NYC to Jackson - update (Henderson, Selmer: rental, hotel, lawyer)

[NY Annie]

We just returned from our trip to Jackson and our new house south of there. While we don't yet officially own the house, all closing documents are in and just waiting on the probate attorneys signature to be received by our attorney. We have the keys and have met with a rental agent and a contractor to do some minor repairs.

Some of you have followed our story - for those who have not:

We purchased our house sight-unseen based on realtor pictures of the property, our buyers' agent pictures, pictures of a NACHI certified inspector, the house inspection report, tax information and maps, google maps, yahoomaps, and google earth maps.

We initially signed a Purchase Agreement subject to our acceptance of the house inspection report and then, of course, to a mortgage. There were a few problems along the way, not the least of which was an incomplete property description/Warranty deed but everything has been ironed out.

So, on Monday, we flew into Nashville with our closing documents and check in hand. We rented a car and drove to Jackson. I was expecting a "Tennessee small city" which in my mind was little more than a strip-mall and town hall. I was majorly impressed! And seeing Jackson gave us both a sigh of relief knowing that most, if not all, the amenities we are accustomed to here in NYC are available to us there. We registered in our hotel, had a nice swim and got to bed early. An early breakfast and we were off to the Realtor's office in downtown Jackson. Yes, it shows signs of having been hit by a tornado, but I guess my north-east mind didn't see anything more than a city - some parts new, some old, some nice, some not; some industrial, and some adorably quaint areas. So, the meeting with the lawyer went well and I was feeling really good about the documents.

Next, a trip to the Realtor who gave us a local map and the keys and we were off. Once out of Jackson, I expected to find ... nothing. Miles and miles of nothing. But again, we were pleasantly surprised. A little nothing, then a small town with a university; then another small town and finally the street with our house. A lot of houses -- that was not what we wanted to see. But they thinned out and gave way to a farm or two, and finally we knew our house was around the next bend (pictures are wonderful!)

And there it was! It was what we expected! A little more debris than we were led to believe was being left, but that's not the end of the world. We opened the door and hmm, not bad. The condition of the entire house was almost exactly what we had seen in the pictures and hoped for; and not anywhere near what we FEARED we might find.

So, we met with the rental agent (also contractor) who will have the place painted, cleaned up, and trash hauled away. And we hope to have a tenant in real soon.

Would we buy another house with this method? YUP! Absolutely!

And I'm truly thrilled with the area we bought. Enough country for us without being isolated and Jackson is only about a half hour away and it has darned near everything we can think we'll want.

So I suppose I'll have to change my name to TN Annie soon.

[jguillot]

Originally Posted by NY Annie

We just returned from our trip to Jackson and our new house south of there. While we don't yet officially own the house, all closing documents are in and just waiting on the probate attorneys signature to be received by our attorney. We have the keys and have met with a rental agent and a contractor to do some minor repairs.

Some of you have followed our story - for those who have not:

We purchased our house sight-unseen based on realtor pictures of the property, our buyers' agent pictures, pictures of a NACHI certified inspector, the house inspection report, tax information and maps, google maps, yahoomaps, and google earth maps.

We initially signed a Purchase Agreement subject to our acceptance of the house inspection report and then, of course, to a mortgage. There were a few problems along the way, not the least of which was an incomplete property description/Warranty deed but everything has been ironed out.

So, on Monday, we flew into Nashville with our closing documents and check in hand. We rented a car and drove to Jackson. I was expecting a "Tennessee small city" which in my mind was little more than a strip-mall and town hall. I was majorly impressed! And seeing Jackson gave us both a sigh of relief knowing that most, if not all, the amenities we are accustomed to here in NYC are available to us there. We registered in our hotel, had a nice swim and got to bed early. An early breakfast and we were off to the Realtor's office in downtown Jackson. Yes, it shows signs of having been hit by a tornado, but I guess my north-east mind didn't see anything more than a city - some parts new, some old, some nice, some not; some industrial, and some adorably quaint areas. So, the meeting with the lawyer went well and I was feeling really good about the documents.

Next, a trip to the Realtor who gave us a local map and the keys and we were off. Once out of Jackson, I expected to find ... nothing. Miles and miles of nothing. But again, we were pleasantly surprised. A little nothing, then a small town with a university; then another small town and finally the street with our house. A lot of houses -- that was not what we wanted to see. But they thinned out and gave way to a farm or two, and finally we knew our house was around the next bend (pictures are wonderful!)

And there it was! It was what we expected! A little more debris than we were led to believe was being left, but that's not the end of the world. We opened the door and hmm, not bad. The condition of the entire house was almost exactly what we had seen in the pictures and hoped for; and not anywhere near what we FEARED we might find.

So, we met with the rental agent (also contractor) who will have the place painted, cleaned up, and trash hauled away. And we hope to have a tenant in real soon.

Would we buy another house with this method? YUP! Absolutely!

And I'm truly thrilled with the area we bought. Enough country for us without being isolated and Jackson is only about a half hour away and it has darned near everything we can think we'll want.

So I suppose I'll have to change my name to TN Annie soon.

Congratulations! You mentioned the possibility of having a tenant soon. Do you plan to move to Tennessee and live in this new house at some point in the future? I'm happy to hear that your trip went well. My wife and I plan to more to Tennessee in a few years.

[DubbleT]

Congratulations, and I'm happy it all worked out well. Hopefully you'll get a tenant soon and things will just move right along!
May I ask how many pictures did you have, was it one or two of each room maybe, or did you have dozens of pictures of the inside of the house to give you an idea of what it was like? Were you able to get a feel for the flow of the house from just the pictures? Or did your agent do a video or draw up a sketch of the floor plan or anything of that sort? I'm merely curious, as that was one of the hardest things for me to visualize when looking at listings online.

[strumpeace]

Annie --

I'm assuming you ended up somewhere near Henderson. That's one the better small towns in all of West TN imo. I hope you enjoy living in West TN.

Best wishes.

[mbmouse]

Congratulations! Glad everything worked out so well for you.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by strumpeace

Annie --

I'm assuming you ended up somewhere near Henderson. That's one the better small towns in all of West TN imo. I hope you enjoy living in West TN.

Best wishes.

I think it is Selmer.

Congrats Annie! I wouldn't recommend that people do this, but as long as it worked out then it is no harm, no foul!

[NY Annie]

Originally Posted by DubbleT

Congratulations, and I'm happy it all worked out well. Hopefully you'll get a tenant soon and things will just move right along!
May I ask how many pictures did you have, was it one or two of each room maybe, or did you have dozens of pictures of the inside of the house to give you an idea of what it was like? Were you able to get a feel for the flow of the house from just the pictures? Or did your agent do a video or draw up a sketch of the floor plan or anything of that sort? I'm merely curious, as that was one of the hardest things for me to visualize when looking at listings online.

We had pictures of all angles from all angles. Our buyer's agent was wonderful. She took videos and stills for us. Videos moving through the house to give us a feel for the flow and of each room, floor, ceiling, and focused on any spot she felt needed extra attention (which turned out to be minor issues that our inspector also took pictures of AND gave us comments on). The only thing we might have asked for would have been a sketch but it is a small house and we figured it out. The other part of the video our agent got for us - which was/is even more important to us: outside. Outside looking at the house from all angles and looking at outside from all parts of the house. Our biggest concern was privacy - a bigger concern than the house itself. We have already planned for a small expansion of the house, closing in the carport for a dining room so we can make better use of the kitchen; and tearing down a wall between two of the small bedrooms to make a master bedroom. But those are changes we will make when we move into the house - 2 years until retirement! And the biggest/best change will be a pool and deck with outdoor kitchen and covered "living room". We don't expect to spend a lot of time indoors.

The pictures on websites are pretty good these days, but if you have a buyers' agent, ask him/her to get you pictures. Hopefully you have narrowed down and communicated what's important to you so your agent can focus on that - and point out what's NOT to your wants/needs as well. The videos our agent took were on the money for us.

[NY Annie]

Originally Posted by strumpeace

Annie --

I'm assuming you ended up somewhere near Henderson. That's one the better small towns in all of West TN imo. I hope you enjoy living in West TN.

Best wishes.

Originally Posted by hiknapster

I think it is Selmer.

Congrats Annie! I wouldn't recommend that people do this, but as long as it worked out then it is no harm, no foul!

Yes to you both - we are on the outskirts of Bethel Springs and we LOVE the area. I only wish we could move today.

Hiknapster, I know you were really concerned (I thank you for that) and we weren't always thrilled with the process; but I would do this again, this way. One of the big things going for us is that we planned financially for needing to make changes and improvements to the house. Those financial considerations were a part of every house we looked at - did it have a pool already? If not, then we needed to add the cost of a pool and deck onto the house.