As busy as I am at my more-than-full-time job, then leading a life of voluntary contribution to my senior pals and community, I have little time left to nurture my spouse and our relationship.

So why was I at our county courthouse yesterday?

I bought another house.

What?

Yep, a small house next door to one that I have owned for 30 years, renovated (twice) and rent to community heroes so they can afford to live in the county where they work.

This new-to-me small house is identical to its next door neighbor. It has terrific bones, shows no signs of really bad conditions — just age. It was built in 1948.

The house was auctioned at an estate sale when its previous owner had died and essentially abandoned the property. The former owner had no heirs. I bought the house for back taxes (which were substantial) plus fees and a nominal mark-up to cover the administrative costs of property acquisition and transfer.

The house has been vacant for well over three years, and I was watching it for signs of being purchased, renovated, or outright for sale.

Because I have participated in court auctions before, I knew where to look and checked the website weekly. I saw it posted on Tuesday for a Friday auction. On Thursday of this week, I walked around the property, peered inside the windows, spoke with neighbors, and evaluated the house’s condition. If I saw very bad things like serious rot, water damage, foundation cracks, or other visible signs of costly repair, I would not consider buying it.

If I won the auction, I would have to pay all purchase costs in cash (or certified check.) I estimated the base auction price from listings on state land records and tax rolls. I then added 10% for fees and administrative expenses. I went to my bank and drew a certified check for that estimated amount. I also withdrew a fairly substantial amount of cash to cover the difference from my estimate of what the final cost would be, plus auction escalation. (That is, how much others might bid it up.)

I set my top-line limit on how much I would pay. If the auction went crazy and the price exceeded my top-line threshold, I would bow out and return to my bank with my funds and redeposit them.

As you can tell from the title of this post and opening paragraphs — I won the auction. The bidding was not crazy, and I won the auction on the third call.

After I paid, I had the property titled in the name of a small LLC (limited liability corporation) that technically owns my rental properties.

Today, I lace up my work boots and head over to the house with my spouse to begin assessment of what is needed for renovations and renewal to bring this property up to my rental standards.

My spouse made me promise to hire workers to do renovations, and not to try to do it all by myself (as I have done with many properties in the past.) My ol’ body and particularly sensitive sciatic nerve cannot manage the heavy workload required to do the physical work of a major renovation. Though, I admit, I am tempted to do the electrical work and cosmetic carpentry — both skills I am good at and enjoy (almost like a hobbyist, but more than that as I have extensive training and experience in these trades.)

I was not really planning to acquire another fixer-upper house, but as I said, it had good bones, was in fairly good shape for being 68 years old, was next to a house I already own, and I know the neighborhood well. I can probably get this house fixed up in a couple months and put it on the rental market to begin to generate income to pay back my acquisition and renovation costs.

Life is short: seize opportunities when presented!