A Friend and a Rental Home Found

Victoria and I drove all over the New River Valley in Virginia looking for property. We checked out a small house in Radford, Virginia that had been purchased by a realtor for her daughter to live in while the daughter attended Radford University. After the daughter graduated from college the 1500 square foot cottage was put on the market as a property to lease. It was a cute little home from the outside, but way to small for us on the inside. You can check out the property at 116 Hammet Drive, Radford, Virginia online at Realtor.com. It could be just right for you.

We then looked at a Victorian home on Tuckahoe Drive in Riner that looked great on the internet except that the Master BR was upstairs and all the ceilings were 8 feet. In person the place was a wreck--at least it looked like a wreck to us. You can't always trust the Internet when looking for homes. You might like it though. Check it out on Realtor.com

When I was looking for Tuckahoe Drive I pulled into a Shell Service Station at the corner of Highway 8 and Tuckahoe. I didn't realize that Tuckahoe bordered the Shell Station at the time. I asked two employees at the Shell Station if they knew where Tuckahoe was. They both said they had never heard of it. 

In small towns the post mistress at the post office is always a good source for gossip and real estate deals. This nugget proved true in Riner were the post mistress gave me details on all the real estate properties in the county. If I had bought something, I would have paid her a commission.

We drove all over the Riner area. Our initial impression was that the land was too wide open. There are beautifully green rolling hills with endless vistas. Sadly that means that on ridges you can see much more than you want to like house trailors, junk yards, and Interstates. Nothing is hidden when the land is cleared that the elevation high.

I showed Vicki the New River Hospital where I will begin working October 1, 2008. She liked it.

While we were driving all over Radford County, Vickie noticed an add in a real estate magazine for rent homes. We called Jim Wesel who met at this office in Christiansburg with some house keys. The first home he showed us we took. It was built in 2005. It had a nice yard with trees in the back and was clean and neat. The lease price was gracious and the house is seven miles from the hospital. You can check it out on Realtor.com by entering 215 Barkwood St., Christiansburg, VA.

Jim Wesel, a Methodist, was also a fount of information and stories such as the tale about the lady who flushed her potted plant down the commode and wondered why it kept stopping up and the women who kept 10 dogs in the house. The dogs lack of training left the walls and carpets malodorous and mildewed. When cleanup costs ran to over $10,000 she told Jim, "Go ahead and sue me. I don't have any money, so a law suit won't bother me."