Today is the start of our house hunting and also our exploration of the areas surrounding WDW. Before my DH and I came down, we agreed to look at numerous houses and not jump at the first one we saw
no matter what! That idea would come back to haunt me later.
We cabbed over to The Dolphin around 9:15 a.m. for a 10:00 car pick up at Alamo. After a short wait in line, I found out that I had forgotten to bring my plane ticket. Because I was using a debit card, there's no rental unless you have a round trip ticket. So it was back to the Music, grab the ticket and back to the Dolphin by cab. We had rented through a broker, for lack of a better word, called Nova. Nova is sort of like Priceline, only its car rentals only. By doing so I saved nearly $100! We had a 4-door compact with ALL insurance and an extra driver. Alamos best price even with a special they were running and only offering basic insurance was just over $300 for 7 days. Novas price was $220. What a deal!! I highly recommend this company.
http://www.rentacar-worldwide.com/
We started our journey with my DH driving. I have never driven in FL. Well not exactly. Ive never driven in this part of FL. Years ago I did drive in the Ft. Lauderdale area but thats another story.
Things went well for the first 30 minutes. We found I-4 OK and 27 and 544 but once we got into Winter Haven, we got wicked lost!
C street NW 4th St. SE ah Florida and its affection for directions. After 40 minutes of driving aimlessly my DH was ready to call it quits and just go back. I said let me drive. Maps are nice but sometimes you just have to go with your gut feelings. Within 10 minutes I had found the house we were looking for.
Besides going through a realtor we also had used a site called BuyOwner. This house was one we had found on that site. A very nice couple showed us around. They had bought the house new and had been there for 4 ½ years. She wanted to go back to Ohio to be near her only child. The house was large and airy with vaulted ceilings in the living room and dining room areas. Each of the 3 bedrooms was quite big and there were 2 full baths. In the back yard was a lovely screened in porch (lanai) and the yard was a perfect size. The owners had installed a water softener recently and the living room had a surround sound system for the TV and stereo that was just like a theater. There was also a 2-car garage and good size shed out back for storage.
I wasnt ready to commit to this house though. I really wanted to look at everything with a very critical eye, something I didnt do when we bought our current home. So what was the down side to this property? First and foremost, it was too far away from Disney. I want to come to the parks a lot and maybe work there too. I figured that even without getting lost. It would be a 40-minute drive.
As far as the house/neighborhood the next door people put in a pool and instead of a fence, theres a 7 foot tall cement block wall. I wasnt too crazy about that. The yard had quite a hill in the very back. The area right next to the house is level but you could ski down the rear part. Oh wait, no skiing, this is Florida! Well you get the idea. Because the area is newer, there are no grown trees, which makes it look somewhat barren. I would like to find a home with either an extra bedroom or a family room for our computer stuff. Over all, taking into consideration both the pros and cons, I gave the house a 6 on a scale of 1-10. If all else fails, I could still be happy living there, IF it is still available. The owners informed us that there was another person very interested but she wanted her son to look at it first. Hed be over on Saturday. Funny that after the house being on the market for nearly 3 months, there'd be someone else besides us interested at the same time. I dont know, I almost felt like this was just a story and they were trying to pressure us to make a decision right then and there. Also, just before we left, they got a phone call from the other supposed buyer. She called just to tell them what they already knew that she was very interested and her son would over on Saturday. Huh? It just seemed too convenient that that call came while we were there. I guess Im evil.
Well the DH is ready to sign on the dotted line. Remember our agreement that we wouldnt jump on the first house? Nah, that was gone in his eyes.
All the way back he tried to sell the house to me. Oh, the ride back!! I drove the whole way. Truth be told, Ive had a phobia, complete with panic attacks about driving on expressway type roads for years. When we got to I-4 I said a prayer and somehow, someway I was fine. Let me tell you I was just so excited to be able to make that drive. By the time we got to Disney property, I was laughing about the road signs. At home you see 10 miles to Quincy or 3 miles to Rockland. Here I am driving around looking at This way to EPCOT! How cool!!!
Well to celebrate, we stopped at CSR and had dinner at the Pepper Market. The husband is still trying to sell me the Winter Haven house. We went out to look at the lake after eating and the sales pitch went on and on. By then I had finally had enough and basically told him some of the negatives I listed here plus a reminder of our agreement.
Lets just say, the rosy glow went out of the day. His thing is fishing and he can do that just about anywhere in this entire state. Mine is WDW. Case closed! We continued back to the ASM in silence.
He took a nap and decided Id take one also. Just an hour or so.
2 ½ hours later I woke up. ACK!
In my zeal to make sure I packed all his clothes, I forgot to pack my sleeveless tops. So far, with temperatures in the lower 80s, that hasnt been a problem but by Monday it may be close to 90. So I was off to DTD to find a few shirts.
Wow, was it crowded and as for sleeveless tops, I didnt see any. I ended up getting a short sleeve 2004 Disney top back at the hotel store.
The bus ride back was fun. I met a very nice couple from Vermont and we chatted the entire way. Got back to the ASM around 9 and things werent quite as chilly. There was no more talk of the Winter Haven house and it was off to dreamland at 11:30.
High Point Seeing parts of Florida Ive never seen before.
Low Point Husbands!
Weird Point Getting completely lost in Winter Haven.
Best Point Doing the driving back from Auburndale and those Disney World road signs!
Roberta
We cabbed over to The Dolphin around 9:15 a.m. for a 10:00 car pick up at Alamo. After a short wait in line, I found out that I had forgotten to bring my plane ticket. Because I was using a debit card, there's no rental unless you have a round trip ticket. So it was back to the Music, grab the ticket and back to the Dolphin by cab. We had rented through a broker, for lack of a better word, called Nova. Nova is sort of like Priceline, only its car rentals only. By doing so I saved nearly $100! We had a 4-door compact with ALL insurance and an extra driver. Alamos best price even with a special they were running and only offering basic insurance was just over $300 for 7 days. Novas price was $220. What a deal!! I highly recommend this company.
http://www.rentacar-worldwide.com/
We started our journey with my DH driving. I have never driven in FL. Well not exactly. Ive never driven in this part of FL. Years ago I did drive in the Ft. Lauderdale area but thats another story.
Things went well for the first 30 minutes. We found I-4 OK and 27 and 544 but once we got into Winter Haven, we got wicked lost!
C street NW 4th St. SE ah Florida and its affection for directions. After 40 minutes of driving aimlessly my DH was ready to call it quits and just go back. I said let me drive. Maps are nice but sometimes you just have to go with your gut feelings. Within 10 minutes I had found the house we were looking for.
Besides going through a realtor we also had used a site called BuyOwner. This house was one we had found on that site. A very nice couple showed us around. They had bought the house new and had been there for 4 ½ years. She wanted to go back to Ohio to be near her only child. The house was large and airy with vaulted ceilings in the living room and dining room areas. Each of the 3 bedrooms was quite big and there were 2 full baths. In the back yard was a lovely screened in porch (lanai) and the yard was a perfect size. The owners had installed a water softener recently and the living room had a surround sound system for the TV and stereo that was just like a theater. There was also a 2-car garage and good size shed out back for storage.
I wasnt ready to commit to this house though. I really wanted to look at everything with a very critical eye, something I didnt do when we bought our current home. So what was the down side to this property? First and foremost, it was too far away from Disney. I want to come to the parks a lot and maybe work there too. I figured that even without getting lost. It would be a 40-minute drive.
As far as the house/neighborhood the next door people put in a pool and instead of a fence, theres a 7 foot tall cement block wall. I wasnt too crazy about that. The yard had quite a hill in the very back. The area right next to the house is level but you could ski down the rear part. Oh wait, no skiing, this is Florida! Well you get the idea. Because the area is newer, there are no grown trees, which makes it look somewhat barren. I would like to find a home with either an extra bedroom or a family room for our computer stuff. Over all, taking into consideration both the pros and cons, I gave the house a 6 on a scale of 1-10. If all else fails, I could still be happy living there, IF it is still available. The owners informed us that there was another person very interested but she wanted her son to look at it first. Hed be over on Saturday. Funny that after the house being on the market for nearly 3 months, there'd be someone else besides us interested at the same time. I dont know, I almost felt like this was just a story and they were trying to pressure us to make a decision right then and there. Also, just before we left, they got a phone call from the other supposed buyer. She called just to tell them what they already knew that she was very interested and her son would over on Saturday. Huh? It just seemed too convenient that that call came while we were there. I guess Im evil.
Well the DH is ready to sign on the dotted line. Remember our agreement that we wouldnt jump on the first house? Nah, that was gone in his eyes.
All the way back he tried to sell the house to me. Oh, the ride back!! I drove the whole way. Truth be told, Ive had a phobia, complete with panic attacks about driving on expressway type roads for years. When we got to I-4 I said a prayer and somehow, someway I was fine. Let me tell you I was just so excited to be able to make that drive. By the time we got to Disney property, I was laughing about the road signs. At home you see 10 miles to Quincy or 3 miles to Rockland. Here I am driving around looking at This way to EPCOT! How cool!!!
Well to celebrate, we stopped at CSR and had dinner at the Pepper Market. The husband is still trying to sell me the Winter Haven house. We went out to look at the lake after eating and the sales pitch went on and on. By then I had finally had enough and basically told him some of the negatives I listed here plus a reminder of our agreement.
Lets just say, the rosy glow went out of the day. His thing is fishing and he can do that just about anywhere in this entire state. Mine is WDW. Case closed! We continued back to the ASM in silence.
He took a nap and decided Id take one also. Just an hour or so.
2 ½ hours later I woke up. ACK!
In my zeal to make sure I packed all his clothes, I forgot to pack my sleeveless tops. So far, with temperatures in the lower 80s, that hasnt been a problem but by Monday it may be close to 90. So I was off to DTD to find a few shirts.
Wow, was it crowded and as for sleeveless tops, I didnt see any. I ended up getting a short sleeve 2004 Disney top back at the hotel store.
The bus ride back was fun. I met a very nice couple from Vermont and we chatted the entire way. Got back to the ASM around 9 and things werent quite as chilly. There was no more talk of the Winter Haven house and it was off to dreamland at 11:30.
High Point Seeing parts of Florida Ive never seen before.
Low Point Husbands!
Weird Point Getting completely lost in Winter Haven.
Best Point Doing the driving back from Auburndale and those Disney World road signs!
Roberta
