Next chapter in their lives
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True to his word, Steve and his crew finished the kitchen and master bath in nine days and a day later received the Certificate of Occupancy. The CO meant they could now legally move into the house, despite having one and a half baths yet to remodel.
"Hon, would you call your realtor friend and see if she's interested in listing the cabin?" Tim said.
"So you've decided to sell?" she replied.
"Yes. I don't want it to be vandalized or worse after we move to Dahlonega. Better some other family enjoy it. Besides, I love Dahlonega and have been going there often for years. I don't have the same attraction to this place in terms of coming for a weekend or so. And I'll clear enough to pay for the new garage there."
"Wait, you're going to pay for the garage at MY house? That doesn't make sense. I'd assumed I would be paying for it. I can afford it."
"I've done some checking and now is the right time for us to discuss it. There are three options. One, you could sell me the parcel of land it will sit on, which we can easily carve out as it already sits on one property line. But when I pass away it will be a challenge for you to bring that parcel back together with the farmhouse. Two, you could give me a ground lease and I could rent the parcel for like one dollar a year. Then you still have the entire three acres together. Three, you could sell me a half interest in the entire property, with the cost of building the garage counting towards what I would owe you. The lawyer I spoke with suggested three is best, two is okay, and one we should probably avoid."
"Okay, that all makes sense. I vote for number three. I like the idea of the farmhouse truly being 'our' home, not my house you just live in."
"Okay, but I want us to get a sort of pre-nup even though we aren't getting married. Let's have a contract that spells out what happens if one of us decides they want out of our relationship. And before you say anything," he'd noticed she was about to object,"no, I have no intention of ever living without you. I just don't want any issues for you."
"Alright, we'll talk about it. Let me call Carol about the cabin."
"Once we move the furniture out I want to have someone refinish the floors. Before Tess passed away her nails really scratched them up. And we'll have to go through everything and maybe have a yard sale, although I don't know how well that will work being so far outside of town," Tim said.
"Let's do a walk-through and make final decisions on the furniture. We'll take all the kitchen stuff, pictures, knick knacks, and so on. But some of the furniture won't work."
They spent a half hour deciding on each piece, with Becky making a list as her handwriting was far neater than Tim's. The sofa and matching recliner, dining room table and chairs, two small end tables, and the log bed-frame weren't going to make the trip.
"I'll have to go through the stuff in the garage attic. I may take all the hardware and so on, just in case I have little projects that need to be done there. And the library has all those great bookshelves, so I'll take all the books. I whittled them down when I moved here since I had no place for all the ones I had, but I kept my favorites."
"Are we going to hire a moving company or get a rental truck?" Becky asked.
"Either a truck or maybe a trailer. I'll ask my trainer, Marty, to come help me bring the freezer and futon down from the loft. You and I should be able to handle everything else."
"We might be able to get those, too," she said. "I'm pretty strong."
"Yes you are. We'll see. I'm going to take some pics and post the sofa and recliner on Marketplace. Say $200?" Tim asked.