Category Archives: Puerto Rico Property

Or a Two Year Plan?

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We’ve been having some discussion about our Puerto Rico plans and we would definitely like to move there more quickly than not. We’d rather be planning our escape to Rincon in the next 2 years than in the next five years. But in order to do that we would have to change some of our goals. The most obvious that jumps out would be for us to keep the main wooden house and “just” fix it up.


There is a certain quality (dare I say potential) about it that  makes it hard to take down

This would probably save us $120,000 and 2-3 years of time if we didn’t have to tear down/construct anew. We could have a maximum budget of approximately $30,000 and do the following in order of importance:

-New roof -est. $5,000
-New decking -est. $4,000
-Build another bathroom/laundry room that connects to the side deck so that we would have a main floor bathroom -est. $4,000
-Build a master bath in the upstairs bedroom -est $4,000
-Put in mold resistant drywall -est. $2,000 installed
-Remodel the kitchen with new fixtures etc –$4,000
-Install hurricane resistant picture window to provide ocean view from upper/master bedroom – $1500
-Paint exterior/interior –$1500
-Refinish existing wood floors –$1500
-Completely remove the outside bathroom that is located on the oceanside deck –$500

Total: Appx $28,000 =Pretty good! -These numbers have some cushion built in, but that’s always good to have when planning a remodel/constructing anywhere let alone somewhere that we are unfamiliar with.

Then at some point after we were living there we could also enclose or make a living area out of the lower part that is currently being used as parking under the house as well.


View of the house from the road

I think with this budget we could get it to look pretty sharp and feel much more open/inviting. It’s not a huge house so it would be fairly “easy” to do. I suppose all of our rental remodels make it seem somewhat less daunting than it would be for most anyone else.

We would still like to fix up the existing cabana and build 2-3 other cabanas that we could rent out to tourists or locals. And then possibly build a pool or do other projects. I think the pool we would do after we were living there though.

I am really happy that we have bought the property. So many new opportunities start opening up in front of us. It’s a really cool feeling.

Here are a couple of videos of both the houses on the property. It kind of gives you a better feeling for the layout of the land and structures as they currently stand. Enjoy!

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Five Year Plan for Puerto Rico

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I don’t know about anyone else, but Britton and I like to set goals. In order to set goals you need to be pretty specific otherwise you can just ignore them and say you “sorta” accomplished them or you can procratinate and say you’ll get to them later (but never do). Goals certainly can be changed if you decide you no longer like the direction you are heading or your values change along the way. But if you really want something, you will need to plan out a strategy to get there.


Welcome to Rincon!

Britton and I have talked about our five year goal (and beyond). We had made a five year plan back when we got married in 2005 that we would buy a house in Puerto Rico. While we are technically a little later than our goal timeframe, I’d say we did pretty good with that goal. In those five years not only did we get to our end large goal, but we also set ourselves up with a source of income when we get there permanently by purchasing four rental properties (in addition to our personal house that we bought in 2003). I’d say we have accomplished quite a bit!

So when we started setting up our plan and goals for the next five years they seemed very large and daunting to take head-on, but are not so bad when we break it down into parts just as we did over the last five years. The end goal is to: live in Rincon permanently. Obviously we can still travel and go back to Colorado to visit family and our rentals or go to South America to climb Machu Pichu or Europe for castle adventures, spend the holidays in Italy or go wherever our hearts desire, but we want to call Puerto Rico “home” and to be as comfortable with “home” there as we are with our home in Greeley.

Ok, so to get to that end within 5 years (or hopefully less) this is what we want to do if we want to do it with all the frills.

–Pay off our short-term personal loans we used to purchase property (1st year -this year by June 2012)
–Fix up the existing studio cabana (1st year -by June 2012)
–Tear down the wooden house (1-2 years) (by June 2013)
–Build a couple (2-3) of small cabanas on the property that we can rent out to people as another form of income.  (2-3 years) (by June 2014)
–Build a larger house for us -we are thinking around 2,000 square feet which is approximately what our house in Greeley is (3 years) (start in 2013 finish sometime in 2014 depending on construction delays)
–Build a pool (optional) not a requirement (4 years + 2015ish)
–Pay off at least one more rental property (3 years -June 2014)
–Save up enough money to buy a car, furniture, and living expenses for at least 1 year (before we move permanently -year 4 or 5)

Of course we want to visit our property as often as possible in the meantime and try to get as much done to it when we are supervising it as possible. We also have fun goals like getting chickens, planting lots of flowers and fruit trees, starting a website for our cabana/fresh food business, etc. But I would count those as implicit in achieving these larger goals (to the big one).

So there you have it. It will be interesting to see how much we can achieve in these next few years. Of course, this is all based on the trajectory that we are currently on, so it could be slightly more or less depending on what the future holds. In any case we are looking forward to all the adventures that will lead us there.

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Rinse and Repeat

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Writing a blog about your life is kind of funny when your life is pretty stable/comfortable. Everything comes and goes and comes again, just like seasons. I was asking Britton if I should post some pictures of our beautiful sunset that we had the other evening. Or of the nice flower bouquet I made from our garden flowers. Or about our chickens. Or a video of a concert we went to. But it seems like we’ve already posted all of those. We are in a loop. We are in a rut. We are rinsing and repeating. (When does it stop!?) I imagine our readers (you all!) thinking -they just do the same things over and over again.


Orchids and sunsets- some favorite blog topics

Which makes it all the more important that we now have Puerto Rico in our pockets ready to go. It’s something that is completely different from our usual routine. It is uncomfortable. We don’t know what to expect. We are excited. It is definitely not just rinse and repeat- at least not yet.

Of course coming home from Puerto Rico to our “normal” here in Greeley is nice. I love my warm showers with strong water pressure and the cool air when I walk out of the bathroom. I love how courteous Colorado drivers are. I love how long and straight and virtually traffic-less our roads are. I love how quiet it can be. I love the pastel more subtle beauty here. Especially in the summer when everything wakes up to life for a few months. I love speaking English and knowing exactly the nuance and slang of what someone else says to me. I even (sometimes) love our winter nights curled on the couch with our fireplace on watching a movie with a cup of hot cocoa or chili in my hands. The numbing comfort and sterility of it all…

But BAM! I want to experience life! And sometimes to really awaken to that, sometimes you have to do the exact opposite of what you are used to. You have to get a little dirty. You have to be a little uncomfortable at first. So I want to see what it’s like to take cool showers and walk into warm air! I want to see what it’s like to drive however you damn well please as if you were walking around a crowded mall. I want to hear the bugs and frogs and birds who are happy to be living outside year round. I want to see in-your-face, loud colors. All year round! I want to become so fluent at Spanish again that I dream in it. That I learn the Puerto Rican slang. I want to know what it’s like to never be cold.

I think it’s important that people get out there and try. Yah, you might fail. You might initially regret it. You might feel scared, insecure or not confident. But I think dreaming big (or even little) is part of what life is all about. Once you have your basic needs met -like food, water, shelter, love and companionship- I think dreams are just as important. They keep you going; they keep you striving to get better. If a tree didn’t seek new heights, was it a tree? And even if we fall, even in failure we learn! Maybe even more so! We learn every step of the way.

Sometimes I think my ideas and dreams are too big for my reality. Like when you are so hungry at an all-you-can-eat place that you fill your plate to the brim only to realize your stomach is just not big enough to hold it all. Britton and I are a good complement to each other in that way. Sometimes he is the brakes to my otherwise overfull plate of crazy “Lucy you have some ‘splainin to do” half cooked ideas, and other times he’s all in with me -as hungry for life as ever. He helps me moderate our risks, and I help him to be less afraid.

In the end, this is all a journey to writing our own story. The conflicts in the story are what makes it interesting! We have to remember that as we go along. It is never so bad that we can’t start again. Even in losing my dad I think I have gained a better understanding of this. Death is there to teach us how to live! To help us remember we are only in this form for so long. So if you feel a calling to something -to your dreams- however weird they are- go for it! It may change or evolve over time, but that’s just as well in a good story.

And of course we do need a little of the normalcy to balance us out just as I need Britton and he needs me.  And that is what these calm Colorado days are all about. Just remember to get a little dirty every now and then before you go back to rinse and repeat.

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From One Jungle to the Next

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We got home yesterday after a torturous day of travel (red eye and 2 lay-overs) to a jungle of our own at our house in Greeley. All of the plants had filled in the front area and the grass was overgrown especially in the backyard where it gets lots of fertilizer in the form of chicken poop. Of course, this “jungle” is nothing compared to the one we just left, but it was kind of nice coming home to Colorado in full summer bloom…made it feel a little bit more inviting than had we come back to negative 20 degree weather.

Colorado Flowers


Colorado Flowers filled to the brim

In comparison, I have to remember we left plant life and vegetation that looked more like this:


Puerto Rico Sea Grapes


Puerto Rico Flamboyan Tree in Bloom


Tall Grass in Backyard in Greeley


Tall Grass in Puerto Rico

Ok, so there’s really no comparison there.


Britton with Machete and a King Palm if I’m not mistaken

We’ve never needed a machete to walk through our backyard in Greeley, but we definitely did in Puerto Rico! 🙂


We also don’t have a beach with a defunct nuclear power plant (Domes Beach) in Greeley -ha

We are feeling bittersweet about being back in Colorado knowing that there is a whole other world in Puerto Rico just waiting for us to get back to it…but we have so many ideas on how to make it an awesome property that we have to work and save a little more money to get down there for good. It’s kind of nice being back to all the comforts of home and this new perspective will help us make our home there even more comfortable. In the mean time, we’ll enjoy the Colorado summer and the miniature jungles that come with it.

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