Still in sunny and warm south Florida, and Sue joined me. We have fun going places and seeing new sights, including some Disc Golf at FAU in Jupiter. :) We had our Son, Billy and his girl griend Andrea along with daughter, Katie and her husband Chris spend Christmas week - mostly at the beach! Now it is actually January 1st and we need to re-clean the house, then plan to play with our neighbor's two small boys, and go to the beach later with Haley, the small dog who has us trained. ;)))
We wish everyone who reads this blog a happy and prosperous 2013. Let's continue to pray for our government leaders that they would do the right thing for us...

Five(5) months since last post!! Time sure flies. I worked hard on getting the Jupiter property acceptable, which included public sewer (EXPENSE), public water (More EXPENSE) and replacing potties, faucet, shower heads, etc. Left on July13/14 for NC and spent over two(2) months fixing, replacing, painting, cleaning, caulking, carpeting, re-cleaning, etc, etc on the Raleigh property. Finally got a tenant we think will be good. We offered a carrot and a stick: pay rent on or before due date, take a $50 discount every month. Pay after due date but before 5 days have elapsed, pay the regular rent, but pay after the 5th day, pay a penalty of $50. First two months have be on or before the due date, and we know because the rent gets deposited into our bank account we set up just for the tenant! Beautiful... Spent another 10 days or 2 weeks in Cary at a young girl's old apartment, and helped her move her stuff to the new Raleigh digs. Played a LOT of Disc Golf, mostly at the Rotary Park course off Millbrook in north Raleigh. It's a really nice course, challenging but I birdied there a few times! Got my son, Bill III addicted to the sport as well. Sue and I moved Happy Ours, our 34 ft Catamaran, from Washington, NC to Deltaville, VA over the course of four days up the Intracoastal Waterway. It was both fun and work, and a little hairy towards the end of the second day when we took a wrong turn getting to the Dismal Swamp Canal and ran into a dead end, over a prop-clogging choke of water weeds, and it was turning from dusk to dark-o'clock! We were able to finally get to the southern lock just after dark using our 2 million candle-power spotlight, but ran its battery low. :) Anchor dragged there so we tied off to a tree overnight and of course made the first opening at 8:30 AM. Got through the canal and as far as Portsmouth where we tied up to a nearby dock at the ferry terminal overnight. We walked Haley and ended up at the 1940s movie theater which is way cool. We were too late for the dinner and movie but had already eaten and vowed to return someday and enjoy that pleasure. Last day we made it to the Stingray Point Boat Works and Happy Ours is there still, now on the hard, awaiting a new owner - and it could be you! Contact me for details. The next morning, we left early for McCotter's Marina where Sue got her car and headed for the Lake and I headed to Florida. I was able to make it to Jacksonville before stopping at a Red Roof Inn to get some very much needed rest. I am back home now in Jupiter, FL still working on the place, but mostly landscaping now, although I want to replace both bathroom sink faucets, eventually. Warmth is good, I am back at Church, and attending a Bible Study Wednesday nights, a senior dinner on Fridays, where I help with set up, serving, and cleanup, and, well, Life is Good...Sue is coming down in just about 2 weeks to spend some time and possibly work at the local hospital. She'll stay here in Jupiter, which is a Good Thing!

Closed on the Jupiter property 4/20/2012 via email! Got the emailed reply that the keys were in a lock box on the door with a combo lock. Wierdest closing I have ever been involved in! But, it is mine now. Need to move the folding doors on the laundry area out to accomodate the new stacking washer/dryer, clean the mold behind the stove, etal, clean the floors and baths, sort out the storm shutters, fix the fence/gate on south side of house, trim the palms off the wires, install the ice maker box behind fridge, clean windows and their blinds, install two missing blinds, and most importantly, get the well water clean and potable. WIP...but here it is May 10th and I am still not done, but instead find myself in Washington NC on board my boat. It has been hauled, hulls polished and waxed and shown to buyers. It is FOR SALE! Sue will join me tomorrow and we'll go to the outer banks on Saturday...probly to John's for lunch. Love that girl...life sure throws its curve balls, eh!?? :)

Got a text from my Realtor later on Thursday to check my email. Did that. The coneheads at FNMA must have been over-ruled by real, thinking adults, because someone accepted my counter to their counter and it looks like the property in the pic below will be mine after all! :) More when I know more, but so far I've only had the well-water tested and it is totally absent of bacteria, which is a very Good Thing! Now I need to get someone to pump the septic tank, then I get new filters for the well water system, and start shopping for a few appliances (refridge, washer&dryer, and vacuum) and a temporary bed, probably a blow-up from Wal-Mart. ;)

I finally found a property that is in great condition, about 1300 SF, 3 beds, 2 full baths, small but nice lot well off the main roads for under $100K ! (See the Pic below) Made an offer of their asking price, but they insisted I be an owner occupant and not an investor. I signed an document stating I would live there full time. Would an investor do that? Then they wanted $10K security deposit. WTF ! I am not an investor who has that kind of cash just lying around. So now I am back in the market. Anyways, Sue sent me a box with more clothes, bathing suits, and stuff, including some candy. :) I am wondering now if I should maybe look at the west coast instead, but I've made a commitment here until May 19th, so may as well keep looking. I think I'll concentrate on Jupiter...

Well almost a week's gone by. I found this cute home in Jupiter, FL. It is almost 1300 SF, 3 beds, 2 full bath, on a small but adequate lot well off the main road for under $100K ! I offered their asking price, but they came back with a request that I cough up $10K as a deposit/security payment before they even approved or accepted my offer. I told them to pound sand and I am still looking. I think I'd prefer Jupiter now, as all the properties I've seen in WPB area are all 40 to 60 years old and need a LOT of updating. On top of that the owners and/or banks are asking way too much for these old dumps. I am starting to lose interest in this area. Maybe I should look on the west coast!? Then, to really make my day, I get a bill from my attorney (who told me it would cost me only $650 from offer to settlement, for another $171.15 ! Have I mentioned that attorneys are worse than sewer rats...

Happy Spring 2012 to my readers. I left the boat last Friday, early morning, and traveled the I-95 down to West Palm Beach where my new landlord, Lee, totally screwed me and hung me out to dry. He said he was very sorry, but the current house tenant wanted the whole house and not me to share it. So what to do now?? I rented a room at Motel8 for $110 bucks! Then reserved Sat night at the Red Roof using a free night certificate, and paid for Sunday night there, about $88 bucks. Over the weekend I contacted dozens of rentals, but no one wanted to rent to me month-2-month, only annual or semi-annual. I finally found a studio apartment in Singer Island for $850 a month, with a two month minimum. I am here now. :) It is very nice, only about a tenth of a mile from the beach, and only 2 1/2 miles from Lake Park, FL where I am actively house hunting. Bummer that I still have not found something, after looking at several dozen properties in the WPB to Jupiter areas, but I have high hopes. The pic is the place I am renting until I can find a property to purchase...one I can afford and that does not require too much to return it to livable condition. Damned shame what these "owners" have done to homes, vis-a-vis last post of mine, which I'll not repeat. The weather is gorgeous and I am having some good times. I am missing Sue a lot though.... Hope to see her soon, perhaps.

Had an inspection done on the Lake Park property in West Palm Beach, Fl. Results are a bummer, as the roof is/was infiltrated by vermin and termites. Electrical panel box not to code and wasn't permitted. Window installed in knee wall of family room structurally unsound. House looked Ok to me, but it is a pit into which someone will throw great piles of money. I think not me. Damn, I thought it would be my new home...love the Lake Park area, but alas this one isn't it. Too bad. So many people were able to buy homes on easy credit, but they never should have gotten that credit nor lived in the houses. They had no idea how to maintain it, and repairs and additions were all done on the cheap, by people who had no friggin clue what they were doing. So now we have hundreds, no thousands of what might have been wonderful homes that are literally rotting away due in large part to ignorance and stupidity. Stupid people wanting what they could not afford, and stupid lenders loaning to people who they had to know could never pay them back. The result is empty homes with bugs and vermin crawling through them. What a huge loss, and very disappointing to folks like me... sorry, enough of this and I'll step off the soap box now. Just pissed at stupidity of it all. At least the foreseeable weather forecast is for daytime temps in the 70s and the 50s at night. Nice...

Wind pushing the tide and water east out of Broad Creek into the Pamlico river and out to the sound! Happy Ours is sitting in the mud. It is very windy and feels quite cold, like head cap and gloves cold, to me! However, the sun is out and its a mostly blue sky. Saw 2 large turtles during my walk around McCotters Rd loop, and one large sloop way over on her side off keel due to the very low waters. Making plans to see Vocalmotion at tomorrow's matinee in Cary, NC. I once sang in that group and its their 20th year! May play a round of Disc Golf in Rocky Mount, NC on Monday. See how the starboard hull is practically in mud at the bow? That's dark mud under the finger pier!

Played Disc Golf again today in Williamston NC. Last Monday I was playing in New Bern NC. Today's course was very woodsy with a lot of water hazards, but I didn't lose a disc! :) I've de-cluttered Happy Ours and will clean the interior. She'll show better. Still no offers, but I listed her with McCotters Marina now. So I will need to ask a little more for her, as they get 10% of the sale price! No word yet from the bank that holds the mortgage on that Florida property. I'm hoping they'll approve the sale as is...heck the 2300 sf home next door sold last year for the same $/sf... We'll see. I think spring is right around the corner. Let's hope it is... I'll post a pic of one of the disc golf courses when it is loaded on the computer...horse farm next door. Of the 3 pics I took I think this is the best. I'm looking over the horse field toward the first tee/hole, which is on the right wooded area off center of the middle clearing, if that makes any sense. The course started on the right, but most of it is in the woods way back on the left. It was fun, but not worth a second play IMHO... :)

Yup, I went and made an offer on a 1518 SF home on fairly large lot (for FL) in Lake Park. It has 4 bedroom, 2 baths, living room, combinations dining area and den (larger than living room), and laundry room off the small kitchen. There's a large mango tree in the backyard, and a coconut palm full of nuts in the front yard next to the circular driveway (on the right in pic). large fenced back yard with a large patio next to the house. Lots of room for a future pool and fruit trees. It's in a really nice, well maintained neighborhood, only 1/2 mile from the AICW, 1 mile from two marinas, a Tiki bar, and 2.6 miles from the Riviera Beach. the Publix, Winn-Dixie, center of town, and post office are all within 1 mile or less, as are several parks. Nice. OK, it does need work, as it was built in 1954 and has not been updated. But it's livable, central heat and A/C, and will be a fun project. Just waiting on the Lender's approval of this short-sale. Seems like most of Florida homes I've looked at are short-sales or foreclosures. OMG, I hope his economy improves with the new Administration next year! Anything will be better than what we've got! :) How's that hope and change workin' for YOU!?

Well, another month has flown by. I check out of the hotel tomorrow morning and will head for West Palm Beach, FL for at least a week. I plan to spend some day(s) house hunting. There is a small home on Chickasaw in Jupiter that may be a good choice. We'll know on Friday. Went to the Bonefish Grill in Kissimmee/southern Orlando and had the monkfish. DELISH! Spoke with my son, Bill, too. He is not feeling too well and may need surgery. OMG. I am praying for him. I've enjoyed central Florida, but I think the coast might be a better choice. The weather is perfect, but then, it is abnormally warm for the entire USA due to the northerly position of the Jet stream. So next winter could be quite different. Still, the normal lows here are highs back in NC! And that's a Good Thing. I've had several nibbles on the boat, but no big bites, yet. Must be the economy, stupid...
BTW, I used the attached picture for my Twitter account: @billcooper813
Have a great day! See yawl in the near future.

I spent about an hour or so in Old Town. It is a couple of streets of shops, restaurants, and bars like old Florida used to be. Saturday nights a gaggle of old restored automobiles gather there as well. It was really cool to see old GTOs, Thunderbirds, Corvettes, and supped-up cars and pickups. Very fancy! I also walked thru a flea market, but it was all new-style Chinese junk...not the floating kind. ;))) Picture taken by phone, so no flash, but you get the picture...

Went to Celebration, FL again. Been there a couple times now. Enjoy the walking paths, and scenery. Took some pics. Not sure they properly convey the area, but it is of the main town. Pretty nice, but housing prices are steep. They are getting about 100K for a one bedroom condo, which also includes condo fees, Celebration town fees, and of course, real estate taxes. So, I won;t be buying here... :)

Aye, 'tis me own blog after all, maties! Went to Reptile World for $6.75, which sounds like a deal, but considering it is January and all the reptiles are hibernating... Anyway, the inside snake exhibit was pretty cool, and I saw what had to be an 8 to 10 ft alligator, behind a chain link fence, thankfully. I love the central Florida weather. It has been in the mid 70s to lower 80s and mostly sunny.