Drifting to Tagaytay?

My life is in such a state of drift these days. Please don’t get me wrong. Drift does not make me unhappy. It makes me feel loose and lightweight like a feather floating not knowing where it will land. Just enjoying the trip.

 You know that I am newly married. That in itself puts me on a level much higher than ordinary life. I am 73 going on 74, six years younger than my husband.  That shoves both of us up more levels. It makes us both quite old but very youthfully happy. We do much together. We feel very free to talk, to giggle and laugh together, to plan many trips big and small together. True, some happen, some don’t. We just go with the flow, have been enjoying where it takes us but once in a while we are caught in what might or might not be a dilemma.

One of the things we’re faced with is the question of our residence. My husband is very happy in his two-bedroom condominium where he has stayed for maybe 10 years. He owns it. I have never believed in owning property after my Calamba house where I faced the travails of maintenance and taxes. So I rent my place. I love renting because it’s the owner who maintains it. Also, if there is a ghost or any other inconvenience I encounter after I move in, I can give notice, look for another place and almost instantly move out.

Maybe that’s why when people told us after we married that we had to find a new home for the two of us we looked at each other with a question in each of our eyes — where? Then almost in one voice we both said, Tagaytay! Apparently to live there was a common dream we shared. We know we love the weather there. I will love planting flowers and painting there. Something about Tagaytay appeals to both of us.

He has a daughter in real estate now in search of a house for us. I have been looking on the Net. All I see are short-term rentals for weekend trips or vacations or Airbnb’s. The rates are too high. I thought I should write about it. I have a feeling in my bones that the house we need is somewhere in Tagaytay waiting for us to discover it.  It is owned by someone with lots of money who has sort of forgotten about it or who has gotten tired of it and just put it on his or her backburner.  So it sits there empty waiting for people to occupy it and show it some love.

Here’s what we think we want. We would like a three or four bedroom house. It has to be empty because I have a houseful of things just waiting to move with me. Also together we have 12 children who have children. We must make space for them on occasional weekends. We have friends who might want to come spend some time with us. We must have  space for other people who may want to drop in for a long visit.

We would also like a rent-to-own deal. The first year we want to rent to find out how we like the house, how it fills our needs, how comfortable we are not only in the house but in the neighborhood and in Tagaytay. We need to see how it fits into the lifestyle of two people who are always just going with the flow. If we really like the house at the end of the first year then we can talk about buying it or if the owner does not really want to sell we can talk about a longer lease contract.  We will cross that bridge when we get there, as most people say. I like to say we will build the bridge if there is a river. If there is no river it means there are no problems.

Of course there must be good living quarters for the people who help us — a driver and a maid and their bathroom. Also it must be in a safe area. No thieves and definitely no murderers. Now that I start thinking of those dangers I’m tempted to say I would consider a condominium with three bedrooms, one very big. Also a large enough terrace for me to plant flowers in pots.

If you have such a house or condominium or know of someone who does, please text me at the number that appears at the bottom of this column. I know it will take a bit of time to find the right place but maybe this will put some ideas in your heads and you can help us find a place that we will like. Until then, we will just continue to drift and enjoy it.

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