Soon after I retired at 50 my wife mentioned it was time to get another house. I agreed but with the condition that the new house had to have a 3-car garage. In the 1990s most of the homes with 3-car garages were huge, with five bedrooms, six baths and many were two story. Our house hunting was postponed when I took a 6-week contract job that lasted 4 years.
One Saturday in October 1996 we stopped at an open house. The house was OK but it only had a 2-car garage. We finished our “sticky beak” and as I was backing out the drive, my wife pointed to the house next door and said “that house has a 3-car garage – too bad it’s not for sale”.
I was pulling away and turned to look. One of the garage doors had opened and a young woman in a bikini was carrying a FOR SALE sign. I made a U-turn at the next intersection and went back. The sign had a phone number and “Asking $185,000” on it. I rang the bell but they had gone to the beach (2 miles to the ocean) so we called a couple of hours later. I was excited about the 3-car garage but after we arranged a meeting, my wife started her list of deal-breakers.
She tells me the house has to have:
- · Great Room layout – no living, family and dining rooms.
- · Big kitchen – no 8-foot wide galley style.
- · Big master suite with a Jacuzzi tub.
My heart is beginning to shrivel but hey, we at least have to meet the owners and have a look around. My only glimmer of hope is that her size requirements are relatively small (we've never lived in or lusted after a big house).
[FONT="]We walk down the entry hall and we’re standing in a Great Room (21’ x 18’) CHECK. To the right is a good size kitchen (16’ x 12.5’) CHECK. We enter the master suite while the owner tells us they stretched the bedroom because of the 3-car garage (24’ x 12’) CHECK. The laundry room is right next to the master bath so my wife has a big smile – no more trips to the garage to wash and dry our clothes and linens. I’m feeling pretty good but I notice the master bath onl[FONT="]y [/FONT]has a large shower but no tub. Before she runs out of the house screaming, I offer to add a hot tub to the patio just like I did in our [FONT="]previous [/FONT]Florida home (originally a stand-alone, I dug out a hole, plumbed it to solar panels on the yard equipment shed and a built-in style [FONT="]pump, filter and heater). I had to [FONT="]expand the screened enclosure to match the pool enclosure because the new code wouldn't allow my design[/FONT].
[FONT="]Apparently she remembered how much work that built-in was (very [FONT="]large grapefruit tree occupied the space)[/FONT][/FONT]
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