Ah, to be a home owner again. We're longing for the day we have our own place again.It will soon be a year that we left Shaws Creek and it seems longer. Waiting for what you dream about is never easy but the little house on the River Road was a fun interlude in a gorgeous setting. It had its draw backs,(the furnace was broken and would have killed us with fumes had we used it)but all in all we both enjoyed our time there.It was cozy and cute.
This old casita we are renting now has quite a checkered past. Because it's been a rental property for so long, things that we would fix immediately have been patched together as cheaply as possible,tolerated or just neglected. There have been a litany of problems to address and that's where being at renter is a drag. The toilets have overflowed, the kitchen faucet broke and the roof leaked. Oh yes I forgot about the collapsing shelves that caused all the crockery to smash on the flagstone floor. Particle board is not a tropics friendly material!It just absorbs too much moisture, softens and collapses.Being supported on a tiny screw isn't useful either. Luckily the wine bottlw didn't break.
Our neighbour, Justin has taken over fairly recently as the super and he has really been working hard to get things repaired and up to par, as much as is feasible. He has had to deal with a broken gate, bees under our roof, a leaky, noisy broken water pump for the watertank, an overflowing septic tank and a broken drainage pipe that secumbed to powerful old tree roots right behind our house. While he was busy fixing that, the water company showed up to say that the water bill hadn't been paid since 2007 and they were going to cut off the water. The owners rep thought we were on a well so didn't worry that there were no water bills!
Fixing the electrical issues just isn't possible.That's a nightmare that can only be solved by tearing down both houses and starting fresh.
Luckily for the Canadian owners,the property itself is worth a ton of money. It was a very smart buy from that perspective and it's location near the beach can't be beat.The property is in the middle of the Jewish enclave and the houses around us,as previously mentioned ,are worth millons apiece. So again the old adage remains.....location, location, location.
We still have a few months to go before we can move into our own house so we will be thankful the roof doesn't leak (for now) and focus on the positive. We are relaxed, healthy, and enjoying setting our own schedule. The sun is shining so we're off to the beach!
p.s. We are finally going to Panama City this week to get our Panamanian drivers licences. More on that later.
The bedroom closet
The garden and bohio
That's a hoot that no one had paid the water bill since 2007 and they just got around to checking on it now. The rest of the issues you have endured aren't nearly as funny. However, the end is now in sight when you'll be able to move into your own lovely villa. Post more pics of the villa when you get a chance.
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