Thursday, February 25, 2016

2015 Road Trip.....Day 11

If you want to catch up on this Road Trip Series use these links--
Part 1 PA to WV
Part 2 WV to KY
Part 3 KY to TN
Part 4 TN to AR
Part 5 AK to LA
Part 6 LA Sights
Part 7 More in LA
Part 8 More Day 10


At least I think it was Day 11.
It's so long ago now, who the heck knows! lolz
But I digress.....

Day 11 found us off on an adventure, Hubs and I and our Louisiana realtor.

We only had 1 day to look at properties but she got us information on a bunch of listings earlier in the week and we narrowed what we wanted to look at down to 4.
She also threw in a 5th house to see after we met up that morning, seeing as it was in our price range and we were literally driving past it during our day.

Here we are driving out of Shreveport.


Can you see the bumper sticker on that car ahead?


Community brand coffee is very popular down here.

We met the realtor at 9 am in a little town an hour away, east and north from the hotel we were staying at.

Here is our route to the house through this tiny town........


Fireworks and New Stuff inside a Comfy Store...lol


More Community Coffee sightings!


And a Piggly Wiggly right next to a "Sad" Store(Dollar General).


And we finally arrive at the house and the realtor doesn't arrive for another 45 mintues. grrrrr.
This older small home was on 4 acres.
The realtor couldn't get through to the listing agent as she was on vacation in Hawaii and no one from her office responded with the lockbox code.
Lovely.
So we wasted all that time and effort driving to a house we couldn't see inside. sigh.

The yard/lot was nice though.

 Mostly fenced in.

And the property ran all the way to the next block and the main road but the house was far enough from the road not to have noise issues from traffic.


Though at the fringes of town it was close enough "in town" so that you could walk or bike to stores.

So then we were off following the realtor's car westward over the Red River.


Louisiana had months and months of drenching rains last Spring and Summer and it shows in this shot of the Red River.......


The river was very far over it's banks and into the treeline beyond.

No point showing you the one the realtor added to the day as it was a "no way-no how" for us.  Too old, too many bad remodels and no land and right on a main highway.
Moving on...........

The next house held the most possibilities, at least on paper.
The photo on the listing showed a gentle slope up to the house and a rope swing in the foreground.
What it didn't show was that the area right next to the road when you pull off onto the driveway was a swamp.........


Perhaps not a swamp most times of the year, but after 4 months of nothing but rain, it's a swamp.

Here is the side front of the house....we had to go around through the back as there was a sofa and debris blocking the front door.


And here is what is behind the house.....a fallen apart shell of a mobile home sitting in the yard.
Seller was not removing it or any of the debris filling the house. ugh.


Here's the back porch.........


The kitchen(if you can call it that)......


The main bedroom(I think)......



The house has been abandoned(what they call a "ruin" in Europe)for quite awhile seeing as a wasp has built a nest in the overhead light......lol


The living room?.....


One of the bathrooms.....yes this place is a total gut and redo.  It is missing many windows too but the house seems sound and there is a newish roof on it.  The block foundation needs some work though too.


The property goes back 5 acres worth behind the gutted mobile home.
And this is the nicest feature of the whole deal.........


This lovely large magnolia tree behind the house.

So we get back on the road following the realtor to the next house...



Saw quite a few log trucks going through town.......


As well as oil wells and storage tanks.......


Get to the next property, which was suppose to be a 10 acre lot.
Had trouble actually finding where it was, as it was tucked back behind another lot along the highway with a gravel access road leading to the land........


Surprise, surprise, there is a derelict house on the land too! lolz
So overgrown we couldn't even get to the house though, let alone the 9+ acres behind it.  Might be a tear down, might not be, who knows?

So we break for lunch at Arby's......


A chicken salad sandwich......so exciting, right?

Then we were to meet up at the last house of the day but we got lost even with the GPS.

Called the realtor and finally got there.....

The grounds were groomed and the driveway was well maintained and the property was totally fenced in.

The house however was an older single wide mobile home.

It had a nicely maintained deck with an awning/shade over the bulk of it.


Two metal storage buildings and a lean-to shelter too....


Nice big lot(3 acres I think I remember?).....


The owner had moved out of the mobile home and was living in an RV parked behind the trailer until the property sold.


The problem, besides the house being a single wide was the master bedroom...

There was not enough room/configured to hold a king sized bed which is what we have/prefer.
Also there was no door between the master bath and the bedroom and carpet in the bathroom....euwwww!
So this won't work for us.
sigh.

So we went back to the hotel to refresh ourselves before picking Daughter up for dinner.
We hit a Chinese/Asian Buffet in town and I finally got to have my crawfish........



My fortune..........


And a selfie to commemorate the visit...........


Thus ended Day 11.

Sluggy

9 comments:

  1. looking at retirement properties? the locked out of one looks nice from the outside, like the carport and there seems to be a screened in front porch. the others . . . I'd pass

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We didn't make offers on any of these. It was just our first "toe in the water" around there.

      Delete
  2. I have friends who have retired to TN and they love it there! Lower cost of living. Lower taxes etc. They are very happy there.
    Good luck on your house hunting. Some of those properties look questionable. But I have no doubt you will find your gem!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I meant LA, not TN. Oops. Please add this to my original comment. Thx.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Funny but we are considering TN as well. For other reasons I can't go into yet LA may be out as a future retirement location.

      Delete
  4. And I thought my house was messy!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh boy. Are you moving there because it's close to your daughter? My soninlaw hails from near Lafayette, Louisiana- I've only been to New Orleans myself. Also are you sure you want a lot of property to maintain? Believe me as you age, it gets harder!!! I lucked out moving to a small town with lots of resources for seniors- doctors, bus system, council on aging activities, festivals ever weekend, nice YMCA, great schools and not terrible traffic. We also have a small college for cultural events, an Aldi's and big outlet mall. Are there many transplants where you are moving? Local here still consider you a 'northerner' for sometime and I've lived here since '97.Just some things to ponder- medical facilities should really be important too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Considering that place yes, to be near Daughter.
      We do want some land(will keep most of it natural as a barrier between us and neighbors). We have just begun to explore though and are considering all what you mention.
      And btw-I am NOT a Yankee. I was born and raised in the South so only Hubs would stick out. lolz Hell, I've been in PA since 1986 and they still don't accept me here...but I can live with that.

      Delete

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