know their food is amazing because of course we will be returning.
Finally, we drove back out to the property on the water. The pool house, if you will. I jokingly cursed the home owner, saying she picked the time of the appointment to coincide with sunset to seal the deal. When I knocked on the door I was startled to hear a dog barking and see the place was filled with furniture. I had been under the impression the studio was unfurnished. We were instructed to give ourself a tour of the big room. Although it was one large room there were separate living areas for the "kitcken," "bedroom," and "living room." The large bathroom had a walk in shower, titled with one inch stone tiles. Also located there was the washer and dryer, which would be staying there.
One of us tentatively asked about the furniture. "When would you need the place? Next, week? Well, I'll some how get my but in gear and get it out of your way. I have too much furniture to fit in my new place. I need to sell most of this." We suggested she could leave whatever she needed right where it was as we have no furniture. She seemed pleased with this idea. Next, we had a self guided tour of the grounds. The hot tub abuts the guest house, with the pool located in between the two homes. Past the big house, the private dock juts out into "the rivah." I was in too much shock to take pictures of this gorgeous place. Needless to say, we threw money at the home owner and pictures will be had when we move in next week! I should mention, that the home owner if good people and we are really looking forward to getting to know her.
