Goodbye, Second Chance Ranch

“Isn’t this where a feller oughta be?”
“Green Country Mountains,” McGuffey Lane

The sale of our house in Ohio was scheduled to close today at 10am EDT. Shortly before that, Deb and I got e-mails with a couple of documents to sign (digitally), which we did. The closing apparently proceeded from there and, because we could, we hopped in our truck and headed for The Mountain.

We hadn’t yet cleared Harrison when Deb’s phone rang. It was our realtor calling.

“It’s done,” she said.

As of this morning, Second Chance Ranch had been “in contract” for 106 days — two weeks with “pre-approved” buyers who weren’t, then 92 days more with the buyers who signed papers today. The process, an FHA 203(k) loan that included renovations accommodating wheelchair access, was grueling. We were told that a 203(k) could take twice as long to close as a conventional loan, and this one took more than three times as long.

On this convoluted, State-regulated debacle, I offer three observations:

Avoid getting mired in an FHA 203(k), either as a buyer or a seller.
Patience, like hope, isn’t a strategy.
Don’t do business with anyone (like bureaucrats and people whose income depends on the federal bureaucracy) who doesn’t need the money.

That’s all. It’s over. We’re down to two lives — the bus and The Mountain. We’re in the game now.

When we arrived at Deb’s cousin’s garage we broke out three red Solo cups and toasted the occasion with moonshine from Uranus. (Hey, now.) We took the Ranger up to the homesite and spent a long time wandering, imagining, picturing what it’ll be like to live there.