Back "Home" But Not Yet "Home, Home"

We got back to Florida from the Roberts Center RV Show near Dayton last Sunday night .... very late Sunday night.

As our house is still rented through the end of February, we're staying at Linda's Mom's house the rest of this week, and we snuck in around 1:45 a.m.

After some sleep, I couldn't wait to get back on the pickleball courts. It had been three weeks, so this morning I went out and joined one of the Monday groups I play with. After spending time on elliptical trainers at hotels, it felt good to get out and get some exercise that's a lot more fun.

Later, I fetched the mail from our little postal center. We had it held for the three weeks we've been gone, and today was the day it was starting back up. Yikes, it was a full mailbox - mostly junk, with some stuff we needed mixed in, like 1099s. And most importantly, we got our new passports. Our passports had expired in January, so we're glad to have new ones back in hand.

I drove by our house just to make sure everything on the outside looked okay. All was well there.

In the comments from our last entry, someone asked about moving all our stuff in and out when we rent the house. In this particular case, our tenant is a single guy with no plans for visitors, so we just moved our clothes to the guest room closet, and most of the other stuff in the master bedroom closet, which isn't much, we just left up on the shelves. He had plenty of room for his clothes and more.

But for future renters, especially seasonal renters for Jan - March, we have a storage unit nearby. Linda has a rolling clothes rack she got at a thrift store, so anything we don't keep with us goes in there. And anything else that we may be concerned about goes in there as well.

The Villages is different than renting a house just any old place, so most landlords don't have any issues with damage or theft. Certainly, we have an inventory of our stuff, and we have lots of protections in our lease, but with proper vetting and some good ol' judgment of character, the risks are low.

Having a place to stay in The Villages, and having our RV as a second option when we rent out our house, makes it less of a hassle when we rent. It's a bit of a pain to move in and out, but the income is really hard to pass up. It helps us spend more time playing than "working". And, hopefully, we can make use of our new passports when the house is rented.

 

Officially, we've just listed our primary residence as available for peak season - January - March - and for monthly or weekly rentals throughout most of the rest of the year. If you know anyone that would like to come spend some time in The Villages, just send them to our listing page here: Howard & Linda's Patio Villa in The Villages.

 

The rest of this week, I played pickleball and Linda helped her Mom. We met with an estate attorney and got our wills, living wills, powers of attorney, etc. set up for Florida. And I finished up our 2019 taxes.

 

On the last day of the month, we'll be moving back in, and I'll be home for all of March. Linda, however, is flying to Arizona to visit her friend Suzanne and her donkey friends at the Forever Home Donkey Rescue, where she volunteered while we were staying in Benson, AZ last winter.  While there, she's going to do a 12-mile burro run/walk. That should be interesting.

During her Arizona stay, I'm playing in two local pickleball tournaments.

At the end of March, beginning of April, we'll have some visitors for a few days, and then we'll get ready to head north in the RV for our 2020 Spring Educational Rally in Tennessee. We have about ten RV sites left.

That's all for now.

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Comments

[Nancy and Bill]

Couldn't make the Villa Link work??

Have fun in the tournaments...pickleball is addictive:o))

[Howard]

Thanks Bill & Nancy. I fixed the link. :)

[JoanneG]

My parents lived in Leesburg, FL at the Plantation so I am familiar with the Villages and may be interested in spending some time out there next year. The link to your rental is not working...no need to post, just wanted to let you know.