Monthly Archives: February 2010

March Puerto Rico Trip Goal- Buy Property

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We have some goals for our trip in March to Puerto Rico. Most obviously, we want to look for a property to buy in the western side (Aguada, Rincon, Mayaguez area). This is difficult because in Puerto Rico there is no MLS (multiple listing service), so you have to go with various real estate agents to see houses and you have to look all over the place. The best place we have found so far online is Clasificadosonline. It seems that most Puerto Ricans haven’t gotten too much into Craigslist, which I think is an absolute necessity here in Colorado. But Clasificadosonline pretty much fills that need in PR.

Anyhow, it is difficult to gauge the market in PR because of the lack of MLS or central resource of properties. Plus, a lot of people sell as the owner without a real estate company involved at all. We are planning on seeing a house with a real estate agent (Jose Marti Realty) and asked if we could see others with him, including others he has listed and he tried to sell us a house-hunting service! ! For like $500 a day just to drive around with the realtor! That is ridiculous. I can’t imagine it is such a seller’s market that they are discouraging possible buyers through this “service”.  If I were selling my house, I wouldn’t put it through this company just for that reason alone.

So our main goal is to find a place that works with what we are looking for (a little bit of land and a comfortable house that we can rent out a portion of, not too far from the beaches and a town) and put in an offer. We would like to close on it this year if possible. We are not sure if we would be moving out right away or what, but we would like to have a property ready for us.

Other goals include meeting some of our blog friends and enjoying Puerto Rico as we always do. We are flying in to San Juan, although I am getting very tempted to fly into Aguadilla, but we just never have before. Then from there we are taking a rental car to Rincon where we are staying as roommates with two women who rent out their house in that way. We talked with one of them on the phone and she sounds like she will help us out in finding a place as well.

We also found this great reggae musician, Mishka, and so we plan on listening to a lot of his music in the rental car while we are driving around.

 

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Texas Hold ‘Em and Snow Birds

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Britton and I have been playing Texas Hold ‘Em with a new group of friends lately. We meet up monthly and alternate houses each time. The host provides food and some drinks and everyone else comes and enjoys themselves for the evening. This weekend, the tournament was at our house. Since it was snowing, we decided to make some chili. It was delicious! I made a huge pot of it and it was almost all gone! I also made a veggie platter, a cheese and cracker tray and of course put out some chocolate. We played over 6 hours of music on our whole house stereo and had the Olympics on in the background.

We have played about 5 games with this new crew and while I got 4th at the last one, we haven’t walked away with any money yet. Well, last night Britton got second! It was great! It is fun to win every now and then.

We also had a little bit of fun outside with the snow birds (the chickens), Kitty and Schnoodle.  Another great weekend. Plus, we made arrangements for where we will be staying in Puerto Rico as snow birds ourselves in March (staying with a couple of people in a house in Rincon).

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Our Backyard on the Front Page: A Strange Life

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This picture was on the front page. Kitty and the Hens.  🙂

Britton and I have been thinking that life is like that Talking Heads song, Once in a Lifetime. “You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?” Sometimes Britton and I just look at each other and smile knowing that life is but a dream. You never know how one moment will lead to another. Yesterday, for instance, our cat and chickens were on the front page of the news.

 

It is sad, really how the whole chicken debate turned out. Mostly for people who will continue to live here and try to make this city a better place. I have tried, and believe me, it can be done, but it is HARD work. It is underappreciated work.

But Britton and I are ready to move on both literally and figuratively. We booked our next trip to Puerto Rico in mid-March! We are going to find a house! We are super excited. I can’t wait for the next moment when I look up and ask myself, “how did I get here?”, and then I’ll remember; what a strange life it is going gently down this stream.  

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The Greeley Chicken Ordinance Result: As Expected

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Greeley is an interesting place to live I’ll say that much. This time not interesting in a good way.

At the council meeting there was a large group that showed support for changing the ordinance in regards to backyard hens. A veterinarian, several well educated folks and basic hard working people. There were a few people who were against this change and they were against it for reasons of commercial scale operations, disease and one because she was allergic to feathers. One lady (this was the best one) was against it because chickens can be used to smuggle drugs. Yes once again, they are the root of all evil.

When it came time to vote the council members in support Mike Finn, Donna Sapienza and Sandy Elder provided the reasons for their support and I do appreciate that. The council members who voted no didn’t provide any rhyme or reason to their decision. They had no valid reason except that they didn’t agree with what I am doing in my backyard even if it has no effect on them. Since the vote was a tie, it didn’t pass.

I’m disappointed in our local governments ability to listen to the public and make a decision that empowers the individual.

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