We got into Daytona Beach Saturday night in the pouring rain--truly torrential downpours. Fortunately, it stopped long enough for us to get set up. We were staying at a very expensive resort-- that was just AWFUL! Fortunately, we had a concrete pad--as the other sites were on the soggy grass. But, it was surrounded by huge trees--so, no TV for 4 days--and our nights were sleepless with pieces of pine trees crashing on our roof. At least our days were busy--so we didn't really have to spend much time hating our campsite. We were trying to cram in a weeks worth of looking in 3 days.
Sunday was so awful---pouring rain, again--nothing really looked very inviting. With the rain and gray skies, even the waterfront homes looked depressing. We did find a few good dive bars. On Sunday, we stopped at a place on the Ponce Inlet (the inlet across from Daytona and Port Orange)-- a place called "Boondocks". They let us bring Chloe into the bar and we spent a lot of time talking with the locals and getting some good info about the area. One of the women at the bar stopped by to chat with Chloe---turns out she's a realtor--so we decided to give her a try. Can you believe--the realtor that we have been emailing for the past few weeks--never did call us!! I thought the market was depressed--but this agent couldn't even find the time to call us back!! I'd even done all the work for her--sending her the listings that we wanted to see. All she had to do was schedule the appointments.
Our first stop was in Daytona--a HUGE house on the ICW. The house was built in 1933--2600 SF, 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths. This place not only had the huge main house, but a garage, a shed AND a 2 story "guest cottage"--with 1400 SF, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath. The place was being rented--by some not so wonderful renters. They had a fight the other week and the guy had kicked the door in. They weren't in, so we couldn't see inside--but we peeked in the windows--what a disaster! But--the property was amazing. The lot was so large that he had rented out spots in his yard to bike weekers to park their trailers... I told John that we could host our own rally there!! Interesting place, but a bit much for us, I think.
The "Guest House"--right on the ICW
So, we were off to meet Pam and see several properties in Port Orange (just south of Daytona--and evidently the safest, lowest crime place around). The first house was GORGEOUS! It was a two story Victorian right on the ICW with a boat house and dock, wrap around verandas on the first and second floor--and such a warm and wonderful feeling. He even had approved plans for a guest cottage in the rear of the property. The lot was huge--87 feet of riverfront but went back 490 feet! It had a two car garage (with a huge storage space above--could also be used for a guest room) and a shed. The lot was so big, you could have both a guest cottage and RV parking. But, the price was a bit much and even though it had a new roof and had obviously been well-cared for, it would have been alot of work to maintain.
Believe it or not, the next place was right next door--a gorgeous Southern style house--two huge verandas and BRAND NEW--just built in 2002 by an engineer--it was SO gorgeous--and so well built! It had a wonderful open floor plan on the first floor and 3 bedrooms upstairs.
After our full day, we headed to Boondoggles, had two carafes of wine (we did share some with Pam) and decided that we probably aren't ready for home ownership quite yet. I must get all of these random thoughts into some kind of spreadsheet -- as well as try to get some sense of what it would cost us to have a house and continue our motorhoming....lots to think about....
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