Dotted a Few More i's Today.....

Delivered some required loan docs today, and drove by "our" house this morning. We also drove around the neighborhood for a while today.

There seems to be a significant number of houses in a 1/2 mile radius (several blocks every direction) either undergoing serious renovation, or for sale.

At least one or two every other block we drove by had a low-key for sale sign on the yard, or had a roofing crew doing a complete re-roof, or a dumpster out front and a company truck from either a kitchen/bathroom remodel place, or a general contractor parked at the curb.

Now this might be typical for Fort Collins, but I didn't see this much activity in any of the neighborhoods where the 20 or so other houses we looked at or drove by were located. It's fairly specific to this particular area.

My contractor in-law tells me that for the last year or so, certain areas are getting quietly bought up by "Big Money Real Estate Companies", but he didn't go much further than that, only indicate that the area was "ANYTHING North of Prospect Rd", which is the next major street to the North of us.

Maybe it's spilled South a little, or maybe the not-so-big real estate companies are coming down our way.

Geez.....I can't believe how fast I've assimilated into this area! I mean, I feel "At Home" here, something I never really felt when I merely "lived" in SoCal. It's almost like I was on a long-term Field Service assignment for a large part of my life "back there", and now that job is finished, and it really was time to move on.

I think it's fitting that I consider my "last job" in SoCal to be on the Iowa, as it was really the only place other than on the Sea Launch Commander where I ever really felt "At Home". Kinda like I was going back to the "Home Office" to clean up a bunch of loose ends, train up a few good guys, and square things away before going on to a new "assignment". It's just something about having a deck under your feet; you're "Home".

This place reminds of "home" back in Illinois, but with mountains!

Anyway......the Official Home Inspection is Wednesday, and we'll most likely find out that it needs a new roof. When we were shopping companies for homeowner's insurance, one of the agents took the address, crossed it to the city building site, and pulled a permit history for the house in about 45 seconds! Turns out the house was last roofed in 2001, and as a result of that hailstorm a while back that trashed the kid's place, along with how many others in 16 years, the roof is most likely "End-Of-Life".

Which means we'll most likely have a new roof this winter. Either the current owners can submit a claim for hail damage based on the inspection reports, or they can buy us a new roof, or make a cost reduction. The outcome has direct impact on our homeowner's insurance in that if we have a new roof, out cost is about half what it would be if we went with a repair or used the roof "AS-IS".

Wednesday should be pretty "interesting"!