House Hunting Interlude

Day 4 in Puerto Rico and we’re ready to buy a home!

That’s why we moved from Kansas, to actually reside in PR for a chunk of years. Where I could write full time by the sea. Although we love our rental here in the mountains, we want to be near the beach.

Ocean view from the condo community we like.

Near the beach? Not just that, we want an ocean view! We didn’t travel 2,300 miles to settle for ‘just a short drive’ to the water. We want to walk out our condo and dig our toes in the sand within minutes.

So today we went house hunting. (Vacation day!) I should have recorded it and submitted it to HGTV Beachfront Bargain Hunters. We’d connected with a reputable realtor here in PR before we left Wichita. Julie is also a research fiend and loves to scope out properties online. She’s toured the island a hundred times, I’m sure. Virtually, that is.

Where we're staying now and where we hope to live.

Last year, we stayed in an AirBnB in a condo community near Vega Baja on the northern coast, about an hour west of San Juan. We loved it. I think we were there only one night but in the back of our minds, we knew it would definitely be a place we could land if we ever moved to PR. We also stayed at different regions around the island just to be sure, but Vega Baja kept calling to us.

Well, as I mentioned in a previous entry, we pulled the trigger last fall and started making plans to move here. We arrived to our new life on Saturday, June 18. Today is Wednesday, June 22, and we think we found our dream condo. Out of the three condos the realtor showed us (they call them apartamentos here), we chose Door #2. Was that too fast? Well, we haven’t bought it yet, but we’ve started the process! So we’ll see.

However, it does check off a lot of our boxes (is that the right metaphor?). It’s in our price range; has at least 2 bedrooms (with AC units!); includes kitchen appliances (actually, this one is fully furnished – a bonus!); is just over 1,380 square feet (on two levels); and most importantly: has a rooftop, balcony, and bedroom view of the ocean. Yes!

We spent most of the day thinking, praying, looking, and talking about this potential condo. Needless to say, I didn’t do any writing on A Cauldron of Cats today. So sue me. We were just too jazzed up. Plus, we had some paperwork to look through which consumed a lot of mental energy. I don’t want to speak prematurely, but it looks good so far. We may soon be condo owners!

Now one change since last year – the HOA no longer allows AirBnB rentals. We’re ambivalent about that. In the back of our minds we were thinking we’d make some part time income that way. But on the other hand, this means that 90% of the condos are owned by people who live there. Which is great. Makes for a stable, safe, family-friendly environment.

Besides, as a professional full-time writer, I plan to make a living at this thing before too long. (grin). And I already have my writing nook picked out. One with an ocean view.

~*~

Follow along each day as I post my progress in writing A Cauldron of Cats, Book 2 in my Mister the Magical Cat Series (available for pre-order now; affiliate links used throughout). You can also "Tip a Buck & Get a Book" and I'll send you Book 1 now, Cat Potion No. 9. 

Lyndon Perry is a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. He's a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler to Charlie, a 19 year old orange and white tabby who serves as the inspiration to Mister the Magical Cat. You can find him a variety of places online. Check out his various Linktree Locations and say hello!