WE HAVE THE KEYS!!

... I know. I'm a little surprised to learn there are keys for this place myself.  Apparently there are front- and back-door keys, as well as a key for Peaky. Because, you know, you wouldn't want someone to steal the turquoise fridge, right?

WE ARE NOW OWNERS OF A COTTAGE

[sound the trumpets]

♪bumbadaBAHHH!!!!♫

And, this is the last you'll hear from me for at least a week, because we're going on a trip.

See ya!

Quickie

Just a quick update for you today, as I'm hosed with all the work/trip/christmas/cottage stuff that's going on right now.

We met with the Lawyer this morning to sign all the transfer paperwork for the cottage. We have to go back to drop off the "Bank Draft or Certified Cheque" to pay for it all. After all that nonsense about having cheques for the line of credit available in time, we can't even use them! We found this out last night. Yeesh.

He figures by tomorrow afternoon the deal will be closed! Woot!

In the meantime, we need to contact the hydro company to arrange to have an account created in our names.

We're sooooo close now.

Boat?

I'm running out of things to show you! We're fast approaching our closing date (November 27th) and expect to have an appointment at the lawyer pretty soon to finalize the property transfer. Then, we search for a boat!

Well, in truth, then we go on a trip. Then we get ready for Christmas. Then we have Christmas. And maybe then we start to search for a boat.

We're looking for a small bow-rider (bow-rider because it holds a bevvy of wiggly children plus extra cargo space for hauling junk to the island when it's just us), and have a bead on a boat for sale on Rice Lake. It's a '92 Bayliner, but according to Marvin-the-all-knowing marina guy, it's been gently used and has been well-maintained by the owners (who bought it new in '92). He says it's important to know a boat's history when you buy it because a motor is good for about 300 hours of cruising time. If the boat's been used for waterskiing (racking up lots and lots of hours), it's just not going to last you as long.

Because the boat is more than 15 years old, we'll need to take it in to a marina to have it... dang .. I think he said "marine tested" before we get the boat licensed. I'm thinking of it like getting your car certified, so I'm more than happy to have that inspection done.  Marvin really is a wealth of info, and so happy to share.

Any who. If the boat is the one I think it is (he didn't tell us how long it was), I think it's like this one:

[2010-03-26 update: the post this used to link to is gone. For some pictures, look here.]

If you click here, you can see more views of the boat, but it's not the exact one we'd be buying.

In the meantime, I have some homework to do! I need to read through the Safe Boating Course materials and the Transport Canada's Safe Boating Guide before I take the test for my boat operator card.

Sheeter

Here's the loo at the cottage. It has a carpeted floor. *shudder* That will be addressed when we replace the flooring throughout the cottage. So. Gross.

The cottage is not on septic. This means we don't have a proper flushing toilet. We have a composting toilet, which, is a glorified outhouse that doesn't stink. The conversation is about to turn excremental, so if you're eating your lunch, you might want to set down that Oh Henry! bar.

From what I've been able to glean from the web, the toilet drains into a holding tank under the cottage. Toilet waste is 90% water, which is heated in the tank and evaporates. There's a big vent stack up the side of the cottage where the "dirty" air exhausts. The uni-directional airflow ensures the stink goes thattaway, instead of into the cottage. What isn't evaporated from the tank is composted into soil. I'm not looking forward to being the first one to have to empty the tank, but I think we might try to tackle that early in the spring to clean it out before it gets used.

It's environmentally better than a sheeter (or "outhouse" for those of you not in the know) because the waste doesn't leach into the surrounding soil and watershed.

Eventually, once the money tree matures, we'll look into having septic installed. That'll cost a fortune though - like $15K or more!

One thing you can't see in the photos is the escape hatch in the bathroom floor! It leads down to the sub-cottage crawlspace containing the holding tank, but should work well when Eric returns home earlier than expected and Raoul has to make a hasty retreat. Ahaha.

*ahem* Moving on, here's the bathroom vanity:

And, here's the sink:

Yes. The sink is green. I'm hoping to score a replacement at the Re-store in Cobourg. For now, it functions and it's not rusting on the bottom, so it can stay for a little bit. Green sink, your days are numbered!

Long before I deal with the green sink, I need to address the issue of the *shudder* shower. See for yourself! I keep imagining Psycho knife-stabbing music when I look at this shower.

It's fairly high up the icky list. I figure we can buy a shower base for about $300 at the Home Despot. If I tile the walls myself (rather than getting an enclosure or plastic insert) and cover the shower door with a curtain, we can probably refurb this puppy fairly inexpensively.  Gahhh... make it stop!

Vista

Something quick today, because I'm a bit busy.  Here's another high point of the HodgePodge Lodge: The Vista (and I'm not referring to that joke produced by MS.)

TA-DA!!!!!

Hmm. That didn't have quite the impact I was hoping for. That's the view from the porch, by the way.  I think we're going to need to do some serious pruning when we get there.

Let's try this again, this time from the dock:
Looking left,

and looking right.

We're extremely fortunate because the cottage faces west, so we should be treated with many lovely sunsets. *crosses fingers*

Enjoy!

SPOON!!

You didn't think it would ALL be about the cottage, did you? Man, I love this photo.

But it was FREE!

What shall we explore at the cottage today?

Howzabout we take a gander at the "living room". The kitchen/living room is all one space, but they seem separate, probably because the front door enters between them. Veer left to enter the kitchen; veer right to enter the living room.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the furniture will all be replaced, eventually. It's a short-term solution until we can get better things out there.

I had high hopes for the living room. It has a positively spectacular old wood stove that reminds me very much of the one Grandma and Grandpa used to have at their cottage. I was suspicious of it the first time we toured the cottage, because it doesn't appear to have a proper wall heat shield behind it. In fact, it's wood back there so it's rather the opposite of a heat shield, unless the goal is to heat your cottage by lighting it on fire. Alas, during the inspection, my suspicions were confirmed and the woodstove is a fire trap. It doesn't meet the minimum clearance requirements for an uncertified woodstove. With no heat shield, the distance between the stove and the walls has be to 48 inches from the sides. With the shield (let's assume ceramic tile, since I'm no sheet-metal worker) it could be 24-in. It's 12. *gnashing of teeth*

So, add a wood stove on our list of things to buy. The chimney, fortunately is a good chimney. I think it might still be too close to the ceiling, however. Anyrate. If you're reading this and are looking for information about how to safely install a woodstove: Look somewhere else! I'm not a building inspector or contractor. This is simply an account of our experiences, not recommendations for use. (Can you tell I work in customer docs? Always with the legal butt-covering.)

Another fine feature of the living room is the ceiling, which it shares with the kitchen. As near as we can tell, Buddy the mad cottage owner (not a real name) got a deal on some soffit covering material, because this is what has been installed on the ceiling! *blinks in disbelief*. And it's grimy. Bleh. [writes: "ceiling tile" on the shopping list] I'm guessing he got it for free. Maybe at the same curb from which he's been scoring all the carpet chunks.

Again, this is another item on the list of things to improve, but since I don't look at it much and it doesn't impede my use of the place, it's not as high on the list as some other things. But don't get me wrong: This ceiling must go!

The last living room feature which is both good and bad is the massive front window. (Here's it is seen from outside on the porch). It's big and will afford gorgeous views of the lake. It's also very old and one of the seals is shot, so eventually when we fall into a bag of money it'll need to be replaced. While on The List, "replacing the windows" does not appear near the top. We'll also need to prune some of the scrub and trees in front of the cottage to clear the view.

Thanks for dropping by!

Break out the disco ball

Bleh, It's a gross weather day here, so I'm taking the cottage tour inside.

Before I get to the photos, I have a bit of a cottage purchase status update for you. Our financing is all in place (the account has been activated), but it would appear things are a bit sticky on the "how do we actually transfer money from party A to party B". You see, the cheques for the account that were mailed to us on the 16th haven't arrived yet, and we close in about a week's time. If we transfer the funds into our personal account and write a cheque on that account, it will take time for that cheque to clear and it will take time for the funds transfer to appear in the account in the first place.
We could draw a bank draft on the Line of Credit, but that'll cost us $30 and that just bites, but I suppose if it comes to that we won't have much choice. Let's just hope those cheques arrive soon.

[Update, 2009-11-20: The cheques have arrived! Woot!]

OK. So back inside the cottage. I think I'll show you the kitchen today. It's another area that's high on my hit list of things to improve. Fortunately this will mostly involve a coat of paint and little more.

The kitchen has not escaped the ravages of hodgepodginess, the culprit here being the wall coverings. We've got some sort of plastic paneling "tiles" on the backsplash, "wood"paneling on the walls, actual wood panels over the fridge, and I'm not really sure what's going on over top of the cabinets.

Oh, the cabinets.
Let's have a look:
As you can clearly see in photo exhibit B, the cupboard doors have a translucent orange plastic insert.
Here they are up close:
Oooo. Orangey. Very, retro. Very, seventies. Very, DISCO! How I loved Andy Gibb. I even had a "Shadow Dancing" nightgown *sigh*. But I digress.

I think my Grandma had something like this in the front door window when I was little. Yick. So the current plan with the narsty cabinets is a coat of paint. If the doors come apart easily, we're talking about removing the plastic and inserting some hard board or perhaps some bead-board panelling pieces that can then all be painted. If they don't come apart easily, I'll be knocking out the plastic with a hammer and putting fabric panels on the inside to hide the view of the dishes.

I'll need to so something with the drawer faces too. They're deliberately angled like that. The drawers are pretty (extremely) low on the "things to fix" scale, though.

I also plan to replace the peeling peel-n-stick tiles when we do the floor to the whole place. Peel-n-stick tiles work great in some situations and they're very easy to install, but if the floor isn't 100% dust free when you install them the adhesive doesn't stick well and the corners start to lift. Once that happens, dirt starts to accummulate under the tiles and before you know it you've got to replace your floor.

So what else is there. Oh ya, the little faucet on the sink is for a reverse osmosis water filtration system, which doesn't exist. It would appear someone removed it at some point. There nothing under the sink but a wee pipe to nowhere; it's cut off down below. Eventually we might investigate adding one but we'll use the water cooler in the meantime.

The last thing you need to see is the Fridge. *shudder*. It's right up there on the creepy scale with the sauna in Peaky. Ugh. So gross. I particularly love the 2x6 crisper box. Ingenius! The fridge is high on the list of things to replace. Even a used fridge off kijiji will be a step up from this beast. The biggest problem with removing things like fridges is what you do with them. It's not like you can put it in the boat and cart it off. I think we'll be stockpiling cast-off junk in one of the bunkies in the short term. When we're ready to cart over some big items from the mainland (new fridge, couch, etc) we'll rent a barge on the lake. We can then transport the big new stuff to the cottage, and then load it up to haul away the crap on the return trip. So if you're a strapping young man and you're reading this: duly warned! You'll be roped into hefting heavy things on and off the barge and possibly to the dump. (thanks in advance!)

High, low, medium, slow, jolly old peppers

This post has nothing to do with peppers. I simply couldn't decide whether the bunkies were a high point or a low point at the cottage, and it got the old skipping song stuck in my head.

There are two bunkies on the property. One bunky = high point. Two bunkies = very high point. However, much like the rest of the place, the bunkies are scary = low point.

I've been calling the bunkies by names according to their roof pitches in order to distinguish them from one another. Thus, we have "Peaky" and "Slanty".

Peaky features a living area (couch, dresser, end table, turquoise fridge..... turquoise fridge!?! Oh, yes. You read that right. I'm willing to bet it's not Energy Star compliant, what do you think? And when you see how bad the fridge is in the main cottage, you have to wonder how bad this one could be that it would be relegated to the bunky.), a toilet, and a sauna. Sauna!? But of course! I don't know about you but the first thing I want to do on a hot summer day at the cottage is hop into a sauna.

I'm beginning to suspect the former owners were mad.

So the bathroom in peaky is, well, here. See for yourself: Yes, it's a bonifide, running water toilet. The problem is: the cottage isn't on septic... so.... where does it go when you flush?! No-one's sure. We're hoping there's at least some sort of pit dug underneath the bunky, but even if there is it's a massive environmental hazard. The sheeter must go.

And then, there's the sauna: Doesn't it just make you want to strip down to your skin and spend hours basking in the steamy (mouldy) heat? Mmmmm. There's a barrel stove in there with a rusted out chimney pipe (which leads to a condemned chimney stack on the roof) that has to be removed along with, well, everything. The one good point is there has been plumbing roughed into the bunkie, so we could retain the shower if we wanted, or at a minimum install a small sink for guests when/if we get around to it. *shudder*. That room gives me nightmares.

Moving right along, we have Slanty, which features the world's smallest bedroom (the "in-law" suite, we're calling it) and a not-completely-horrid living room area with a couch and table. This bunky boasts two different kinds of carpet, in a 12x12 building. I think they've been acquiring carpet at the curb, perhaps?

Of the two bunkies, I think slanty looks the worst on the outside but is in the best repair on the inside. I'm not sure anyone is going to want to stay in these buildings yet, though the kids are very excited about the prospect of having their very own cottages. The princess is already planning her garden. Cute.

(Oh, and if you haven't already figured it out. Click on any of the photos to see it enlarged)

More good stuff

Rather than dwell on what's wrong with the cottage (there's plenty of blog fodder there) I'm going to give you another good feature today. "Drumroll please..."

Today I give you: The Lot.

I know. It sounds a bit odd. But this cottage has a great 75 x200 ft. lot. Sure there's grass to cut, and yes, it slopes so hauling the lawnmower up the hill is going to be a pain in the butt (once we get a lawnmower over there in our non-existent boat), but there's so much space to run around! One of the big issues I had with the cottage we rented in Haliburton was that it really had nowhere to play. You couldn't toss a frisbee, chuck lawn darts at your sister, play a bit of soccer, none of it.

Our lot ends at the power lines (which you can barely see in the first photo). Everything past that is this weird common space. Apparently the centre of the island (i.e. not waterfront) is divided into 3 land parcels, most of which are owned by some "lawyer from Toronto", according to Marvin the sage water-taxi driver. The space is available for general use by the cottage owners, for now at least. What's great is that this area is huge. Big enough for a proper soccer game if you wanted.

There are also trails that wend through the island so you could go on little island hikes if you wanted.
(aerial map from Peterborough County Web GIS, requires IE)

Imagine the picnics we can have!

In addition to the common space, there's also a fantastic fire pit near the back of our lot as you head up the hill. It's a dug out area with a stone fire pit and split-log benches. There's also a terrific cache of firewood and kindling that we're looking forward to making smoke with. I can't wait to make octoweinies and JiffyPop (which you're not supposed to cook over an open flame for some reason but we do anyway because we're non-conformists. Stick it to the Man!)

So, until we replace the fire-hazard wood stove in the cottage, this is going to be our fireplace.

Hodge Podge Highlight

Today I want to share one my favourite features of the Hodge Podge Lodge, barring it's proximity to water, of course.

I love this porch!

When we were shopping for our current house, one of the criteria on my wish list was a big porch. Something that was big enough for chairs so you could sit and relax and watch the world go by. Well, I didn't get that big comfy porch. This porch, however, is fantastic. It's covered (though I suppose it if wasn't covered I'd be calling it a deck rather than a porch), it's the full width of the cottage and then some, and is 36' long and... 6' wide. 

As with the rest of the cottage, it's not without warts. Some of the deck boards have shrunk leaving bigger gaps between the boards than I like (you can't really see it in the photo as I'm standing on them taking the picture). Also the handrail is very definitely not up to code. Small children will plunge to certain death from this porch. O.K. That's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but if we were to bring it up to code, the gaps between the boards could not exceed 4", and the railing height would need to be brought up to 42". Typically it would be 36" (this railing still doesn't meet that requirement), but because the drop from the front of the porch to the ground is over 8', the railing has to be 6" taller =  42". You learn so much on a home inspection, you really do.

I think when it comes time to overhaul the porch railings, I'll go big and screen it in so there's a bug-free outdoor space during the summer. It's certainly on the "List Of Things I'd Like To Change" but it's not very high up that list.

For now, I'll post a "Danger! Small children must be kept on a short leash to prevent them from plunging to their deaths" sign (to cover my butt in case someone gets litigious), and sit back to enjoy the unobstructed views.

Hmm. I guess I need to add "comfy deck chair" to my shopping wishlist, huh.

p.s. I just noticed the deck boards run in two different directions. Welcome to the Hodge Podge Lodge!

The Hodge Podge in the Lodge

I might have mentioned in previous posts about the "ramshackle" nature of our new cottage. Since I won't have any news of cottage developments for at least two weeks, I figured I'd spend a few days showing you some of the high lights and low lights of our lovely new "summer home". The hodge podge, as it were, in the lodge.

Today, I'm going to share a low-light, and one of our top priorities on the fix-it scale. Granted, it's a purely cosmetic issue, but it's one I think will make a dramatic improvement in the character of the place. Of course, I am referring to the floor.

Here's where we stand quite literally today, on an eye-watering melange of grungey office carpet, peeling peel-n-stick vinyl tiles, two kinds of sheet linoleum and more carpet (green shag, beige shag, and yes, even red shag). Did I mention the cottage is about 600 sq. ft? Honestly, how hard is it to make the flooring match when you're dealing with 600 sq ft? Truly hodge podge lodge. The worst has to be the carpeted bathroom, though <wanders off to make gagging noises>.

I might've pushed the flooring further down the to-do list had it not been for the carpeted bathroom. But, if we're doing that floor, I want to do all of it!

I've been casting about for a cost-effective solution  (we're talking about a cottage after all, not the Ritz) that has some charm, will endure dripping wet kids, and will clean up easily.

My first choice right now is vinyl plank flooring.

I have yet to see it in person since we haven't been to the depot but it has some features in its favour:

1. Easy to install.
2. Waterproof.
3. Under $2 a sq. ft.
4. Comes in manageable boxes easily transported by our non-existent boat.
   

My chief concern about the product right now is the cold. The product has been "freeze" rated to -10 C, but we all know the inside of an un-insulated cottage in Canada is going to dip below -10 C. What happens when it gets really cold?

Anyrate. That's what I'm thinking about right now.

Fret not, gentle reader...

... so the other couple's offer was accepted. I was a bit disappointed, but not crushed. The Real Estate Agent was good enough to tell us the exact situation. Apparently the first couple were self-employed and unsure if they could get approved for financing (a condition on their offer). She promised to let us know if their deal fell through.

To be honest, I figured that was the end of it, but about a week later, the agent contacted us letting us know that they could not, in fact, get the financing they needed. Eric and I took a few days to decide whether we were going to make an offer, and by the end of October, we did. There were a few frustrating back and forths as the terms were hashed out, but ultimately the offer was accepted, conditional upon our acceptance of an inspection, financing, and insurance. Initially we tried for an April closing date because we didn't want to carry the mortgage through this first winter when we wouldn't be using the place, but we talked her down on cost by agreeing to an earlier closing date (more than what we'd be paying out in mortgage payments). The closing date was only a month away!

We arranged for an inspection on November 8th. It was another glorious sunny fall day. Our inspection was conducted by Mike O'Grady and I can't tell you how pleased we were with his work! If you ever need a home inspector in that area, he's your man. He was extremely thorough (3 hours!) and he took the time to answer all of our silly questions. Really fantastic. 

The inspection revealed a few issues (pressure tank for the water pump was busted, wood stove was a fire hazard, and one of the baseboard heaters wasn't working) but structurally and electrically the building was sound. I had a lot more time to take a lot more pictures, so I did. Lots more. The second visit revealed some warts that I hadn't seen the first time out (like the icky fridge and the scary shower floor), but nothing that put us off buying.

With the inspection completed and no major show-stoppers revealed, Eric got the ball rolling on financing and insurance. The financing took about 3 weeks to get in place, so if you're contemplating a secured borrowing account, keep that in mind when you're working to a short timeline.

Financing is now in place, and the insurance was pretty easy to set up. They had a lot of oddball questions for us, but the inspection gave us the answers we needed to square that away. With all the conditions passed, we signed on the dotted line on Friday, November 13th and agreed to waive the conditions of our offer.

I have started an extensive list of things we want to do/change. I envision a lot of paint and a fair number of work-weekends in the spring of 2010. First, we need to find/buy a boat; it's going to be hard transporting building supplies in a canoe.

Now, the dreaming and scheming begins in earnest.

This is the view from our dock (which needs repair. The dock, not the view.)

How it all happened....

I've got a confession to make. I've secretly been shopping for a cottage with no real intention of buying for several years now. I always suffer from bouts of ICY (intense cottage yearning) immediately following a visit to a friend's cottage. I wouldn't call it jealousy, or even envy. I just knew I wanted one of my very own.

For a few years I tried to dispel the ICY by renting a cottage on Lake Kashagawigamog in Haliburton. It really was a gorgeous place, but it was costly, it was for 1 short week, and it wasn't MINE.

Toward the end of the summer of 2009 after another ICY attack, I started looking at properties on lakes around the Dorset area (Kawagama, Raven, etc.) but holy smokes were they pricey. Even a 1-room shack with no running water would cost you $200K. So I started to cast a wider net. Further North, East, and South. Then I hit upon Rice Lake.

I grew up 20-minutes from Rice Lake, so I don't know why it never occurred to me to search there. I found an abundance of affordable properties on this decent sized lake. A fair number were on leased land (typically part of an Indian Reserve) but I knew I didn't want leased land. Many moons ago my grandparents had a cottage they built on leased land. The conniving land-owner terminated their lease figuring he just scored himself a free cottage, but the wiley Jameses dismantled it before they vacated the place! HA. Eat dirt conniving land-owner!

Sorry, bit of a tangent there. Where was I? Oh, right. Rice Lake. It hasn't got the "Canadian Shield" rocks-and-pine charm that you'll find on the northern lakes, but I was after water - lots of it - at a price we could afford. Rice Lake has a number of other advantages:

1. It's on the Trent Severn waterway, so with a motorboat you can toodle all over the place and even visit other lakes/towns.
2. It's a fairly shallow lake, so while it's prone to weeds, it also warms up nicely for swimming.
3. It's slightly more than an hour from home, not the 2+ hours we were considering for places to the North.
4. It's 20 minutes from my folks so they can pop by to work visit.
5. It's a big lake with decent wind for my hubby who likes to sail.
   

I stumbled upon a little cottage on the Island. It was water-access only (further reducing the cost), and didn't have a septic system installed. But, it did have a lovely western exposure (sunsets!) and touted 5 bedrooms if you included the bunkies (yes - there are two!). Best of all, it was at a price we could afford; but it needed work. A lot of work.

My DH is very handy (read: not handy at all) and wanted a cottage where he could spend his weekends in a hammock reading a book, not doing repairs.  To get that turn-key cottage we'd have to spend a LOT more cash. Fortunately, in addition to being lazy, he's also painfully cheap (and I love him for it). We decided maybe this little cottage warranted a closer look.

MISTAKE NUMBER ONE

(Dear first-time cottage buyer. Don't do what we did! Learn from our mistake. We contacted the listing agent directly to show us the cottage. Why is that a problem? Well, when it comes time to put an offer in on the place, the same agent is representing both the buyer and the seller. Whose interests are best served in that arrangement? The Real-Estate Agent's. That's whose. And once you've been in touch with one agent about a property, they get downright territorial if you try to introduce another agent into the mix. With hissing, and claws, and so forth.)

OK. So we contacted the listing agent and arranged to look at the place. To my immense surprise she responded asking us if we were really sure we wanted an island cottage. Discouraging us at the outset? Peculiar way to sell a property. I guess she had shown a lot of people the place who later decided a water-access-only property wasn't what they were looking for. Still. Peculiar.
I assured her we were well aware of the challenges of island living, and we agreed to go out to see it on October 18th. As it turns out another couple was going to be viewing the property at the same time. Personally I think it was a sneaky real-estate ploy to drum up purchasing pressure: "Oh no! If we don't act quickly, they're going to buy it out from under us!!" Between you, me, and anyone on the interwebs wandering by to read this blog, I think that's a stupid agent move, and here's why: Firstly, we're not that dumb. Secondly, I'm less inclined to really explore a property if I'm tripping over a complete stranger while I'm nosing about. I like to nose privately! If I'm not exploring it well, I'm not imagining myself there, and if I'm not imagining myself there, I'm not going to buy it.
Fortunately I brought my shiney new camera and took lots of photos as we looked around. The place is not without its warts. But you know what? After wandering around for a little while, I could really see us there. I'm sure it helped that it was a clear, sunny fall day, the colours were at their peak, and the lake was glass. Heaven.
When we got back, we hmm'd and hah'd, but weren't completely sure we could afford it.

MISTAKE NUMBER TWO

Dear first-time buyer. Figure out your budget before you shop. It's common sense, really, because you don't want to fall in love with something out of your league. Also, bear in mind that 3-season properties are often not eligible for the same kind of "buying a house" mortgage, so look into your options early.  We ended going with a secured borrowing account (sometimes called a home equity line of credit) instead of a traditional mortgage.

I contacted the agent a day or so later indicating were were interested in the property, but weren't in a position to make an offer as we hadn't made any financial arrangements yet. That's when I learned that the other couple had put in an offer the very night we saw it, and it had been accepted by the seller. Maybe the agent's pressure tactics worked after all?!
Well, Hell.

Friday the 13th

I'm not sure it's such a good idea to sign legally binding documents on Friday the 13th, but we've done just that.

We are now the proud owners of a cottage!

It's a rustic, old, ramshackle place on Rice Lake that I've decided to call "Hodge Podge Lodge" (hence the blog title). I wanted to share the adventure of our purchase with everyone, and I think this is the best venue for that. I'll include photos, stories of our trials and tribulations, our latest renovations, and other fun tidbits of cottage life. Cottage life! Teehee! I'm still a little giddy.

As first-time cottage owners, I expect we'll run into some entertaining stupidity (like - I don't know how to drive a boat!!) and the learning curve will be steep. Maybe the things we learn the hard way will be beneficial to another first-time cottage buyer. Who knows. Sit back in your adirondack, grab a cold drink, and enjoy the views.

Welcome to Hodge Podge Lodge.