Our Tomato plants live a hard life. They are forced to live in a cage and in that prison they call home, they are constantly under attack; the bugs, the iguanas, the lack of rain, the dogs, the topsoil…and now me. Yummy Tomatoes!
Popularity: 39% [?]
It seems so long ago that we were trying to get a mortgage for this house that it is hard to believe it has almost been a year since we were approved. It really was a very difficult task getting our mortgage from a Puerto Rico bank. You see, because the house was under construction, no bank would give us a traditional mortgage. They all wanted to give us a Construction Loan (if at all) which would have racked up a 17% interest rate along with hazard insurance, progress reports to the bank and check lists which we would be required to complete on the monthly basis. It was serious stuff, and as this is our first construction venture, we weren’t ready for that type of commitment.
After much research, dozens of phone calls and emails, we got in touch with a Puerto Rico mortgage company which would grant us our loan (traditional, 30 year fixed rate at 6%) but they had a few stipulations to ensure we finished our house and didn’t take the money to the Bacardi factory in San Juan and drown out the noise of our newly purchased generator with rum. They required us to give them about 20% of the homes value in an interest baring CD account with them that they would hold for two years (we make the interest, but our money is tied up) and another 12% as collateral that we would finish the construction to their specifications. It was a bit of a shady situation, but after 6 months of trying for a mortgage (with impeccable credit and a large amount of money saved) we decided if we wanted to buy the Sector Vargas property we were going to have to trust the Puerto Rico mortgage company that would sell our mortgage to Banco Popular as soon as we closed the deal and they made their commisions.
Well, after giving the bank most of our cash/savings, we had to spend our present income on completing the house. This gave us a monthly budget (which we somehow managed to exceed on the regular basis) to complete our bathrooms, kitchen, flooring, electrical, plumbing, excavation etc. Well, come January, we had to hold off on dumping money into the house so we could pay taxes (we are both business owners so the tax man is always a bit of a mystery to us until our fiscal year is done).
Because we exceeded our monthly budget, I spent a good portion of my tax savings on the house, and realized that in order for me to make my taxes on time without penalty, the bank was going to have to issue us our Certificate of Occupancy which would lead to a refund of our initial deposit (about 12%). Summer knew we were going to make it just fine, but we hadn’t finished all of the required items on Banco Populars Popular Mortgage to-do list so I started going into the bank about a month ago telling them that the economy isn’t what it was and that I shouldn’t be required to complete all of the things they want me to do to the house. I talked them into sending an inspector out to the house, and with some well placed barking dogs, the inspector saw everything he needed to see to approve our Certificate of Occupancy!
Banco Popular / Popular Mortgage issued me a refund check on Friday, ten days after approving our Certificate of Occupancy.
Popularity: 50% [?]
Are you afraid of electricity? Probably not, especially if you have only flipped light switches and plugged in blenders. Well, when I decided to tackle the task of finishing up the bathroom downstairs, I suddenly got a little nervous. I guess 110 volts isn’t going to take me out, but I learned my lesson about electricity the hard way as a kid shortly after I started peeing on an electric fence in Vermont at Shearer Hill Farm (now a Vermont Bed and Breakfast AND I didn’t see the fence through all the tall grass).
So, with some traumatizing childhood memories creeping around the back of my mind, I turned on the existing light in the downstairs bathroom and double checked that our Circuit Breaker Legend was correct in saying that breaker 18 would cut off power to that entire room. Indeed, it was correct and I started the task of installing a switch, an outlet and the vanity light over the mirror.
I have to say, DIY Projects (Do It Yourself - For those of you who aren’t in the know, I am glad we could be of assistance) have been made much easier by big box stores like Home Depot. As much as I hate going into that place, they have people that can help you with basic questions AND the light we bought for the vanity came with things called “speed clips”. Instead of splicing and dicing the wires, you simply take the wires that are hanging out of the wall and slide them in these little plastic clips until they CLICK and they are locked in. Put up your level, make sure your fixture is lined up with the sink, screw it in, put the bulb covers on (those were a pain because of the material they are made out of…righty tighty lefty loosey) and TA-DAAAA! Your vanity light is installed and operational.
Popularity: 36% [?]
Stefan and I went to prom! There was an 80’s Prom themed party at The Pool Bar and it was richter! Everyone got dressed up in their best 80’s gear and the prom was on…
Here’s a little video of everyone getting down to “Thriller”:
Popularity: 37% [?]
Stefan and I were surfing some secret river mouth the other day and came across a ton of coconut palms that were uprooted by the monster swell that just passed. So, we carried this orphaned palm home and gave him a new spot.
Hopefully he’ll like it here!
Popularity: 36% [?]
Cheech has really taken to hunting and has been leaving us daily presents of lizard remains:
Popularity: 28% [?]
As Summer mentioned, we had to stop spending money on big things to save for taxes, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t working. Even though progress on the construction slowed down, Summer and I have been sweating it out planting more trees, watering and weeding. I have come to enjoy walking around the yard in the morning (when there is no surf), drinking my coffee and watering our young trees.
It takes me about an hour and a half to water every new plant and tree in the front and back yard. I know that seems like a long time, but watering (and daydreaming about what it will look like in 5 years) puts me in a meditative state where I plan my work day, problem solve on projects I am working on and just plain old gets my day started right.
One of the tough things about planting in the dry season, is actually keeping the soil around the plants moist. When Eddie was down, he suggested we put old palm fronds around our plants to create shade for the roots. Upon that suggestion, I have been collecting palm fronds and placing them over areas that need to have shade from the son. It is much more economical than buying expensive cedar wood chips.
Because the soil stays moist around all of the plants that have shade around the root structure, they are less stressed and are growing well.
Popularity: 25% [?]
Things have slowed down in regards to work being done on the house, but we are ramping back up to going full steam ahead!
For the first 3 months of construction, we were spending around $1000 per day, so you can image how financially exhausting that can be. And, there is the unknown cost of the tax man that has been looming over us as well (That is one thing I hate about owning a business…you never really know how much you’re going to be indebt to the government at the end of the year). Stefan has his taxes all hammered out now, and I’m in CA working with my accountant to get the last few details of my taxes finalized, so it’s time to get back to work on the house (aka: resume spending $$$)!
I was feeling like nothing was getting done for the past couple of months, so I have set up a daily “To Do” list that has really helped Stefan and I to motivate. With such a big project as building a house, I would often find myself wandering around in circles trying to figure out what to do and then just giving up because I couldn’t figure out where I should start. So, I give Stefan and myself small tasks to do each day, and it has helped resume progress on the house. For example, some of the little things we have done: Hung artwork in the master bedroom, built and installed surfboard racks, installed light fixtures, hung mirror in downstair bathroom, etc.
I’m totally a list person :).
Popularity: 25% [?]
Okay. The website is OFFICALLY moved over to our new server and is working properly again. Sorry for the delay…Back to your regularly scheduled program: Ca2Pr.com!
Popularity: 22% [?]
We finally got the transfer complete today! You may have noticed that the site was off line for a couple of hours. Thankfully, Summer was determined to make this happen for us…and she got it done!
Hopefully I won’t get writers block…a lot has been going on these past two weeks.
Update: Our links aren’t working. Aaaaaaack!
Popularity: 21% [?]
