The "BIG" move

[Ja. Jewel]

Re: The "BIG" move

I get it now...you can't click on "back", ..you have to go to the bottom of the page and click whatever...o.k., no problem...just rambling on....

[wedinjamaica]

Re: The "BIG" move

((Ja Jewel))

Great start!!! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] I cannot wait to hear the rest. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70371-jump.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70371-jump.gif[/img]

I am glad I could help.........be paitient with the cut and paste thing..........you will get the hang of it. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Ja. Jewel]

Re: The "BIG" move

I had been communicating with my friend a Yaad to pick me up in Mobay and gave him the itinerary. Some of the places were stretching the funds a little, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Our first stop was Falmouth, to see a property that was advertised as “ocean view”…yah, if you cut out the bush and cleared away all the trash!!…built in probably the mid ‘80’s, never finished, a good price, but Not interested.

Next stop was Ochie…a beautiful house in the hills, overlooking the bay, great views, a helluva time getting up the hill, & surrounded by “stooshness”…I don’t think so…price was a little high anyway.

On to Portland, just outside of Port Antonio…very nice area, just off the main, very large 6 bedrm., 4 bath house on beautiful grounds with 2 additional rental houses on the property….selling price was a bit steep, but I figured with the 2 rentals and all the space in the main house we might could make it work. When I went inside, I was dissappointed!…many of the rooms were quite small and dark, even though the house itself was very large, 2-story, with a large verandah….tile floors were dated and I felt like the amount of $ needed to renovate would make it unaffordable.

So, going back west on the coast highway to our next stop of Duncan’s Bay. The house I came to see was a cute 3 bedroom, 2 bath …unfortunately, the yard was very small and all the houses there were practically on top of each other aaand all looked alike…the seller also decided she wanted 15,000 more than the listed price also….I was getting very discouraged when a man came up on a bicycle & we started talking. He said he knew of a next house for sale just down the road…

When I saw the house, I knew it was one I had seen on the net before, but ignored because it had only 1 bedroom….but, the minute I saw the interior in person, I knew it had potential for expansion and was priced so that expansion was affordable.

The house is located about a 3 min. walk to a very beautiful, mostly (except on Sundays), deserted beach. The yard is about 1/3 acre, so lots of room. It was planted with orange, lime, mango, coconut, soursop, sweetsop, june plum, ackee, and one big, beautiful breadfruit tree that almost never stops bearing….fully fenced, corner lot…very secluded, shady backyard with a roofed back porch…I was beginning to get excited!!

When I walked in the back door I almost had my mind made up…white tile floors (don’t recommend them!), very high open beamed ceilings…everything painted WHITE!..spacious and open with lots of light…really didn’t need to have everything white. Being the artist that I am, I had already started adding color to the wide expanse of those walls. There was plenty of room to add a loft for an extra bedroom!…although, for myself alone, it would have been perfect, but I did have a partner to think about, who would be coming down maybe once a year to vacation and then spend more time when she retired (5 to 7 years)

[Ja. Jewel]

Re: The "BIG" move

immediately got the phone # for the agent, made an offer, which was accepted in a day, met with the agent (who was overpaid and turned out to be totally useless) to sign the paperwork. That was the first and last time I saw her and she didn’t even show me the place.


Since I retained the services of a lawyer in Ochie and was on my way to being a homeowner in my beautiful dream island, in the space of a few hours!!…that was the easy part.

That was in Mar. of ’04, I believe. I came back home to fridgid Vt., called my partner and told her where to look on the net to see the property. She had entrusted me to do the shopping and picking, which is kind of unheard of, but she trusts my taste and good sense. She loved it and was very excited!

Most of the next months were spent with me communicating with the lawyer and real estate agent by email, transferring funds, etc. When we had the property surveyed, we ran into a problem…a small, outside kitchen, which held a water tank on top was too close to the property boundaries…This had to be somehow resolved, because if we ever decided to sell the property, we would be in violation of the rules ascribed to the area…so we had to communicate that to the owner through our lawyer. We were willing to go with it, if the price was reduced…since we thought we may have to pay to get it torn down (which would have been a big shame)…the owner talked to the President of the homeowners assc., who recommended a “quick fix”, which made it in compliance with the “rules” and the owner did reduce the price a little too.

Months went by, dealing with paperwork and document submission to various bureaus and delays for dis & dat….then came the hurricane in Sept. (I think)….I was a nervous wreck!…spent days glued to the net trying to find out any info. I could about my good friends safety and also the condition of our property….the weather channel and finally Ja.com became my closest buddies…btw, that’s when I first found Ja.com and was so thankful to get news of what was going on island way.

We implored the real estate agent to make a trip to the house to check to see if there was water or any other damage from the hurricane…she was not willing to do it and said it was not part of her job and she wasn’t qualified and some other [censored]. So, we had to call our lawyer, who in turn, called the seller’s lawyer who got on the agent’s case and insisted she check the house for damage. The hurricane hit mostly the south and west end of the island, our house escaped with no damage, except for a couple trees and the passionfruit vine in the yard…yay!!, we still had a house in Ja., but no keys or title yet!

[loops]

Re: The "BIG" move

i'm enjoying this (((Ja Jewel)))...keep writing...and don't you dare leave us hanging now.

Love that your inspiration comes from Reggae...i totally get the allure. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

[Nanook]

Re: The "BIG" move

I am sooo enjoying this saga Ja.Jewel! I love your story telling so I hope your story is a nice long one that I can come and savor after you've updated. I know all of this isn't easy so it's much appreciated! Just one thing, do you have any photos you can share with us?

I feel that someday I'll come knocking on your door cause I wanna see your jewelry and what you've been up to! It sounds like you're very entrepreneurial & I wish you the all best in your endeavor!

[Ja. Jewel]

Re: The "BIG" move

Again, I just made a short post, and when I went to edit a word, I lost it...oh well...

Thanks loops & nanook, for looking in...more to come...

Since i just mastered the task of copy & paste, I haven't quite made it to the "post photos" phase yet...plus my digital is located somewhere in a maze of boxes either still in storage, or surrounding me on all sides, as we speak.....patience peeps, soon you will hear all & see all, (the pics may have to wait a few months though)...now, back to the story.....

[loops]

Re: The "BIG" move

ok...i get now what one of your problems is...i'm having same. Often...tooooo darn often...i'll type a whole post...then go to add a graemlin and poof! it wipes out the whole post. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70394-bawlout.gif[/img] I've taken to copying the post before i add the graemlin.

sorry that's happening ja jewel...pain ain't it?

thanks for persevering. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

[Ja. Jewel]

Re: The "BIG" move

After Ivan we impatiently waited for word from our lawyer, to let us know that all paperwork was in order and we could proceed to completion….well, it was several more months of waiting impatiently…finally, word came that we could come to pick up the keys & the house would be ours!!!

My partner & her man & I booked to be there the first week of Dec., “2004. In Ja. there is no final “closing” like in the US, so we just had to go to the lawyers office and sign more papers and go to “our” house to get the keys from the caretaker from the previous owner, who would then become our caretaker, until I came down to “live” there semi-fulltime.

I could only stay for 5 days because this was a very busy time of year for my shop, but my partner had scheduled to stay for 2 weeks. During this time period, we had to set up elec., water, phone, and cable accounts…AND the “dreaded” bank accounts.

My partner was assigned to set up the utilities and the “joint” checking account that we needed to pay utilities and the caretaker….this took the good part of one full day…I had previously set up a US$ savings account that we would eventually use to fund our building project.

It’s so true what they say about what a pain it is just to get a bank account in Ja., especially a US$ account….you MUST have a statement from a “justice of the peace”, that he or she has known you for a certain length of time, and that you are a person of good morals….well, in all the the years of visiting Ja. I had never met one, sooo, with the help of my friend, we found one who would take a little “tip” to sign the paper needed…also had to get the same paper signed for my partner. We also needed a paper with a recommendation from a notable person, so we used our lawyer, who was really the only “notable” person we knew…so after a lot of running around to secure papers and waiting to see bank officers, we accomplished the “bank ting”

This was the first time my partner had seen the house “in person”, and she was ecstatic! She loved pretty much everything about the “openness” of the interior and also the lovely grounds and closeness to that beautiful, deserted beach.

Now, we had to put our heads together to decide how much construction we wanted to do to serve our purpose….we decided we definitely wanted a loft in the main house and because there already was a slab laid next to the house (for an addition that was never done), we decided to do a 2 story addition. That way my partner would have her own apt., when she came to visit, AND we would have a rental apt. for tourists, to keep the cash flow fluent.

I had secured the services of an architect, through email several months earlier, so the next step was a meeting with him to discuss our plans. My partner decided she wanted the upstairs apt. (who wouldn’t, with that gorgeous seaview!), which would be a 1 bedroom, 1 bath, with open concept kitchen, living, diningroom, a back screen porch and front terrace. The lower would have 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, same open concept living area

[Ja. Jewel]

Re: The "BIG" move

…and front terrace. The loft would necessitate raising the roof in the back and installing a spiral staircase to save on space. We conveyed all our ideas to the architect , gave him a deposit and went back home to await our vision become a reality.

About 2 months later, I received the plans…after several changes, we were then ready for him to submit them to the parish council for approval…this was in Mar. or Apr, gee, I’m not even sure…anyway, I had to go down again to accompany him to the office (really didn’t HAVE to go, just wanted to be there to visit my house again.…we were told by the council that we would have to submit our plans first to Duncans Bay Development association, ltd. First….this was an entity that even my lawyer had not been able to locate. I did some asking around and found out the person in charge of that association, and the plans were submitted to him by the architect.

I went back to Vt. again and waited for word of approval, and waited and waited and waited….called “the man” who gave me some story about he was not able to see which part of the house was the existing structure and which part was the new addition, from the blueprints submitted, and I would have to fax him the original artists rendering. This was bull(censored), because even I, who’ve never even seen a blueprint before, could figure it out!!…so I called the pres.of homeowner’s assc. and asked him what was up with that & what I should do….he said he didn’t even know why that person should be involved, but to just go ahead and fax what he asked for…by the way, the original drawing had been changed several times, so I don’t know what good it would have been to the “man” anyway! I shrunk it down to the correct size and faxed it.

Btw, the architect had previously called me, after submitting the plans to the “man” and said he could no longer deal with him because he was being unreasonable…so that’s when I had to start calling him…anyway, he finally, reluctantly submitted the plans to the parish council, where they were subsequently approved…WHEW!…sometimes the amount of time & effort it takes to do something so simple is unbelievable!…methinks that the “man” was looking for a handout, but I wasn’t about to give in, because, from what I found out, he shouldn’t even have been involved!

My long-time friend was put in charge of finding a reputable builder at a reasonable price. I had put him in charge of handling the money to pay for materials and labor. Btw, I don’t think I would have even attempted this project if I did not have him to rely on. He received a set of the plans, found a reasonable builder, that he knew well to be honest and knowledgeable and got started on the loft.

[Ja. Jewel]

Re: The "BIG" move

Meanwhile, I had put my business up for sale,and had sold my house in June of 2004 to my real estate agent, who agreed to let me rent it until I was ready to move…(what a blessing that was!). I was lucky enough to find a local person, who bought my business in April of ’05. It was difficult to sell because, even though it had some big $ numbers coming in, it carried a consignment debt with it that the buyer would have to assume…just because of the nature of the business….anyway, this made things kind of difficult as far as legalities and the buyer’s lawyer were concerned, but the buyer really wanted it and we finally managed to work all things out.

I guess I should describe my business, so you know what I’m talking about…I started, 7 years previously, as a small, upscale consignment shop…in one month I needed to move to larger quarters. Two years later, I moved again to a large, old Victorian house, located on the “Green” in the village I lived in. It was located next to a very popular tourist restaurant, so had lots of walking traffic.

This venue gave me enough space, to not only display my ever-growing stock of lovely consignment clothing, but also several rooms up front, to display new clothing and accessories, gift and decorative items and also my own designs of beaded jewelry and other purchased or consigned jewelry…..the business did well there, but with the expansion came the necessity of more employees and more paperwork , more stress and LESS time to devote to my creative self (making jewelry.

During the month of June I had tag sales every weekend, because in the space of 7 years, and 4 years as a homeowner, I had managed to accumulate tons of “stuff”’….I had about 20 boxes of beautiful fabrics of all kinds…ethnic, batik, linen, rayon, decorator, and lots of vintage fabrics and lace…( I’m also a clothing designer, and love beautiful fabric…ideas always seem to pop into my head when I see a piece of fabric and when it’s a good price, I just buy it and keep it for that “project” that I will someday do)…I managed to sell some through advertising, but I ended up giving away most of it to one lucky lady, who I thought would make the most of it.

I had decided to sell all my furniture and just hold onto the things that I thought were essential. This turned out to be about 30 boxes!!!…afterall, I was moving to not only Ja., but also to S. Fl, to set up a small apt. for my son and myself, when I went back & forth. I needed to have an address there so I could hopefully qualify for some financial aid for him to attend Johnson & Wales univ. there in Sept. ’05.

[Ja. Jewel]

Re: The "BIG" move

What happened to all the posts I made this afternoon?...am I being censored or what? I know they were here and now thet're gone...what's going on?

[Nanook]

Re: The "BIG" move

Jewel, all posts made this afternoon after 12:44Pm are gone from the board after another outage. I hope you're keeping your posts in a word document for safety sake!

[Ja. Jewel]

Re: The "BIG" move

I probably should mention here that, during the time period between closing on the house in Ja. and starting the building of the addition, I went through many head trips and faced a lot of paranoia about investing almost all the $ I had in this project….I knew that, for me, real estate is the only investment that I know anything about and I figured that this project was not only living in my place of dreams, but could provide some income for me and my partner….but, I had fears about building during the hurricane season, the fragility of Ja. economy, and the worst, was the fear that things could escalate in Ja. to the point of civil war or a total collapse of the govt.!!….would I have to actually leave the island, after settling in to make it my home?…would anyone even dare to come, with the escalating murder stats?….these were just fleeting thoughts rolling around in my head.

My partner was adamant about starting building asap…true, building materials price was climbing at an alarming rate and my partner, who is a dr. knows plenty of peeps who are travelers, and she’s constantly bigging up Ja. when she touts our building plans and shows pics of our progress….and, since I’d found Ja.com, I knew that there are actually many folks out there that love Ja. like I do….so, I squelched my fears and gave the o.k. to start work on the addition.

…back to my progress in Vt….the tag sales went on until I either sold or gave away everything that wasn’t packed…UPS came to pick up all my boxes…my car was sold and my son & I packed our bags for our flight to our little apt. in S. Fl….One of my friends from Vt. gave us a ride to the airport and off we went.

My 3 week stay in Fl. was spent mainly shopping for essentials for the apt. there and then storing the boxes I had shipped down, since I just couldn’t get it together to get the Ja. shipping thing done that quickly…with that done, I boarded my flight for my new home of “visions” in Ja. on Aug. 3, leaving my son behind, who still hadn’t found a job, which was a big worry for me…Btw, the house was furnished and equipped with basic kitchen essentials, so knew it would not be a big problem, coming down with nothing but clothes and some assorted food, vitamins and other essentials.

As I flew over those beautiful, crystal clear, turquoise waters and the island became visible, the excitement welled up inside me…I was actually about to embark on the adventure of my life!…this was something dreams are made of!

My friend was there to pick me up at the airport to take me “home”…when I arrived and saw how beautiful the loft and spiral staircase were, I knew that I had made the right decision to put him in charge of finances and finding the right builder….

When they were building the loft and had to partially tear down some walls, they discovered that the previous builder had taken some critical “short cuts” in construction, when building the original house…because the previous owner was not around during construction and she had entrusted a Jamaican, who I guess she really didn’t know as well as she thought, with the $ and construction, the concrete blocks of the walls, that my builder uncovered during his loft building, were not filled to the proper level with concrete….soooo, I guess the $ the owner had paid for that part of construction went into someone’s pocket….

[Ja. Jewel]

Re: The "BIG" move

…on top of that, after talking to several other sources in the area, I found out that when she (previous owner) had shipped all her furnishings (and we’re talking big things and lots of them) and flew down to move in, expecting to see a completed house, ready to move in, she had a big surprise waiting for her….the house was nowhere near ready, so she had to store her furniture and find a next place to stay (for at least 6 mo.!!!!)

The story goes, that one of the people she was dealing with let her stay in a rental that he was in charge of, without paying rent….sooo, that meant that the absentee owner of THAT property did not get paid and knew nothing about what was going on….her furniture got stored in his girlfriend’s garage. When the peeps that owned the rental property came down, they were also greeted with a big surprise….someone was living in their house, and they were not getting paid for it AND knew nothing about it…the (censored) must have hit the fan at that point!!!

I guess, by that time, the “pseudo” construction on the house was finished and she moved in, but I’ve heard that all the windows leaked so bad that it was barely livable!…I have seen evidence of that fact by how many of the windows in the main house have been siliconed shut, permanently….of course, I’ve found out all these details after the fact.

When the builder & my friend were knocking down the walls to do the loft, after they discovered the inferior craftsmanship, they filled up the blocks with concrete to strengthen the structure of the main house (as it should have been done before)

After making all these unwelcome discoveries about my house, I really have to strongly caution any peeps who plan on doing construction in Ja. when they are NOT present to supervise. PLEASE really make SURE you KNOW who you’re dealing with!!!…and try to be present during at least part of the construction, because (censored) happens!!, even when you are there. In my case, I was dealing with a person I’d known for 20+ years and implicitly trusted….you MUST know who you entrust with your $ !!!