Our New Home McCormick, South Carolina Click on any photo to see larger

Main House Unit One Unit Two Unit Three Unit Four Garden BARN   THE HISTORY BEHIND THE PURCHASE   Joe's dad phoned and faxed us about 9 plus acres for sale near him and Yvette in McCormick, South Carolina.  Dad is in Savannah Lakes which is just a few hundred yards from the edge of this 9 plus acres - we have coined the 10 Acres. We got a kick out of the fax and his phone call because he and Yvette's son Charlie have been so thrilled about the area that they have been encouraging us to move there. But that area is way too pricey for us and sooooooo very remote. Everything is at least 30 miles away; and that's everything Georgia or parts of South Carolina have to offer - not much.   But then dad told us the price - $223,900 Not really a price we can afford at our age, but for 9 plus acres just yards away from where a quarter of an acre goes for near $100,000 and put a house on it and - forget it! That 200 grand is a deal and then some.  Our nieghbor to the north sits on a 7.25 acre lot with a glamous home. There's nothing behind him for miles - good deer hunting.  South of us is bucko acres of land owned by a fellow who probably will never develop it - again, great deer hunbting and fishing in a lake a few hundred yards from our back yard.  Across the street is a 80 acre golf course. But wait, it gets even better. Dad tells us that the "10 Acres" are on a hillside with a gentle slope. There are 6 buildings occupying 2 of the "10 Acres." The remainder acreage is all pine trees. 2 of the buildings (Units 1 & 3) are single family homes and are rented. There is the Main House, where we would live. There is a single bedroom - larger than a studio but you get the feel of it being a studio when in it - atop a two car garage with a central room that holds a washer and dryer. That, Unit # 2, has a balcony on the second floor to die for with views of the only thing that can be seen across the street from the "10 Acres" - a 80 acres golf course!  This even gets better, if you can believe it. Behind the Main House are two more buildings. One is a very large garage - you can see that in the photo right above this text. Above the carport is is an unfinished loft. Jimmy Oakland plans on finishing it off into a super bachelor pad and has plans to live there - while helping me build even more homes on the property. To the right of that garage is just the most amazing and perfect workshop you will ever find. It looks like a ruined barn but, surprise! it has 4 very large rooms. One is a billiards room, one is a air tool workshop complete with compressor and benches, one is a typical around-the-house workshop and the last is ideal for Cathy to make her Angel Wings; equipped with a sink, hot water heater and a telephone! To the right of that is a grape arbor with a crop growing. Wait, there's more! In front of the Main house - about 20 yards in front of it - is a pool area that dawfs our pool in Kissimmee - it's over 40 feet long and 25 feet wide. Around the pool is an extra wide cement area with an enclosed pool-filter house, and an entertainment area. All tenants have pool rights. All for $223,900 ...  How could we say no? We could easily say no because we could not come up with that kind of bucks. We figured if we sold our Kissimmee house at market price of $200,000 we'd have about $100,000. We'd need a mortgage. And both Cathy and I hate debt - especially mortgages. But we did fall in love with the "10 Acres."  So we offered Catherine and Jim Gilbert what we thought we could afford - $176,000. They said no  - not surprised, are you? We thought it over and moved on. We were comfortable in Kissimmee except for a couple of loud neighbors on the block.  But as the years went, we found other issues. 1) The hurricanes. 2) Those 2 neighbors. 3) Home owners insurance, due to the hurricanes, went from $500 annually to $1,250. 4) Property taxes started out at $443 in 2001 and are now closing in on $2,000. 5) The Latinos were getting to be just too much. Now, you're saying, "But, Joe, you write books about the Mexicans and South Americans.  You adore their lovely language. What's going on?"  Well, I'm American in America and just can't take their over bearing insistence on speaking Spanish and having every billboard around Kissimmee in a language I can't read. And getting remarks from the girl at McDonald's when I have to ask her 5 times what she is telling  - or asking - me, because I really can't figure her accent out!!  Then there's the traffic, the over population and the filthy roads that go along with that. Enough ... time to get out of here and let the Latinos chase us off to the mountains. But they turned down our offer.  So we decided to look around in the area of Thurmond Lake (Savannah Lakes) and around Augusta, Georgia.  The deals were flatly amazing. 5 Acres with a house - $94,000. 3 acres with a house and workshop and pool - $84,000. And the list goes on and on. Best yet in our search near Augusta is that it is a big city.  The closest thing to the 10 acres is Augusta - an hour away on a good day.  Those two examples I gave you were right outside of Augusta - a walk to the city, a doctor, a dentist, a Wal-Mart, a drink and a few people to hang with. Yet we kept returning in our hearts to the 10 acres.  We started counting our pennies and even decided to get a mortgage  -  a VERY SMALL mortgage.  We figured if we robbed from our IRA's, stole from one or two of our businesses, and got a loan from E-loan for about $70,000 we could come up with $215,000.  So we made an offer for it at $195,000.  Catherine and Jim replied saying that the very bottom they would take was $210,000     It's now ours. We move in September 30, 2006!