So it is the next to last day of our vacation and we know exactly what we're looking for; a house or land in the Puntas area of Rincon for under $100k. We drove the 3 streets that go down the hill from the 413 to the beaches and saw plenty of Se Vende signs with phone numbers, but mostly no answers or prices way beyond our means. At 10am we met with our realtor, Greg to look inside the house we drove by the day before.
He didn't have much nice to say about it. No one had lived there for awhile, it would take upwards of $20k to get it in livable condition, the driveway and condition of the house itself was questionable and he couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't slip down the hill the next hurricane season. But we liked it. The main part of the house had 2 small bedrooms and 1 bathroom. There was a small kitchen and 3 other rooms. In a seperate apartment downstairs was another bathroom and 2 more rooms with a kitchenette. The condition was terrible, there were cracks in the concrete and spots where rebar ws showing through. The roof needed repair and water damage was everywhere. Nothing upstairs was salvagable, it would have to be gutted.
But near the driveway a large Flamboyan tree shaded the south side of the house and gave off vibrant red flowers while hiding any view of the southern neighbors house. The veranda was a small walkway on the east side of the house that looked down over a small valley of jungle and the sea beyond. Down the hill, what once was a terraced landscape was overgrown with Flamboyan saplings, weeds and banana trees. I knew the view alone was worth the $139k asking price. As the cliche of a million dollar view came to mind, this house was beginning to seem like a bargain.
Later we ran into Steve, the owner of the Lazy Parrot and asked him if he knew anyone who could give us a quick assessment of the condition of the structural elements of the house. We were just looking for assurances that it wouldn't fall down the hill in the next hurricane season. He told us he had done construction work in Texas before he came to own the lazy Parrot and would be happy to look at the house for us. 15 minutes later we were at the house and Steve was telling us how he had put in the tile floor of the lower apartment for a woman who was renting it and working at the Lazy Parrot.
Now usually when things come together like this, I run away. There are too many coincidences, nothing is coincidence..., blah, blah, blah. But as I linked the dots to us getting to this point, it even sounds crazy to me, but it seemed clear that it was our destiny to own this house! Once Steve assured us of the house's relatve stability, we began working with the numbers.
The original asking price was $178k, recently reduced to $139k. We could come up with about $90k cash, but didn't want to have to take a loan out. Speaking with the realtor who had the listing, we wondered aloud if a $90k offer would be insulting. He didn't seem to think so and we went to Island West to make up an offer.
That night we packed our bags for the trip back to Los Angeles. Not wanting to set ourselves up for a big let down, we didn't put much hope in the offer being accepted, but we did wonder how long it would take to hear back. We discussed various scenarios; what kind of counter-offer could be made, how could we come up with more money, was this the right thing to do? We've only been here 4 days, this is CRAZY!
The next day we drove to San Juan and spoke of little else other than the small slice of paradise that was just within reach. If only! We leaned against each other at the American Airlines terminal waiting for our flight to board, waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for something to break up the spell we had been put under. And then the phone did ring, I watched Cyndi's face as tears welled up and she began to jump up and down. The offer was accepted, the house on the hill in the middle of paradise was ours.
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