OK. One major task completed – we found a great home for Bailey. Now, what to do about our home – sell, rental program, or lease?

We had done so much in the past few months to get our Blue Ridge home ready to sell regardless of getting a caretaker position or not that we almost completely forgot about the lease/rent option. We did contact a few cabin rental companies about putting our cabin in a vacation cabin rental program but initial responses were that it didn’t look like a cabin. They are right … at least from the outside. From the inside, it looks like a mountain lodge. Oh well, we don’t have time to worry about that.

Time is slipping away and selling a home sometimes takes more than a few weeks. One morning I woke up and remembered that Sandy had told us that there was always a need in Blue Ridge for long-term home leases. I decided to make some calls to my contacts at the Chamber to see if maybe they had heard of anyone needing a long-term lease.

I guess we’re on a lucky streak because within a few hours, I received a call from a fellow who wanted to come by and see our place after I sent him a few photos. His dad lives in the area, runs a successful business, and this guy and his wife just moved to Blue Ridge from Memphis so they could be closer to the parents. She recently started work at the local hospital.

Long story short … over the next few days they decide they want to lease our home for at least a year, maybe longer. Our timing works for them so we start the background check process and before long, it’s a done deal. Both sides are happy. And they need it furnished as they still have a home to sell in Memphis. Home issue resolved for the next year. Another major task completed.

Late June 2014

Most mornings, as I’m scrolling through my emails, I see the latest updates from the couple’s job offering sites we follow. Kind of nice to sit there and share with Sharon, discuss the potential, and maybe start our research online of the place and area. We call these discussions our “Board Meetings” before we make a decision to apply or not.

In late May, a job posted for a Caretaker / Host position in the Caribbean … St. Thomas, V.I. to be exact. Positions in the Caribbean don’t come across often so this one really caught our attention. The workload was part-time and provided living quarters. The facility was absolutely gorgeous. Silk Cotton Villa – check it out. We did our research and decided to apply.

Within a week or so the owners emailed us to let us know we had made the first cut. Now they wanted some additional information. Of course we complied. Got the requested information back to them via email ASAP.

A few weeks later we received another email from the owners informing us we had made the final cut down to three finalists. You can imagine our excitement while reading that email. We had been out all day on a lake with some friends and the email was several hours old. The owners also stated they wanted to conduct a phone interview that evening. We emailed back to let them know we would be available during the assigned time.

Sharon and I both thought the phone interview went well. The owners asked a lot of good questions that would help them make a decision. As we had been through several interviews like this before, we knew not to get too excited because you never know what the other end is thinking or who is your competition. All you can do is be prepared, be honest, and put your best face forward. Then wait.

Near the end of the phone interview, the owners told us when they would make a decision and they would contact us whether it was a Yes or No. The prescribed day came and that evening, the call came. And then the message we wanted to hear, “Are you ready to start at Silk Cotton Villa?”  Guess what our answer was?