Things were moving faster then a New York minute state-side but real estate negotiations were definitely on island time.
Even though my recent trip to the Doctor had come with strong recommendations to see a stomach specialist for my ulcers, I had a surprisingly calming feeling in my gut that our housing in the Bahamas would work itself out.
Welcome to the dichotomy that is me. I first noticed the giant discrepancy in my need to control the universe when planning Trav and I's wedding in the Caribbean. I realized quickly that I had little power from the US and oddly, willingly conceded. I was as surprised as our guests were on our Big Day and it was perfect! As I found myself continuously following up with our Real Estate agent in the Bahamas, with no results, I realized our new home would have to be the same way.
Looking back, I'm surprised I was able to sleep at night because a lot of factors are involved in acquiring a new home in a foreign country. Especially fully-furnished homes. We had been home over a month since seeing Bahamian properties and now all of them were rented. After looking through the minimal pictures on Bahamian listings, it became increasingly clear that another trip would need to be made to secure housing. Securing a safe home, in a safe neighborhood, where the furnishings fit our needs wasn't going to be as easy as catalog shopping. Or was it?
Rewind...
In the beginning of March, Trav and I had visited the Bahamas and I posted our experience and the homes we saw in my blog post, dated March 14th. #8- Live Where Others Vacation... I posted two pictures and one video. In the video, I accidentally filmed a pink house while we were waiting for the listing agent who was bringing us keys. We actually wound up touring the green house beside it because the pink house was rented. I posted the video because it was the only media I had from that days' real estate excursion. http://lifeisabahamianbeach.blogspot.com/2014_03_14_archive.html
A month later, our real estate agent emailed us the news. He had the perfect home for us.
And guess what? It was THAT pink house.
I had goosebumps immediately. Seriously- This was kismet like never before. It had a fenced yard for Bob which I had already seen by touring the neighbor. The former tenant was going to take all of the current furnishings so we were given the chance to approve the new furniture, which was an incredible relief. The home is in the gated community that we have had our eye on so we knew we would be safe. And best of all, the price was too good to be true. Travis and I took two minutes to decide that it was meant to be, and we took it before it even went on the market.
It was the easiest lease we've ever signed. All we provided was our phone number, address in New York and full names and a lease was drawn up and scanned over. We both signed it and sent it back. Within hours we had a fully executed lease. I printed out a copy.
When I read the bottom signature line, I smiled. How could I have missed that previously? In our signature line, we had filled in the date in the space that had read 'in the year of our Lord'. I had never had God's signature so heavily on my lease before.
Hallelujah. Home Sweet Home.
