Melinda Slade

Now that I have property on the coast, I think I need a new more energy efficient vehicle.  I really thought about getting a Hybrid but I can get something that gets good gas mileage cheaper and actually end up saving money in the end that way.  Even it the Hybrid gets better gas mileage, the extra a month in payments will buy a lot of gas, ya know.

I just think I’ll get a new or newer mini van since Keziah will be going to the beach all the time now that I have a place of my own and can take her with me.  I really like the Dodge Grand Caravans and they really don’t do that bad on gas mileage.  Mine has over 200,000 miles on it so I have well gotten my money’s worth on it.  I’ll let you know what I come up with.

While at the beach, I decided to head north a little and see if maybe I could find a little beach cottage in need of repairs back off of the beach a couple blocks for myself or maybe just for an investment.  I have some money put back for such a find and I figure with all the foreclosures and rising everything, now just might be the time to find something, and boy did I?

There’s a small beach just about 35 to 40 or so miles north in North Carolina that I checked out and found not one but two properties side by side.  Both are in great shape and I got them both for a steal.  The same people owned both properties and lived pretty far away.  They were just wanting to get rid of them because of the taxes, up keep and all the usual problems with having property somewhere you don’t personally live and can look after yourself.

The reason I checked into that particular beach is because I have some friends that work in Real Estate there.  They can help me find someone dependable to help look after the place while I’m not there and can even rent one of them for me either by the week or month.  Yeah, I’m pretty happy with myself right now.

I decided to take a break and head to Myrtle Beach SC or a week and really thought I would have a heck of a time finding a place to stay.  I know better than to just head down there and not make a reservation but a friend of mine said I would have a better shot at finding a deal if I just go on down.  She was right too.

Where is everyone?  You would think with school getting ready to start that the beach would be full of either college kids or parents trying to squeeze in one last break but I guess the gas prices, even though they are down a bit and having to buy all the back to school stuff has left Myrtle Beach pretty empty, well for Myrtle Beach that is.  I got a great room on the ocean for what I would have had to pay for a not so nice place a couple blocks off the beach a year or two ago.

Now to settle down on my balcony with a good book, cold drink, with the view of the ocean and I’m in heaven.

Oh yeah, the housing market is in deep you know what.  Fanny Mae posted a loss of $2.3 BILLION dollars and her sister company, Freddie Mac did even worse.  Mortgage companies got greedy and so did the Realtors.  They talked people into buying houses they couldn’t really afford.  It used to be a lot harder to get loans that people didn’t totally qualify for than it was in recent years and I’m sure it will be again.  There are going to be a lot of empty houses now and a lot of developers that are going to lose their pants betting on new constructions selling that now won’t be able to.  What a waste and what a shame for those that only want a home of their own.

I have had this house for about 3 months on the market and it has been sitting empty all this time.  Finally I get someone that wants to see it and so I take them over to show them the house.  I have had someone keep the yard mowed so the grass doesn’t get out of hand and there wouldn’t be any unwanted critters around.  Or so I thought.

It seems that there was someone staying in the house after all.  We walk into the front door and there in the kitchen floor is about a 3 foot long black snake.  Well I must admit I am a little afraid of snakes.  Okay, I am terrified of them and start screaming like a little girl and dancing around like I had ants in my pants or something.  This in turn scared the ever living daylights out of the woman and her husband because they didn’t see what I was screaming about or have any idea what was there.  Once the husband saw it, he reached down, picked it up by the back of the head, took it out of the door with his wife behind him and they left.  Needless to say, no deal, and no sale.  Now I just gotta figure out where that darn thing got in so that won’t happen again