Wednesday, September 21, 2016

86. Decide if we want to sell our house


"The only thing that works in an old house is the owner."


Water dripping from light fixture in our upstairs bathroom

When my father passed away in 2005, over 11 years ago, he left behind a cluttered house in desperate need of repair. Let's be honest - it was more like an episode of hoarders. To a grief-stricken 25 year old, it was completely overwhelming. Hell, it would be overwhelming to me now. It was a huge job. The roof needed replacing and the entire place was in need of a massive overhaul, mostly created by the leaking roof, which created a mold problem in addition to other damage.

This was the project I was left with... I joke that Dad never did end up having to clean up his mess!

At the time, I had the estate checkbook and wrote many checks out to contractors to replace the roof, porch, and back door. That roof is less than ten years old. And as evidenced in the first picture, we are already having issues with it.

Despite putting more money than the house was worth into it and making substantial upgrades, it still remains an old house with the usual issues that seem to always pop up with old houses. After all, it is over 100 years old.

Our house today - or at least how it was a few years ago

One of my favorite upgrades that I rarely get to use


Some good friends of ours just bought a gorgeous home outside of Easton. Jay is experiencing a bit of house envy with that. And I am also living vicariously through my friend Angela's house design & build project.

One of our issues is that our house is too big for us. Even if we did decide to have another child (which at this point seems unlikely), 3 bedrooms should be sufficient. Ideally I'd like either a one level home with a great room and loft (if we had another kid, this could be our guest room) or a split level plan.

I would LOVE a look like this

Jay wants a pool, of course. I'm not sold on the pool idea. But I would like something on a bit more land, and without the view of septic tanks. And without an overgrown house next door. One thing is for sure, if that situation is still happening when we sell the house, we will probably have to pay someone to go knock down the brush.

So I think that the decision has been made that we will sell our house and get into something that works better for our family before Mark starts school. The question is - do we try finding (maybe building?) our dream house now or wait until retirement. We will probably be in that house until we retire, so maybe we go big now. It's a difficult decision, especially since I would rather spend any extra money on traveling instead of on possessions.

SO there is that! Another item off my list.








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