On our way to Ogdensburg, New York, we made a pit stop along I-81 in Adams Center, NY. There we left mom at a Dunkin Donuts to spend a few hours on a webinar. (Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do.) After a quick review of the map, we (my son and I) directed our car along S. Harbor Road toward Lake Ontario. Who can resist the draw of a Great Lake?
On the map we saw a lighthouse. We traveled the roads through farmland to find it. Disappointingly, when we got there we discovered that the lighthouse is a private residence. We had hoped to walk the grounds and see the lake from there.
Plan B: we drove north on Rt. 3 along the lake. This brought us to Westcott Beach State Park where we were very happy to find many stones and calm water on which to skip them. I have a pretty good skipping technique, probably average like most guys. But to my young son, I am a master skipper. I’ll take it.
Westcott Beach State Park
It was a beautiful blue sky day. It wasn’t cold. It wasn’t windy. It was a good day to be outside in the sun. The break from driving was highly enjoyable.
Afterward, we picked up mom and headed north toward Canada. Like I said, our destination was Ogdensburg. Our purpose in making the trip was to see the total solar eclipse the next day.
What should I tell you about it? Should I give you the plain story about how we went about buying a house? Or should I get philosophical about how I once owned a home many years ago and thought I’d never own one again due to multiple adversarial life circumstances? Let me tell you a little about both.
Setting the Financial Stage
First, let me set the financial stage. Four years ago, my wife and I decided to get out of debt. We followed Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps after hearing him on the radio and taking his Financial Peace University course. We paid off a significant amount of debt over 19 months. It was an amazing feeling to make the last payment and be debt free! No more car payments. No more student loan payments. No more credit card payments. We were (and still are) debt free! Over the following two years, we saved up a three-month emergency fund and enough money for a down payment on a house.
Looking
Our next step was to look for a house. Since we were very fond of Dave Ramsey and his instruction, we found Gordon Crawford through Ramsey’s Endorsed Local Providers. Gordon was wonderful! He took his time in showing us houses and pointing out important features and flaws in homes which we would not have thought to look for. Gordon was so good natured. He will be remembered in our home as the guy who first introduced our toddler to Fruit by the Foot.
Fruit by the Foot – Pure Amazement to a Toddler
We began looking for a home in July. We quickly realized there was steep demand for homes due to people flocking out of New York City into the suburbs. Here’s an example from a New York Times article dated August 30, 2020:
Over three days in late July, a three-bedroom house in East Orange, N.J., was listed for sale for $285,000, had 97 showings, received 24 offers and went under contract for 21 percent over that price.
Trust me, East Orange is not a town in New Jersey where people would normally rush to spend $285,000 on a house. But it’s an indication of the level of demand for houses at the same time we began our search.
We found a house we really liked on a Friday evening of torrential downpour when there was some miscommunication between the listing agent and the seller, who had no idea potential buyers would be washing up on his porch. He was kind enough to let us see part of the house. We had to wait a few days for the open house to come back and see the rest. That was a sunny day and we liked all that we saw. We made an offer quickly to get ahead of the New Yorkers.
Oh, the Drama!
Despite that sunny day, there ended up being quite a bit of drama in order to get to closing. I don’t feel like writing about the gory details. It went on for three months. At one point we walked away from the deal. Even after the deal was re-initiated, we found ourselves wishing we stayed out because of further drama. But ultimately we closed and the house was ours.
Now let me get to the philosophical part.
I owned a home at one other time long ago. I once wrote about that home. As I said there, that time of my life “feels like a tale from someone else’s life, or a portion of an old book that I vaguely remember.” That was 25 years ago. That’s almost half my life ago. Think of how much a guy experiences in half his life, all the downpours, all the waves that wash over him, and the many currents that carry him through depths and breadths in life’s ocean, until he reaches the balmy shores of his new home.
BOOYAH!
Well, isn’t that some sappy philosophical flotsam and jetsam that just washed up into your browser! The truth of the matter is that I’m now a guy that has a mortgage payment who has to fix anything that breaks around here because I ain’t got no landlord to do it for me. But the shiny side of that coin is, in addition to being free from debt, I am free from the obligation of paying another man’s mortgage to live in a house he owns while I have no real equity to my name. BOOYAH!
This past Friday night, while on our way to see Steely Dan at the Beacon Theater and needing a bite to eat before the show, we happened upon Big Nick’s Burger and Pizza Joint on 71st Street. What a good find! Both of their specialties were special for sure. We were completely satisfied with both the pizza and burgers. Very tasty!
Big Nick’s has character.
The place was small with character. Our waiter was a character, stereotypically New York in speech and gestures. We loved him. Even the bathroom was New York: down a steep flight of dirty steps with beer kegs at the bottom, narrow, filthy, with a hand dryer that wasn’t worth a crap, and a door covered with graffiti.
Old Kank
We were glad we found your joint, Nick. Thanks for taking care of our hunger before we went to see The Dan (where we smelled the scent of joints of a different kind). We’ll stop by again when we’re in your neighborhood!
