Mikey P
Administrator
I got this note from Al last week and asked his permission to post it here as I know many of you use his fine products as well have spent time with him at the many Mikey's Fests he has attended.
Adios mi amigos!
After 38 years living here in Woodland Hills Ca, I’m movin’ on down the road. To Tucson , Arizona of all places.
I know what you are thinking – “What’s he doing?” Well, here’s the back story.
About a year and a half ago I developed prostate cancer, which is not supposed to be any big deal. It wasn’t, I guess. But I developed every side effect known to medicine, including having 2 surgeries interrupting my 45 radiation treatments. Those left me with a fatigue that I had never known in my life, and now, over a year after the last treatment, I still am plagued with constant fatigue. The doctors have tried every medication known, but nothing has helped.
As a consequence, I was simply not contributing to The Ground Floor, and felt that if I was not helping, I was hurting the company. After 28 years, I did not want to be a drain on it any longer. Adam, who has been with me for 3 years, has wanted to own the business for a long time. He has ideas to take the company in a new direction, growing it as best as he can. So we came to a mutual agreement, and as of this past June 1, he took over the reins 100%This meant I was retired. What to do now?
California has been rated as the 50[SUP]th[/SUP] and most expensive state in the union to retire. With a significant decrease in income, I thought moving might be a good idea. Additionally, with 38 years in the same house, it was never going to be Randi and Al’s house. So I wanted to make a fresh start and share ownership of a house with her together.
Having lived in Scottsdale for 3 years and traveled throughout Arizona for that time, I was somewhat familiar with the area, albeit it had been 38 years since I had been there, and always for commercial business, never considering looking to live there. The Phoenix/Scottsdale/Glendale/Mesa/Tempe (The Valley of the Sun) did not appeal to me, as the heat, humidity and pollution were such that I might as well stay in L.A.
But Tucson had an appeal, as it is elevated (a little cooler, but don’t think of icicles in July!), has no manufacturing (no air pollution), and is extraordinarily dry.
So in May I took a road trip there to explore the possibility of moving there. I scouted around, working with various real estate agents, and found several potential landing areas. That Friday afternoon, Randi flew in and we spent the week-end looking at houses and neighborhoods.
After initially crossing off a community called Saddlebrooke, Randi decided we should revisit it. Good decision. Real estate agents call the area an “island”, because once you make the drive out there, it is a great place, but a big drive to go anywhere else. At least that’s their perspective. They all agree that it’s a long drive into downtown Tucson – 20 minutes!!!!! In L.A. , that’s around the corner.
Saddlebrooke was a 55+ community that has changed to a 45+ community, as the residents have gotten younger when the older ones have moved on. There are 4,750 single family homes (all one story, of course), with 250 more to be built. That’s it. No more, as the building code requires that there be enough well water for 100 years in order to get a building permit.
The community boasts 10 restaurants, 6 golf courses, 24 pickle ball courts (a senior version of tennis with wooden paddles and a waffle ball), 5 huge swimming pools, 3 massive fitness centers, a magnificent softball diamond, lighted tennis courts, a dog park, bocce courts and a host of other things, as well as over 120 discreet clubs (of course a duplicate bridge organization is there), some of which charge as much as $8 a year to belong! The facilities are kept in pristine condition and the association has a huge stockpile of cash in case they need it for anything.
As with so many other things in Arizona , this community was built a little “backwards” if you will. Normally a builder puts up homes in Phase I, and learns from his mistakes how to improve the homes in Phase II. Not here.
These homes were built with lots of extras, hoping to attract people away from the city. Things like using 2 x 6 studs for added insulation (keeps your A/C bills down), central vacuum system, and other things to make it more attractive to potential residents. Then, when they went to Phase II, they made these as optional extras, at added cost. Since some of the buyers were going to be Snow Birds, and others simply did not want to spend the additional funds, those homes lack the extras of Phase I.
We were in luck, and a 2 bedroom + den home in Phase I had been on the market. Square footage is the same as the Woodland Hills house, so you don’t feel squished in. There is only one neighbor (sort of, you have to look hard to see their house), as it is desert behind us and a wash on one side. It has additional extras like a Jacuzzi, granite counters in the kitchen, a fountain and pond, a doggie door (for CJ), and a full outdoor BBQ with side cook top (Randi is thrilled, as she is a real chef). It also had 2 lighted fans outdoors under the patio so you can look out at the 9,200’ high Santa Catalinamountains, and fully paid for solar panels which drop our electric costs to a laughable level, as well as a full Surround Sound system (a big wow for me, as I am deaf in one ear – but oh well). Also, closed cabinets on both sides and the back of the garage which has an epoxy floor, and the central vacsystem. It was freshly painted and in move in condition. And because the previous owner did certain things wrong (like pricing it too high), it had languished on the market for over 6 months. We put in a bid, and after some negotiations we got the house, predicated on personal inspection (yes, we bought it from 46 pictures on the internet, but Randi knew which floor plan we wanted and this was one of them).We flew out to Tucson to inspect it, and it met or exceeded our expectations.
The home inspection service did their job, and after much aggravation from the bank, caused by the crap that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did some 8 years ago, we closed escrow on June 18!
So now we are packing up and Randi and CJ move on July 15[SUP]th[/SUP]. I am staying behind to supervise the inside painting of the house and replacement of the carpets, as CJ has left her indelible mark all over the carpets! We are having a new garage door with opener installed right after the outside of the house is painted, so it will be in move-in condition in time for the new school year. And of course with our local high school a block and a half away winning a U.S. Academic Decathlon for an unprecedented 7[SUP]th[/SUP] time, this is a prime neighborhood for families who don’t want to spend their hard earned money on private school.
It has been a great run and I will miss many things like The Magic Castle, Dodger games, Leammle Theaters, etc. But most of all, I will miss the wonderful friendships developed over the years. However, the only thing that stays the same is change. And the time has come to make that change and begin the next chapter. BTW, my e-mail address will stay the same.
So, as we ride off into the sunset, I wish you good health and a great life.
Al Spaet
http://www.groundfloor.org/
Adios mi amigos!
After 38 years living here in Woodland Hills Ca, I’m movin’ on down the road. To Tucson , Arizona of all places.
I know what you are thinking – “What’s he doing?” Well, here’s the back story.
About a year and a half ago I developed prostate cancer, which is not supposed to be any big deal. It wasn’t, I guess. But I developed every side effect known to medicine, including having 2 surgeries interrupting my 45 radiation treatments. Those left me with a fatigue that I had never known in my life, and now, over a year after the last treatment, I still am plagued with constant fatigue. The doctors have tried every medication known, but nothing has helped.
As a consequence, I was simply not contributing to The Ground Floor, and felt that if I was not helping, I was hurting the company. After 28 years, I did not want to be a drain on it any longer. Adam, who has been with me for 3 years, has wanted to own the business for a long time. He has ideas to take the company in a new direction, growing it as best as he can. So we came to a mutual agreement, and as of this past June 1, he took over the reins 100%This meant I was retired. What to do now?
California has been rated as the 50[SUP]th[/SUP] and most expensive state in the union to retire. With a significant decrease in income, I thought moving might be a good idea. Additionally, with 38 years in the same house, it was never going to be Randi and Al’s house. So I wanted to make a fresh start and share ownership of a house with her together.
Having lived in Scottsdale for 3 years and traveled throughout Arizona for that time, I was somewhat familiar with the area, albeit it had been 38 years since I had been there, and always for commercial business, never considering looking to live there. The Phoenix/Scottsdale/Glendale/Mesa/Tempe (The Valley of the Sun) did not appeal to me, as the heat, humidity and pollution were such that I might as well stay in L.A.
But Tucson had an appeal, as it is elevated (a little cooler, but don’t think of icicles in July!), has no manufacturing (no air pollution), and is extraordinarily dry.
So in May I took a road trip there to explore the possibility of moving there. I scouted around, working with various real estate agents, and found several potential landing areas. That Friday afternoon, Randi flew in and we spent the week-end looking at houses and neighborhoods.
After initially crossing off a community called Saddlebrooke, Randi decided we should revisit it. Good decision. Real estate agents call the area an “island”, because once you make the drive out there, it is a great place, but a big drive to go anywhere else. At least that’s their perspective. They all agree that it’s a long drive into downtown Tucson – 20 minutes!!!!! In L.A. , that’s around the corner.
Saddlebrooke was a 55+ community that has changed to a 45+ community, as the residents have gotten younger when the older ones have moved on. There are 4,750 single family homes (all one story, of course), with 250 more to be built. That’s it. No more, as the building code requires that there be enough well water for 100 years in order to get a building permit.
The community boasts 10 restaurants, 6 golf courses, 24 pickle ball courts (a senior version of tennis with wooden paddles and a waffle ball), 5 huge swimming pools, 3 massive fitness centers, a magnificent softball diamond, lighted tennis courts, a dog park, bocce courts and a host of other things, as well as over 120 discreet clubs (of course a duplicate bridge organization is there), some of which charge as much as $8 a year to belong! The facilities are kept in pristine condition and the association has a huge stockpile of cash in case they need it for anything.
As with so many other things in Arizona , this community was built a little “backwards” if you will. Normally a builder puts up homes in Phase I, and learns from his mistakes how to improve the homes in Phase II. Not here.
These homes were built with lots of extras, hoping to attract people away from the city. Things like using 2 x 6 studs for added insulation (keeps your A/C bills down), central vacuum system, and other things to make it more attractive to potential residents. Then, when they went to Phase II, they made these as optional extras, at added cost. Since some of the buyers were going to be Snow Birds, and others simply did not want to spend the additional funds, those homes lack the extras of Phase I.
We were in luck, and a 2 bedroom + den home in Phase I had been on the market. Square footage is the same as the Woodland Hills house, so you don’t feel squished in. There is only one neighbor (sort of, you have to look hard to see their house), as it is desert behind us and a wash on one side. It has additional extras like a Jacuzzi, granite counters in the kitchen, a fountain and pond, a doggie door (for CJ), and a full outdoor BBQ with side cook top (Randi is thrilled, as she is a real chef). It also had 2 lighted fans outdoors under the patio so you can look out at the 9,200’ high Santa Catalinamountains, and fully paid for solar panels which drop our electric costs to a laughable level, as well as a full Surround Sound system (a big wow for me, as I am deaf in one ear – but oh well). Also, closed cabinets on both sides and the back of the garage which has an epoxy floor, and the central vacsystem. It was freshly painted and in move in condition. And because the previous owner did certain things wrong (like pricing it too high), it had languished on the market for over 6 months. We put in a bid, and after some negotiations we got the house, predicated on personal inspection (yes, we bought it from 46 pictures on the internet, but Randi knew which floor plan we wanted and this was one of them).We flew out to Tucson to inspect it, and it met or exceeded our expectations.
The home inspection service did their job, and after much aggravation from the bank, caused by the crap that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did some 8 years ago, we closed escrow on June 18!
So now we are packing up and Randi and CJ move on July 15[SUP]th[/SUP]. I am staying behind to supervise the inside painting of the house and replacement of the carpets, as CJ has left her indelible mark all over the carpets! We are having a new garage door with opener installed right after the outside of the house is painted, so it will be in move-in condition in time for the new school year. And of course with our local high school a block and a half away winning a U.S. Academic Decathlon for an unprecedented 7[SUP]th[/SUP] time, this is a prime neighborhood for families who don’t want to spend their hard earned money on private school.
It has been a great run and I will miss many things like The Magic Castle, Dodger games, Leammle Theaters, etc. But most of all, I will miss the wonderful friendships developed over the years. However, the only thing that stays the same is change. And the time has come to make that change and begin the next chapter. BTW, my e-mail address will stay the same.
So, as we ride off into the sunset, I wish you good health and a great life.
Al Spaet
http://www.groundfloor.org/
