u/citydock2000

Update: WOW, thanks everyone. Some good perspectives here, I appreciate it.

We're considering selling our 100yo home in VHCOL and moving into a home in the same city to reduce our house obligations (mostly effort and time) as we move toward retirement. Old houses can be - and have been - ridiculously expensive. We aren't do-it-yourselfers.

We are in SoCal so HOAs are common - although we live in a no HOA area now.

We are hoping to pay cash for the new place with proceeds from our current home, and we are looking in a townhouse community that has an HOA. Finding a townhouse without an HOA is impossible in this area. It doesn't exist.

HOA fees in the community we are looking at are between $1200-1500/m. Home values are ~1.6 - 1.8m for a 1970s townhouse.

As mentioned, VHCOL. We won't have a mortgage.

I know many people will balk at those high fees (I am, too!) but I figured I'd see if anyone here has justified high HOA fees. Maybe I'm just trying to talk myself into it - but the alternative, staying here and continuing to manage house and yard maintenance, isn't what I want to do in retirement.

HOA fees cover:

• All Water Usage (southern california, our water is pretty expensive)
• All Exterior Maintenance Including Roof and Painting (about 30k to paint our current house, have to paint every 5-7 yrs)
• Termite Coverage (also big here)
• Sewer
• Trash Pick-Up (currently $500/yr)
• Fire and Earthquake Insurance (currently $700/yr)
• Spectrum TV – Platinum Level Includes:
  • HBO
  • Disney+
  • Hulu
  • Two DVR Boxes (including service fee)
  • High Speed Internet
  • Free Router and Wireless Modem
• Clubhouse (7,000 square feet), with Two Event Rooms Including Full Kitchen
• Large Fitness Gym with State-of-the-Art Equipment and Sauna
• Common Area Landscaping Service and Maintenance for 63-Acre Grounds
• 4 Pools with Spas. All Pools Lit at Night and 2 Pools Heated in Winter
• 4 Lit USTA Hard Court Specification Tennis Courts
• Putting Green with Bay and City Views
• Tree-Lined Walking Paths
• Library with Kitchen and Bath – Remodel in 2026
• On Site Property Management: First Service Residential

We're planning on doing the last 100k (Sarria to Santiago ) in mid september as a small taste of the Camino before a longer walk next spring or fall.

The current plan is:

✈️ Los Angeles to Madrid

🚞 Madrid to Sarria

🚶🏻Sarria to Santiago

✈️ Santiago to Paris

✈️ Paris to Los Angeles

1. Is it easy to have 2 carry on bags sent from Sarria to Santiago, for us to pick up when we get there?

2. We'll stay in private accommodations - do we need to plan ahead, or can we reserve our first night and then play it by ear?

3. Are we more likely to see rain between Sept 15 - 25?

4. Any variations on the route you might recommend are welcome.

Thanks!

https://preview.redd.it/d1vd2yhpso7h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74bc33ca9bd64456d4c9f6b8511270ac0f505880

Looking for suggestions for a small to medium sized tree for this space.

We have a planter on our porch that needs a tree. Space is 8x8, the patio floats. We had a HUGE tipe tree that had to be removed, so I know this area can support a tree.

This area faces the sidewalk/street and our house is immediately to the right. The planter faces north east - entirely exposed except for the wall and strong morning sun.

My husband has been getting BITTEN UP at night. Bites all over his neck, groin, arms over the last two weeks in SoCal.

I saw one little blood smear on his side of the bed about a week ago. Nothing since. No bites on me.

We took the bed apart. Washed and dried everything on hot. Checked the mattress. Have not seen one bug. Of any kind. Anywhere.

We have an indoor cat we proactively treat for fleas and I’ve flea combed her every day. No fleas.

What can we do to figure out the source of these bites !? And … if we believe they are bedbugs, how do we figure it out?? Where to look? Already looked around bed, crevices around mattress, inspected box spring etc. - nothing. Is there a secret to finding evidence of bedbugs?

My husband has been getting BITTEN UP at night. Bites all over his neck, groin, arms over the last two weeks in SoCal.

I saw one little blood smear on his side of the bed about a week ago. Nothing since. No bites on me.

We took the bed apart. Washed and dried everything on hot. Checked the mattress. Have not seen one bug. Of any kind. Anywhere.

We have an indoor cat we proactively treat for fleas and I’ve flea combed her every day. No fleas.

What can we do to figure out the source of these bites !?

I just saw a posting in the Nurses subreddit in which a hospice nurse said when a patient dies, it can take up to eight hours of their time.

I’m just curious about what Hospice Nurse does (or might do) when someone dies?

We’ve had three family members die on hospice within the last 10 years and the nurse didn’t really do anything (except tell us to dispose of meds at home) or make an appearance - one was in the hospital, one in AL and one was at home - but we were pretty experienced and well resourced and perfectly fine.

We are in the final days with another family member right now, and I’m just curious about what a Hospice Nurse could do or would do when a patient dies and thought maybe some other people would be, too.

* while our Hospice experiences have varied greatly, we love our Hospice Nurses and have had nothing but good experiences with them specifically.

We'd like to sell our house, and buy a townhouse or condo (something with lower maintenance) in the same general area. Ideally, we will be able to buy a new place with cash from the proceeds of our house sale.

The idea of trying to do both at once seems frustrating - trying to time finding something new and I'd really like to move out and have the house staged, so I don't need to worry about fixing it up, we have a pet who I'd like to get situated before we show the house, etc.

Is there a financial downside to moving out into a rental, then prepping and selling the house, and then buying something at a more leisurely pace? I mean obviously, we'll have to pay rent for a year, move twice, and we will lose our sweet interest rate.

This is all in southern california, I'm not working/my husband is working.