Things are moving apace for our move to the new home. After a year here in Col. San Rafael we decided that as much as we like our home - once the band next door left - it was time to find a place with a yard. Now, to someone living in southern California this sounds like the simplest thing in the world, but here in Mexico many - if not most - homes do not have lawns. Planting beds and terraces, perhaps, but yards are a rarity. Houses tend to be built right up to the property lines and may have interior terraces and gardens, even, but not lawns. And dogs need yards. So we started looking. Of course our reason for requiring a yard was our dogs - which presented a different set of difficulties. Even homes with yards which had stood unrented for over a year were still sporting a 'no dogs' policy. Better to go unrented than to accept pets, I guess. (The owners must have had a really bad experience sometime!)
We eventually found and considered three properties and - with much drama - selected one, money changed hands, and a contract was signed. The house is ours as of today and the keys are being turned over to us this afternoon. [Followed by drinks with our agent and his partner and general rejoicing!] We do have an unofficial set of keys already and have kept an eye on the completion work as it progresses. Although of a traditional style, the house is new construction and is still being completed. The electrical work should be completed as of today. The lower kitchen cabinets should also be in place. The master bathroom is going to be finished in June, but there are two others which are finished already so we won't have to join the dogs in the yard!
The last electrical work included adding cable wiring to the house. How anyone could build a house nowadays and not include television wiring (not forgetting the internet) is anyone's guess, but we'll be paying extra for that work. It's so much nicer to have wiring within the walls rather than the tack-it-to-the-baseboards style the cable company uses - particularly when the walls and baseboards are concrete. We're hoping that the kitchen cabinets mentioned above should also be installed by now. We'll see what the landlord has put on. It will be interesting to see what's installed. We're praying for some drawers.... Counters and the cabinet structure are usually tiled concrete here in Mexico; only the shelving and doors/drawers need to be built and installed by a carpenter.
Pedro is stopping by the house this afternoon to see what business is in store for him. The tile floors need to be sealed; the walls need some painting treatments: sponging or ragging over the colors that are already in place - a bit bright - if not entirely new paint over the pale lime green walls (some are peach, some yellow); and we'll need to put up light fixtures and curtain rods as a beginning. Pedro also gets to figure out how to install ceiling fans on those lovely boveda ceilings. One of the charms of the new house is that every room has a boveda ceiling - even those on the first floor! [Domed ceilings on the first floor? How did they do that?] And each room features a large concrete cornice behind which the landlord has been installing switched halogen lights. But attached ceiling fans may be a challenge; chandeliers, not so much. Don't want the fans to fall on us, but without air conditioning, fans are sometimes a necessity.
We've found pre-made curtain rods to be rather expensive, even from Home Depot; it's cheaper to have them made for you. Pedro will also arrange an estimate on the kitchen wall cabinets for us. He's also going to handle the installation of the range (he doesn't know this yet). The gas supply line is encased in mortar! A fridge I can plug in. [A bonus: grounded plugs!]
Once the floors are sealed and dry, we can go appliance shopping. [You should see my Excel spreadsheet for all the models of appliances available, model numbers, capacity, measurements, features and prices.] Our previous house came furnished with a fridge, stove, and microwave; the new house has none of that. We do have a microwave of our own that has been on loan to a friends' restaurant. Turns out it uses too much power, so they haven't been using it. One less thing to purchase - although I had my eye on a mirror-faced model at Mega.
I will spend Monday at the house (doing my Spanish homework) while the cleaning service gives the house a top-to-bottom thorough cleaning before the floors can be sealed. As new construction, there's dust everywhere and mortar spills on the tiles that must be removed before sealing later this week.
And later this month (after we've moved clothes, TVs, pictures/mirrors, computers/phones and possibly the kitchen paraphernalia ourselves) the movers will transport our furniture and boxes that haven't yet been unpacked from the move SOB. That should leave us several days at the end of the month in which to clean up the San Rafael house and be out on time. Luckily, Margarita has agreed to follow us to La Lejona and we'll probably ask her to clean the San Rafael house one last time when it's empty - rather than hire it done by an outside agency.
Now, where did those steeds go? Did they take off with my list of questions for the landlord?
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