July 2 to Aug 2

Sometimes life moves slowly and other times life moves quickly. The month of July was a flash of intense energy for me. On the 2nd of July we left our apartment in Playa del Carmen in advance of a hurricane that was heading that way.  We were fortunate to get a plane ticket out of Cancun. We chose to go to Las Vegas because it had  a stop in Mexico City  that would not require us to drag our multiple suitcases through customs as all the other flights would require.

Since my brother lives in Las Vegas it was perfect as we got to visit him for a few days and then we rented a one-way car to Palm Springs where we have a storage unit . While  I was still in Playa Del Carmen,  I was looking at Zillow because I wanted to move back to Palm Desert, though actually my intuition inclined me to Sun City Shadow Hills.

Initially I was hoping a real estate agent friend could find me a place, but when I didn’t hear from her, I decided to check my own real estate license to see if it was still valid. It was valid. I called my old company and filled out the papers online, so when I arrived here in Palm Desert I was already a HoneSmart agent.

Robert and I went to a few  open houses because I was waiting for my clicker app to be activated. As soon as it was activated, we went to a house  that we wanted to see, but I couldn’t operate it. I had forgotten what you push or how to push the button on the device that opens.

I called the listing agent and she was kind enough to come over to help us get in. Though I was somewhat embarrassed that as a real estate agent I couldn’t even operate the basic tool, I told the agent that Robert and I had been out of the country for 3 years, we had sold our houses, given our furniture away, and that I hadn’t even thought of real estate in those three years.  But now we were coming back and needed a home. She said well since you don’t have any furniture or it or anything maybe this would be a good place for you, as the owner died and his son doesn’t want any of the furniture in the house.

The house has an office room and a extra little room.  I thought the little room would be a perfect office for me and the bigger room would make a great place for our backswing, inversion table, vibration platform, free weights and other tools that we use for our health and well-being.

Before we had a chance to make a firm decision or really explore other houses, my brother called me and told me that he saw a house in Palm Springs that he wanted to make an offer on. He wanted me to be the real estate agent for the deal. Right away,  Robert and I drove to Las Vegas so that the purchase offer could be signed on paper ( brother’s request) and a few days later we made our own  purchase offer on the house in Sun City Shadow Hills.

 Both of the offers have been accepted, so I have two deals in escrow now.  From the time that we even thought about making those offers, I’ve been playing catch up to keep up with the paperwork, to remember how you do digital signing, create contracts, addenda, and so on – all things that I knew well a few years ago and still know, but the retrieval process is ongoing as the mental files were covered by a whole lot of Spanish language learning, archaeological sites, and cultural things that I was learning about the country in which  I spent the past 3 years.

From hanging out in the blue walled apartment in Playa del Carmen, where I had nothing to do but rest, play with my sewing machines, and go on walks to the ocean, I have been really moving and so has Robert. 

It’s amazing what can happen in a single month!

I don’t know what normal is going to look like in the future but I am really looking forward to moving into the house we chose.

In the meantime we are really enjoying the condo that we rented in Ironwood Country Club. It’s low season and nobody is here. It’s totally quiet and beautiful. The walks that we take in the evening and morning reveal the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises with mountains all around. We  will be leaving here around the 15th of August, when we move into our new home.