Continuing the Process!

OK, We've sold the house, but needed a place to live for two months after closing. Even though we were closing on the house on Sept 7, we decided to make the final move to the DR on 10/31/11 - one way tickets. Hooray!!! We needed time to tie up loose ends here and did not want to rush doing this. So, searching for a two month rental, once again we were blessed; we had friends - Audrey & Doug - offer us their spare house for two months.

The "speed bump" I previously mentioned regarding the sale of our house was an issue the appraiser raised regarding the stucco finish. Implying that it was synthetic stucco, not masonry stucco, was causing a problem with the lender because it was a VA loan. I spent time discussing this issue with various experts and house inspectors. It seemed that a stucco inspection was going to be required and that was an expense we were not prepared to pay. Finally, I was able to obtain a letter from a professional house inspector verifying that the stucco was, in fact, masonry and no problems existed. This satisfied all the lending parties. Crisis averted. This did take time and caused some concern and worry.

By the time we went to closing, nearly everything had been sold. Fortunately we had very little to move - five items plus a number of boxes.

Again, we had friends offer to help. Actually, they just showed up on Saturday before closing and said "Let's get 'er done".

Now came the fun part - go to the DR for the first time and finding a place to live. Our initial trip to the Punta Cana area of the DR was a week in late September.  Honey had been corresponding with a realtor in that area. Maria and Todd Williams were transplants from Michigan just a few years ago so they knew the ropes to a move like this. Maria was more than helpful. She told us what documents we would need to set up a bank account and sign a lease long before we got there; so we had everything with us.  Even though we were not her only clients the week we were there, she gave us as much time as we needed and helped us find the right condo, lined us up with a bank and took us there, and helped with getting a mailing address set up. We spent a lot of time together that week learning places, getting things set up to move, and getting comfortable with the area. We could not have accomplished all of that in only one week without Maria'a help.

Now we have a place to call home; and it is just a ten minute walk to the white sands and blue water; 86 steps to the pool; a ten minute walk to town; and a golf course just accross the road. It is quite unbelievable.

Again, the process can be overwhelming; but we just took it one step at a time, kept our eyes on the end result and proceeded. Honey and I spent a lot of time talking about all the aspects and who was doing what in the process. We have done everything in order, never jumping ahead in the process.

We are now at the point where the only items left to do are selling two cars and finishing packing. We did take quite a bit of items with us on our initial trip and the condo manager was kind enough to let us leave our things in the condo. Great negotiations done by Maria.