06/08/2022
The most common question I'm asked is, "How in the world did you end up in Springhill, La?"
Great question.
Answer:
I was sitting in my living room in October 2021. A rare minute when I wasn't running around like crazy doing something. I had a moment to let my mind run instead. I had been thinking I should probably try to refinance since interest rates were so low. I'd also been chatting with my daughter Brooke a few days prior about her current thoughts about college. She'd been thinking North Texas University for awhile. We had even toured the campus. It's small and in a smallish town but has a great music program and also the other majors she's interested in. But she said she was nervous to leave me so far away. She does battle anxiety and so I thought, "Well, what if I had a little place near her? She'd feel better knowing I was closer and she could enjoy her time at school." I never went away to college. I stayed and went to UCSD because I didn't want to leave my folks. No regrets but I want Brooke to have as many enriching events in her life as possible.
So I called my re fi company and began checking into it. I'd hoped to pull out about 80-85,000.00 to purchase a home somewhere within a 250 mile radius of NTU. Basically Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana. I set my Zillow search perimeters and began to look around while my refi was percolating.
I found a few homes and created a route. By this time I was waist deep into the refi and things were going well.
We decided to drive out to see the land, communities and the few houses I'd seen in my budget, which was now lower than expected. Not much available in Texas these days, but there was a few. The bulk seemed to be in the northwest corner of Louisiana. I called around and found a local realtor there, Stefanie Swinney https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068735840350 and she was super friendly and confident we could find something in my price range. By the way, I highly recommend Stefanie if you find yourself in the market in Northwest Louisiana. She will work really hard to advocate for you and she's a super nice person as well.
We set off for a 9 day 3500 mike journey with my teen Brooke, little guy Parker (4 years old at the time), my truck and some camping gear (cheaper to do a mix of hotels and camping along the way. November weather didn't seem too challenging).
Stay tuned for part two...The Journey