2018 Saturday — Today’s Road Trip

In the upper left hand corner the journey’s photos of today begin in Pasadena with a view of the metro station. Our house is about 50 minutes from Pasadena, so we were fully into the trip when I started clicking photos. Follow the photos then clockwise around the edge. The center photo is the final one in the series, and it shows the offramp from California's Highway #1to our little town of Cayucos (ki-U-cuss), which is approximately 4 hours from our SoCal home. Someday we will retire here.

We had driven south from here last Wednesday after enjoying the holidays on the Central Coast.

We had been in SoCal three nights and two full days to get some tasks accomplished and for Mr. Fun to see his mom, and the we headed north to Cayucos again today.

Thursday the countertops for the home that we are planning to move back into in SoCal were scheduled to be installed. I also had an appointment with Larry from Budget Blinds to come measure all the windows in that house for window coverings, and I had a Thursday afternoon dental appointment. Mr. Fun had to be at his mom’s home because a health care representative was going to be there. So Thursday was full.

Then Friday I had to deal with all the mail that had accumulated since we left on Saturday, December 16th . . . bills to pay and paperwork to file and Mr. Fun had clean-up to do at the house where the countertops had been installed. Now both of the bathrooms there need to be rebuilt. They have been completely gutted. But we’re still waiting on the floor guy to come back and do another coat of sealer on the floor before we move forward with the bathrooms. The floor guy cannot do the work till late January. Hurry-up and wait. We are winning an award for the slowest repair and clean-up job ever since renters left last summer! Sheeeeeeesh!

The best news is our other little rental house is about to close escrow. After a bidding war, it sold for 28K more than it was listed for (which was thrilling). Then it appraised for 8K less than it sold for (which is of course disappointing). The bank will only fund a loan for the amount a property appraises for. Our education in real estate continues! and the real bummer is we won't be able to touch a cent of the money from the sale of the house. In order to avoid Capital Gains Tax, we must do a "1031 Exchange" so all the money is reinvested in "investment property." As law abiding tax paying citizens, we just get taxed more for managing our money well and not living off the government; just doesn't make sense!

So this story of houses and our progress toward reaching my retirement is slowly moving forward.  I do know that someday I am going to blink and say, "Wow! I'm retired!"

From Cayucos
on California’s Central Coast,
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol