My Old Home

I have some friends, some friends of friends and someone that would like to be my friend; that are in the process of selling their homes. One friend is just starting the process; one has sold the house and is in the preparing to move stage and the other one I don’t care where they are.

Moving is never fun, although it is nice to start a new chapter in your life. The difficulty in starting that new chapter is that you have to end the old chapter. Sometimes if you are lucky (?) the old chapter was horrible and anything at all will be preferable. More often than not, the old chapter contains memories of wonderful times and was the location of other new chapters that happened in your life. Like I say, difficult times.

The friend who is just starting is in the process of fixing up the house they have been living in. She is asking for advice on the best place to get a new garage door. I don’t know what shape the door is in, but if it is still functioning then my advice is get some Bondo, some paint and do a quick fix. She should paint the house inside and outside if it is needed and make damned sure that paint is off white. Do some gardening and plant some mature flowers as soon as you can. DO NOT mess with the plumbing (unless you have to), the electrical (unless you have to) or any other permanent fixture. People assume the plumbing, electrical and insulation is good and will not consider paying extra for your latest upgrades. Only work on what will add dollars to your home.

A lot of people make the mistake of fixing the roof or not painting the fence since they have priced the house lower because of those things. No one wants to buy a home that needs a lot of work just as soon as they move in. People don’t mind working on their homes, but they want to decide where their effort and money will go. Well, that what I believe.

Whenever we have moved, we spend time and money fixing the place to get it where it will be a desirable place for someone to live. When all is repaired and the house is ready for sale, I sit back and wonder why I didn’t get it in this shape for myself. Living in a spruced up home would have been pretty nice.

Today when I was thinking about this, I decided that I should prepare the house to sell. It needs new paint pretty much every where, some new flooring in the basement, some built-ins would be really nice. Louise has been wanting a bathroom in the basement for years, perhaps this is the year. Perhaps… The yard has been getting better over the past couple of years, but it needs some TLC. There is no shortage of projects but if I take it a little at a time I should be able to make a nice dent in the list.

It will be nice to be living in a new house that is my old home.