First of all, we woke up to clear, sunny day with pleasant temperature in the mid 50s. What a nice change coming from the Florida heat and humidity. We ate breakfast at
Cracker Barrel and after that met with Brian to move our trailer into his
storage place. The Value Place does not have a place for trailers and it is
really not a very secure location considering that all of our belongings are in
the trailer. Brian offered us to park our trailer in his storage place for next to nothing. We had no idea he even owned a storage place until the night before and he just offered us the space. He also let us use one of the storage units for our bikes until
we move into a more permanent place. The amazing part was that the storage place was about a mile from the hotel we were staying at.
Brian also spoke with another realtor who would be willing to rent a house to us on short term basis. We went to look at it after dropping off the trailer. It was in a really nice location but it smelled musty and has been empty for a little while. We did not like it. Next we had lunch with Brian and then we went to a playground. Stevie and Hannah really needed the time outside. When we got to the playground, there was a mom with two little boys – they were 5 and 2 years old. She told us they just moved here from Georgia a week ago and they were starting to homeschool as well. It was almost unbelievable how much we had in common. We really enjoyed meeting them at the playground and hope to see them again soon. We are happy to be making friends.
Brian also spoke with another realtor who would be willing to rent a house to us on short term basis. We went to look at it after dropping off the trailer. It was in a really nice location but it smelled musty and has been empty for a little while. We did not like it. Next we had lunch with Brian and then we went to a playground. Stevie and Hannah really needed the time outside. When we got to the playground, there was a mom with two little boys – they were 5 and 2 years old. She told us they just moved here from Georgia a week ago and they were starting to homeschool as well. It was almost unbelievable how much we had in common. We really enjoyed meeting them at the playground and hope to see them again soon. We are happy to be making friends.
After the
playground time, we went to the post office to rent a PO Box. We are official
now – we have a mailing address in Tennessee.
Since we had nothing better to do, we decided to drive by one of the homes that we liked a lot from the pictures. We will see it with Judy on Thursday so we looked at it from the road and just kept on driving. We have passed several “for rent” signs along the road and called the numbers listed. And just like that, we found an apartment that is available right now and the owners are willing to make an exception and lease to us for 3 months. It is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment in a really quiet area. There is a huge open area behind the building where the kids can run and play. The rent is very reasonable as well. The apartment just became available 2 days ago and they put the sign out just yesterday.
In the end of the day, we stopped by a natural food store and stocked up on snacks and items for breakfast. The kids were in heaven. They were so excited to get some decent food.
The day could have ended on a really high note had it not been for a little hiccup. When we got back to the hotel, Steve called the Florida retirement system to request the first distribution so that we could have money to put towards a house and also towards living expenses for the next few months. This initial distribution is only available if he has 25 years of special-risk service in the system. Otherwise, no distributions are available until December 1, 2013. Before he retired, he called FRS multiple times to verify the retirement date and to be sure he would have 25 years. Each time he got the same answer. So we were both taken aback when they told him that he only had 24.99 years and that he had to wait until December to make any withdrawals.
Since it was nearly 8 PM, we had to wait until the next day to make any follow up calls. In the meantime we had to come up with a strategy on how to pay for our living expenses for the next 2 months.
When Steve called back on Thursday, the investment company representative set up a conference call with the state retirement representative. The state retirement person confirmed that Steve had 25 years of service but that did not change the fact that the investment company will not release the funds. They have submitted a work order to determine why the discrepancy exist and why one system is showing 25 years and the other 24.99 years. We are hoping that this will be resolved in the next few days but at this point we are operating under the assumption that we will have to wait until December.
Since we had nothing better to do, we decided to drive by one of the homes that we liked a lot from the pictures. We will see it with Judy on Thursday so we looked at it from the road and just kept on driving. We have passed several “for rent” signs along the road and called the numbers listed. And just like that, we found an apartment that is available right now and the owners are willing to make an exception and lease to us for 3 months. It is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment in a really quiet area. There is a huge open area behind the building where the kids can run and play. The rent is very reasonable as well. The apartment just became available 2 days ago and they put the sign out just yesterday.
In the end of the day, we stopped by a natural food store and stocked up on snacks and items for breakfast. The kids were in heaven. They were so excited to get some decent food.
The day could have ended on a really high note had it not been for a little hiccup. When we got back to the hotel, Steve called the Florida retirement system to request the first distribution so that we could have money to put towards a house and also towards living expenses for the next few months. This initial distribution is only available if he has 25 years of special-risk service in the system. Otherwise, no distributions are available until December 1, 2013. Before he retired, he called FRS multiple times to verify the retirement date and to be sure he would have 25 years. Each time he got the same answer. So we were both taken aback when they told him that he only had 24.99 years and that he had to wait until December to make any withdrawals.
Since it was nearly 8 PM, we had to wait until the next day to make any follow up calls. In the meantime we had to come up with a strategy on how to pay for our living expenses for the next 2 months.
When Steve called back on Thursday, the investment company representative set up a conference call with the state retirement representative. The state retirement person confirmed that Steve had 25 years of service but that did not change the fact that the investment company will not release the funds. They have submitted a work order to determine why the discrepancy exist and why one system is showing 25 years and the other 24.99 years. We are hoping that this will be resolved in the next few days but at this point we are operating under the assumption that we will have to wait until December.
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