Still progressing speedily along the path to purchase of the house/property. We have an estimate for insurance coverage (which we'll pay immediately upon signing papers) that is necessary to protect our cash investment. We also think closing will be Saturday morning, but are waiting for confirmation. Our lawyer is doing a title search, and told the seller what he'll have to pay: this year's property taxes, a termite bond, etc. And of course, the seller agreed to pay $500.00 on closing, and since this is a cash transaction, the lawyer fee shouldn't be over that amount compared to the $3,000.00+ of closing a loan-based transaction.

We've told our families about this -- especially my mother and DH's mother. Both seemed very pleased and happy for us. I think they'll both just love this place, since both of them grew up in similar old houses.

What has surprised me most though is that when we tell someone we bought a place, the first question they ask is when we'll be moving, and the second question is what we plan to do with our house here in town. In fact, one of my sisters suggested we might want to rent it to her son, my nephew, who is thinking of getting married early next year. However, when I told her what we'd have to ask in rent, she said he couldn't afford that. He is still in college, and so is the girl he's going to marry. And I felt rather bad that we couldn't offer them a cut-rate rent, but on the other hand, he's not MY child. Frankly, it's time Sam learns that the 'real world' is expensive; he's lived at home since getting out of high school, and my sister and brother-in-law have paid entirely for his education thus far -- even going so far as to refinance their home (which was paid off) for his tuition. Sam has mostly worked at half-hearted part-time stuff, and now they say he's considering just quitting college and going to work full-time to get married. Excuse me, but wasn't he supposed to COMPLETE college so he'd have a degree? Otherwise, what was the point? [Sorry, off on a tangent!]

At any rate, we've had numerous people interested in our house -- from realtors to just those who want to rent it. That is at least six months away though, because it is going to take some time for us to get the other house in shape to live in. I mean, renters were living there, but I prefer doing as much of the remodeling as we can before moving in. The house is not unlivable, but it sure could use some updating and upkeep. The only problem I see in keeping our house to rent is that friends/family think you'll just let them stay in it either cheaply or free. And we just can't afford to do that.

Still, I am not quite emotionally ready to sell this house, though I might be six months from now when we do move. Time will tell, I suppose. I did figure a budget, and we can easily afford to maintain the two places -- power, phones, cable TV, etc -- so there's no hurry on moving.

It's very early, and though I've not been sleeping well (any kind of change brings on my insomnia!), I feel like a long bike ride will help me. Oh, I had another batch of wine mature yesterday and it is delicious! I guess the alcohol content is roughly about 9% only, so it doesn't have much of a liquor taste...is very smooth and delicious. It has helped me get to sleep around 11:00 at night, though I am waking around 4:00 and not being able to go back to sleep. I think once the closing is over, I'll rest easier though. Perhaps I'm still anxious something will prevent us getting that place, which I DO want!

Till later!