Many may know that since May of 2012 my wife and I have been trying to sell our previous home. With us moving closer to family we vacated the old home and put it on the market with high hopes. We had completely redone the wiring and had redone the cabinets, counters, and floor in the kitchen. We tore out old carpet and put in blinds which required a hammer-drill and masonry bits. We put money, time, and love into the house while we lived in it and were hoping that our work would pay of at sale time. But as my grandmother pointed out, "Any improvements you do are for your own benefit." The house sate on the market for over a year and a half. Finally selling a few days after Christmas. Ironically, it sold almost exactly two weeks and four years after we bought it. We did get some money from it, but nothing like what we initially thought we might. Yes we were disappointed but we were also very excited that we would no longer have two mortgages to pay each month. While we did have renters in it for about a year, the last seven months or so it's been empty and soaking up money. But we are free at last and can now use that money for much more worthwhile things.
While I am very happy to have that particular debt cut from our collection of them, I do have fond memories of that house. It was built in 1956 during a period of growth and is the same basic floor plan as almost every other house on the street. We bought it from the daughter of the original owners who had passed away only a handful of years before we moved in. Built of cinder block exterior it sat on a narrow lot that had an alley running along the back property line. The alley was useful for getting stuff in and out of the back yard. It was a little smaller than we originally wanted, but it had enough good stuff going for it that we were excited to move in. One of the biggest things that we liked was that it was in the same church boundaries as our apartment so we were able to continue to attend the same ward as before. The price was also something that was worth while. We knew that we would have to fix it up but with my in-laws help we knew that we could do it. We even liked the challenge that it presented.
It wasn't long before we were tearing into the electrical and replacing two pronged plugs with three pronged ones and pulling wire through every inch of the floor and walls. We added outlets, we fixed light fixtures, we increased the original 8 circuit breakers to 16 and then 20. We removed an old sliding door and framed in the wall, furring the entire surface out almost a full inch to accommodate wiring and a window sill we couldn't remove. We tore out three levels of flooring (while Tigger took a nap down the hall) and replaced it with laminate. We painted the night we signed the closing papers. We did a lot of things that I have never done before. I learned a lot about home repair. My tool box didn't just come into being, but actually began to grow with things I used often. I got to purchase the biggest, baddest drill ever! I have a collection of spare screws and nails. I wish I have taken some more pictures before we started, but here is a collection of before and after.
And after.
It was a good house. I hope the next owner appreciates what we did to it. I know that I will always appreciate what it did for us.
While I am very happy to have that particular debt cut from our collection of them, I do have fond memories of that house. It was built in 1956 during a period of growth and is the same basic floor plan as almost every other house on the street. We bought it from the daughter of the original owners who had passed away only a handful of years before we moved in. Built of cinder block exterior it sat on a narrow lot that had an alley running along the back property line. The alley was useful for getting stuff in and out of the back yard. It was a little smaller than we originally wanted, but it had enough good stuff going for it that we were excited to move in. One of the biggest things that we liked was that it was in the same church boundaries as our apartment so we were able to continue to attend the same ward as before. The price was also something that was worth while. We knew that we would have to fix it up but with my in-laws help we knew that we could do it. We even liked the challenge that it presented.
It wasn't long before we were tearing into the electrical and replacing two pronged plugs with three pronged ones and pulling wire through every inch of the floor and walls. We added outlets, we fixed light fixtures, we increased the original 8 circuit breakers to 16 and then 20. We removed an old sliding door and framed in the wall, furring the entire surface out almost a full inch to accommodate wiring and a window sill we couldn't remove. We tore out three levels of flooring (while Tigger took a nap down the hall) and replaced it with laminate. We painted the night we signed the closing papers. We did a lot of things that I have never done before. I learned a lot about home repair. My tool box didn't just come into being, but actually began to grow with things I used often. I got to purchase the biggest, baddest drill ever! I have a collection of spare screws and nails. I wish I have taken some more pictures before we started, but here is a collection of before and after.
And after.
It was a good house. I hope the next owner appreciates what we did to it. I know that I will always appreciate what it did for us.
