Oklahoma in the rearview mirror
Yes, I am a yo-yo. There I've said it, not before you did, but I am owning that title. I am definitely struggling with the whole idea of moving and selling this house, even though I do not care for this house that much. I am chalking it up to several things but the biggest is fear of the unknown; I am not afraid per se, just nervous about leaving this house unsold, empty and thinking anyone else can come back and do what needs to be done for it to be ready to sell.
As I get things ready, and the place is in an upheaval of disorganized piles of clothing and boxes and anything else you can think of, the anxiety builds. I can only do so much and when it comes to the outside yard anything I suggest is met with "I'm not sure". Now the Fall winds have started and trying haul away vehicles and scrap metal will be more of a challenge than it would have been if done during the Summer.
That entry to this post was started before we made the trip to Oklahoma so that the girls and I could see the property. To say I was a bit disappointed would be fair. We arrived Friday night and drove straight the house only to find it covered in bees. I wanted to look into the windows but that was near impossible. The property was very overgrown except that which was right up against the house. The amount of cleared land that was available as a "yard" was minimal. We were scheduled to see it with the broker Saturday morning, so peeking inside had to wait until then.
When we arrived at 0845 the gate at the road was open and the driveway did not seem as awful as it had the night before. I had envisioned gravel driveway like I see commonly in Colorado, with small pea size gravel. The drive was constructed with 2–3-inch chunks of gravel. Not bicycle or tricycle friendly. The porches were a nice size but not near as wide as they appeared in the pictures, but without railings were a big hazard for the adults in my family. DH fell backwards as we tried to navigate the front steps to enter the house. The rooms in the home were very small in relation to their appearance in pictures. They say the camera adds ten pounds, a real estate camera adds ten feet.
All in all, the house could work with some major changes. For instance, the jacuzzi tub was sunken, with DH's, SIL's and even my own balance issues, that was a disaster looking for a person to make it happen. It would need a shower added as not one of the bathrooms had a shower. It would definitely need railings and balusters added to both porches, ramps to get on and off of the porch, and perimeter fencing of the very tiny yard that was cleared because in back of the house the yard has a drop off of at least 6ft with no warning in the landscape. The surrounding acreage, although beautiful can only be navigated with a side by side. Not even a four-wheeler would be able to get a person around the property. Unless you are a bovine, the property is need of much TLC. There were many cows grazing in what was supposed to be the property and they do not have free range grazing there.
I have taken a few days to weigh whether or not we can make this work and I have decided against it. I did reach out to the broker by email this morning to share my decision. Even though I had not shared yet she had already relisted the house last night. We will see where this goes from here.
The county did several controlled burns while we were there, it played havoc on the kids' respiratory systems. DH forgot to take his medications the whole time we were there. The seed ticks were relentless in their pursuit of fresh grazing grounds. They were not cute, but we brought several of them home anyway.
While in Oklahoma we opted to rent a small home so that the kids would not be spreading their germs to my already compromised BIL and also not, hopefully, get any worse than they were due to allergies to the animals that they have.
My sister spent the night with us, and we stayed up late talking about the house and the pros and cons. I had no idea that DH had been forgetting to take his scheduled meds. It was peaceful and of course hot! He stayed in the little house most of the time or the air-conditioned car. We saw several other properties while we were there.
The next morning when asked how late we stayed up we joked about the police coming but not arresting us and sadly, no one believed us when we said it was a joke. I spent much time running to the little Dollar General stores while there trying to get things that were "immediate needs" for the ones requesting them. It would not be cheaper to live there under those terms and Prime might never find me! That alone could crash the economy, with all that said I will close for now and get on with my day.
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