Home   >   Front Page   >   Featured Articles   >   Why We Are Selling Our Granada Colonial Home

Why We Are Selling Our Granada Colonial Home

By Darrell Bushnell

In the land of not quite right, the simplest things can become distorted. Most people here know we have our home, La Flor Panamena, for sale. We have heard it is because we are moving to Ecuador, moving back to the USA, dumping Amy for a local young woman or that we are ready to return to the corporate world. It is none of those things. We are simply ready for the next adventure.

Even in the states we were sort of vagabonds having an estimated 40 closings of buying and selling homes. Of course, that was in the good old days when you could always sell your home for more than what you paid for it. Also we were lucky enough to have chosen careers that were in demand which allowed us to move around the United States.

When we arrived in Nicaragua seven years ago we moved to San Juan del Sur and lived out of our suitcases for four months while we waited for our residencies. At that time we quickly found out that SJDS was not for us. There were few couples and even fewer that we got along with. Living on the ocean could not make up for our need to be near at least more expats. We tried the quiet retired life and found it unsatisfying. So we sold our home there and moved to Granada which fit much better with Amy opening an art center/gallery. We bought the La Flor Panamena, a 150 year old corner restored colonial. It was nice owning one of the most well known homes since you could just jump in a taxi and say “La Flor Panamena”.

But it has been seven years and we are ready for something different. I grew up on a farm and now am ready for another but smaller farm. We are in the process of closing on a small five acre farm just two miles outside of Granada. We are also purchasing a smaller home lot to build our next home also on a much smaller scale. So our home will be very close to the farm but Amy did not want to live among the animals. I will write a more comprehensive article later but suffice it to say we will have 360 degree views of six volcanoes, most of the islands, all the cathedrals of Granada, the Chantoles mountains across Lake Nicaragua and all within five minutes of Granada.

We like Granada and want to be close but I want to start raising some animals such as horses, peliguay, pigs, chickens and some other species. I want to get up and see Mombacho in its full glory every morning. I want the only noise to be the birds overhead. I do miss having a yard where the dogs can play. I want to be where the deer and the antelope play – whoa, forget that, wrong country.

The past seven years in La Flor Panamena have been great. We have had many parties for neighbors and friends. We have very good neighbors who take care of us. We have seen the children of our neighbors grow up from toddlers to kids to teenagers. Between the pregnancies, marriages, funerals and everyday life we have learned a lot about a different culture we still do not fully understand.

We think our home will sell fairly quickly now with the increased real estate activity and our home is one of the few true colonials with over three foot thick adobe walls. We could easily withstand a pirate attack. Switching to real estate mode, our home is around 4400 sf with three bedrooms and four full baths. It has a very large garage, kitchen, pool and sala. THe many exterior doors face the lake winds coming from the east. Though the bedrooms have A/C, we have not had to use A/C in over five years. The secret is to always install an industrial ceiling fan above each bed and have great air flow.

The house would be a good home for anyone but would be ideal if you were to start a business or school in the sala. Unlike most colonial homes there is plenty of storage with the large garage with a fourth bedroom and bath for a cuidador or other employee. You could just rent out parts of the home since there are many entrance doors. The front bedroom has a large bath and kitchen area and has rented for over $400 a month for the past nine months. We will miss the income. You could also rent out the front sala as a studio since it has a bedroom and a full bath with a small kitchen area. We have actually sold the house several times but each time just before the closing something would come up like the buyer did not have any money and other interesting excuses.

So hopefully the house will sell soon and we can begin building our new home. Another phase to this adventure.

 

 

One Comment