Rollercoaster, and Not the Fun Kind

I know, I've written before that this year is definitely not the gold standard for most of us. But I just wanted to give you a little taste from my point of view. Maybe this will serve to explain why my writing has been so sporadic lately. As you may or may not know, it didn't take long for my 2021 to start looking like a dumpster fire. By six weeks into the year, I had become a widow. I mention this not for sympathy, but as necessary background for the rest of this post. 

There's a tawdry side to experiencing the death of a spouse, a financial side. I'm neither the first or last widowed person who will have to find a different place to live because of the loss of income. Heck, it happens to non-widowed people as well, and you all have my sympathy as well as empathy. I thought I saw some light in the tunnel in the form of assistance in paying rent. However, the waiting lists are months long, and I can't qualify anyway because I'm trying to be responsible and have a bit of money in savings. No dice. If you have savings, you can't have help. Such is life.

My train of The Lunatic's Variety of Logical Thinking ended up at a simple little whistle-stop station. If I was going to need to get rid of my money, I might as well try to buy myself a little home. While this isn't what I dreamed of when I was younger, there are tons of places, okay, several, in Florida that are age 55+ manufactured home communities. When Liz was out here on her last visit in September, I found the community where I wanted to live. It's a relatively quiet place on the shore of a huge lake. There's tropical bird-critters and squirrels, and friendly neighbors with adorable dogs. And a home I thought I might like.

I was eager to see inside this home, with its new flooring and remodeled kitchen and two bedrooms and two bathrooms. I eagerly filled out an application to be allowed to move into the community (!), and made an appointment to see "my house." It was just the right size. It also had a huge shed that contained tons of storage shelves, a full-size washer and dryer, and a double sink. The shed was even air-conditioned. A few days after Liz went back to Colorado, I received the news that I was approved by the community to move in, and made an appointment to make a deposit on my place. A few hours later, I received another phone call telling me not to bother coming in. They had left a message for another prospective buyer and she had jumped in her car with her deposit. Man.

Meanwhile, life does go on. My apartment lease had expired, but I had an agreement to go on a month-to-month plan until I had a new home. All I needed to do was let the leasing office know by the end of September if I wanted to stay past October. I went online one day late in September to pay my October rent, and the system said nothing was owing. The leasing office person said the rent amounts hadn't been posted yet and not to worry. A couple of days went by, and still no amount showing. Again I called the leasing office to be told I needed to fill out a form. September 30th rolled around and I received a call from the leasing office telling me my request to stay through November wasn't approved. Apparently due to lots of dropped balls and misinformation, I had been promised the ability to stay in the apartment through October, but nothing was put in the system. And I needed to move out ASAP. Gaaahhhhh!

I calmed down and called back to the office and they conceded that I could stay through October, which was a lot better than you need to be out of here by yesterday. I woke up  the next morning to the sound of my phone ringing - it was the office at the community where I had wanted to buy a home. The other client was unable to get her financing; did I still want to buy the home? Heck, yes, I did! I made an appointment to come with a deposit on Monday and did a mortgage loan application with my bank. By Monday morning, I had received a prequalification letter, and was thrilled to get things rolling. Until I talked to the community representative again. The homeowner, whose property had been on the market for six months already, decided that he didn't want to wait for the process of a loan approval and only wanted to sell to someone who could pay cash.

Since I don't have that amount of money just sitting around looking bored with itself, the deal was off. I am wondering if there was more to this than meets they eye. My mortgage banker informed me that for manufactured home sales in Florida, the owner needed to provide various documents in order for the loan to be approved. Perhaps he couldn't readily obtain them for one reason or another and decided to change to a different plan instead. Less than a week later, the home was no longer available for sale.

Luckily there was no drama with my apartment...wrong! Another phone call asking why my rent was past due and did I want to do anything about it before I was evicted. You see, they had charged me the wrong amount of rent for two months and posted the extra amount owing to the resident application but didn't notify me. Their approach was that since I use the app, I had the ability to know that I had a past due amount. Since my Gram didn't raise me to be a dummy, I quickly made them aware that I wasn't falling for that. Anyone who has paid their rent in a timely manner has no reason to check every day to see if there's any money owing. As it stands, having paid the several hundred extra dollars, I can stay in this apartment through November. I'm planning to contact a realtor to get help finding a home, and hope to find something soon. Frankly, just writing about it has me tired, so it's no wonder I've found myself both wound-up and utterly exhausted from living through it.

As you can see, it's been quite a rollercoaster ride. Not the fun kind like they have at Disney World, but the kind that could possibly leave a person terrified. I'm pleased to report that after each setback or letdown I have eventually managed to regain a calm and positive outlook while still facing reality. Now, if I could only bring that feeling into my mishaps with my grocery deliveries...but that's a different story!

p,s, Please send some positive energy or prayers or whatever you like to call it my way. Every bit of positivity helps. Thank you.

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