Good news! Found the retirement home -- yeah

[goodfellow]

After two years of searching and facing numerous disappointments, we finally found our retirement home. It sits on 4 acres of lake front property in central VA, and will hopefully be the last residence in our lifetime.

Best news is I get to build the garage I always wanted. Even though we don't close 'til January, I'm meeting with a General Contractor at the property on Friday to discuss the layout and design. Finally, after all these years of working out of a cramped 2-car garage, there will be space to spread out and have a proper workshop. That said, I feel somewhat conflicted because 2020 has been such a crappy year, but then again we got lucky in November and found exactly what we were looking for. What are the odds of that happening in 2020?

Time to organize a move, and get our current house ready to put on the market come spring.

[hickory n Steel]

Congrats.

[DeadNutz]

That is fantastic and a great way to finish off a bizarre year. Will you go stick built or metal building for your shop?

[goodfellow]

That is fantastic and a great way to finish off a bizarre year. Will you go stick built or metal building for your shop?

Thanks DN! It will most likely be stick built to stay in line with the design of the house. There is a VERY loose HOA (which was a selling point for me because I hate these organizations with a passion), and the only stipulation in the HOA agreement is that permanent outbuildings should conform "somewhat" to the style of the residence.

[john k]

Good news for sure, how close are neighbors?   Rather wish I was 900 miles closer to give a hand emptying the current garage.  How far is it between residences, thinking of distance from current doctors, stores?   Sounds like mid summer for when the shop is up.   Guess I'm lucky, living in my retirement home since 1977.

[goodfellow]

Good news for sure, how close are neighbors?   Rather wish I was 900 miles closer to give a hand emptying the current garage.  How far is it between residences, thinking of distance from current doctors, stores?   Sounds like mid summer for when the shop is up.   Guess I'm lucky, living in my retirement home since 1977.

I'm on 4 acres and have a large wide waterfront. Neighbors are comfortably distant -- thank God! We're relocating about 130 miles south of our current DC area residence, so we will still live in Virginia. South/Central Virginia is a whole nother world compared to the Wash. DC region.

As far as "luck" is concerned, you are very lucky to live in a retirement home that makes you feel good and contributes to your physical and emotional needs. We feel very lucky as well, but it took over two years of tedious looking, driving, and visiting. Most times it was a complete disappointment, but we kept on plugging away.

[highland512]

My $0.02 is heat the floor of your new building and spray foam the walls.

I am glad to hear you found your dream place. Good luck with the move but I dont envy you, I hate moving, especially when it comes to shop stuff and gun safes. 

How is Richmond? Anything to do? I have to go for a few days next week.

[goodfellow]

My $0.02 is heat the floor of your new building and spray foam the walls.

I am glad to hear you found your dream place. Good luck with the move but I dont envy you, I hate moving, especially when it comes to shop stuff and gun safes. 

How is Richmond? Anything to do? I have to go for a few days next week.

Agreed! Hate moving heavy shop equipment, but I like using the PODS company, and have moved much of my equipment over the years using them. I moved into our present home using one of their containers, but this time we'll probably need two.

As far as Richmond is concerned, it's beautiful. The James river runs right through the city, and it has an excellent "old town" historic downtown and waterfront section, along with the legendary Shockoe Bottom area that has spectacular views with restaurants, bars, shopping, etc. I don't know what the COVID crisis has done to the area, but last year it was a bustling and dynamic year round experience.

[Lookin4_67GalaxieConv]

That's great to hear, Ray!  What size garage are you planning on building?  Is there a lift in your future?  Will you also have a two car garage with the house?

[goodfellow]

That's great to hear, Ray!  What size garage are you planning on building?  Is there a lift in your future?  Will you also have a two car garage with the house?

Thanks Galaxie! yes, there's a large two car attached garage that's actually a bit larger than my present setup, so that's good news for my wife whose had to share her garage space with me for decades.

The plan is to build an extended 3 or 4 car building that will be used for at least three bays and have extra space for a separate shop/work area where I can have my machine tools and heavy metal working equipment. I definitely want to have a ceiling height that allows for a full sized lift. Right now all I have is my hydraulic scissor lift; which works great for most jobs, but for underneath engine, drivetrain, and tranny work I really need to go full-size.

[J.A.F.E.]

Well that's happy news. Congratulations!

I don't have near the equipment you do but when we moved I rented a 26' van and we didn't bring much in the way of furniture and I still barely got everything in and was 3500 overweight.

[fatfillup]

Congrats Ray, that is great news.  Mamma and I are in the same search right now.

After you get your shop set up, if you have a get together, I'll ride down

[goodfellow]

Congrats Ray, that is great news.  Mamma and I are in the same search right now.

After you get your shop set up, if you have a get together, I'll ride down

It's a deal Phil -- it's time to have some GTG's again.

[goodfellow]

Well that's happy news. Congratulations!

I don't have near the equipment you do but when we moved I rented a 26' van and we didn't bring much in the way of furniture and I still barely got everything in and was 3500 overweight.

I'm in the same boat Steve. We are not taking a lot of furniture. I made my wife a deal several years ago that she could decorate and furnish our retirement home any way she wanted (as long as I could build the garage I always wanted). She's put up with a lot of moves when my job/travel schedule in the past meant that she often had to coordinate the moving details by herself. It wasn't easy, so this time she gets to start from a blank sheet of paper.

She's definitely excited about that aspect of the move -- LOL

 

[J.A.F.E.]

I never liked doing shopping for furniture and forget about towels and window treatments. But this time for some reason I actually didn't hate the furniture part as much and I like the stuff we ended up with.

But I digress. You well may end up being OK with the furniture hunting and the rest (I still can't even look at towels and stuff in the store). Especially if you have the attitude this is the last time.