The Times, They Are A-Changin'
Sometimes the times change as slowly as the passing of a sleepless night. Other times, change comes like a whirlwind. On that spectrum, the pace at which my life is changing right now is closer to the whirlwind than the sleepless night. That girl in the icon...that young woman...is responsible for setting the whirlwind in motion.
My children, Pam and John especially, have been encouraging me to sell my three-and-a-half story house for the better part of a year now. My reaction, naturally, was No. No is always my first reaction to advice, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about it. Upon thought, my second reaction was, "Not while Samantha is living with me."
When we moved back into our house in 2015, Samantha and I switched bedrooms. I gave her the third floor master suite with its two large closets, its en suite bathroom, and its walk-out balcony. That gave her a much bigger area and lots of privacy. I got fourteen less stairs to climb and a floor of my own: bedroom, office, and high end bathroom. We were both happy with the swap, and it made for much less friction between us. I could live my life on my floor while she lived hers on her floor; we only had to share the living room/dining room and the kitchen. Which is not to say that there weren't some scowls and raised voices, but the occurrences were much fewer and further apart.
Nevertheless, that third floor is a huge selling point for this house, and there was no way Samantha was going to keep it in sample home condition while I tried to sell the house. "I'm not putting the house on the market until after she moves out," I told Pam and John.
So Samantha and I started negotiating when she would move out. Spring of 2018? Maybe. Definitely after the first of the year? Possibly. Start looking seriously this fall? Hmmm.
A couple of years ago...2014? 2013?...I could look it up...John, Samantha, and I went to San Diego on vacation. Sam loved it: the beach life, the outdoors activities, the whole enchilada. This summer, after a few of our conversations, she said she was flying out to San Diego for a week, scoping the city out, looking around at neighborhoods, and going on three job interviews. (She has worked for two brokerage firms since she graduated in 2015; right now she does 'mandated reconcilements,' whatever they are.) She flew out on 2 September and came back on the 9th.
While waiting to see if she got a nibble from one of the San Diego firms, Samantha went around the corner to check out the new, four-story apartment building that had just opened up. She fell in love with a one-bedroom apartment on the third floor. She came home with stars in her eyes and a one-year rental agreement. Then, last Monday, San Diego called.
The San Diego firm met her terms for employment, including a $5,000 bump in her salary BUT. She would be working in what was essentially a call center; she did that at Vanguard, and she did not enjoy it. The firm was in the suburbs; if she lived where she wanted to, she would have to buy a car and spend almost two hours a day in a bumper-to-bumper commute. That has the second reason she couldn't wait to leave Vanguard: a similar commute.
What to do? What to do? She talked to her father and he suggested going back to the San Diego firm and asking for an even bigger bump. She did. They said they had gone their limit. She said it had been nice talking to them, and she signed the rental agreement with The Bradford.
Her move-in date is 14 October.
Whew.
While Samantha was in San Diego, I tore through her bedroom like a cyclone, straightened it up, and invited my next door neighbor, Judy W., to walk through my house and tell me what I needed to fix up to get the most for my house and what I could safely ignore. (I was especially worried about sinking a lot of money into fixing up something that wouldn't make the house more salable, such as refinishing the stairs for approximately $7,000.)
Then I had the real estate agent who sold two houses for John and Pam and helped them buy two houses also walk through the house. Happily, the lists each of them came up with were almost identical, so I now feel like I have a grip on what I need to do.
In no particular order:
- Repair ceiling and install a vent in the laundry room
- Paint the entire laundry room
- Repair leak in 3rd floor deck. Check downspout for possible opening.
- Patch and paint in second floor bedroom ceiling
- Spot point mortar joints in front steps.
- Paint metal lintels over windows and doors
- New caulk around bathroom tub.
- Touch up paint where neeeded
- Replace any non-working bulbs (third floor steps, front stoop, etc.)
- Trim office door so that it shuts completely.
- New light fixture in garden
- Power clean laundry room floor
It's a daunting list which doesn't include de-cluttering the whole house so that it looks as close as possible to a model home. Much of what Tom and Judy deemed 'clutter' I call decoration, but it too shall go, at least temporarily. FanSee
My children, Pam and John especially, have been encouraging me to sell my three-and-a-half story house for the better part of a year now. My reaction, naturally, was No. No is always my first reaction to advice, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about it. Upon thought, my second reaction was, "Not while Samantha is living with me."
When we moved back into our house in 2015, Samantha and I switched bedrooms. I gave her the third floor master suite with its two large closets, its en suite bathroom, and its walk-out balcony. That gave her a much bigger area and lots of privacy. I got fourteen less stairs to climb and a floor of my own: bedroom, office, and high end bathroom. We were both happy with the swap, and it made for much less friction between us. I could live my life on my floor while she lived hers on her floor; we only had to share the living room/dining room and the kitchen. Which is not to say that there weren't some scowls and raised voices, but the occurrences were much fewer and further apart.
Nevertheless, that third floor is a huge selling point for this house, and there was no way Samantha was going to keep it in sample home condition while I tried to sell the house. "I'm not putting the house on the market until after she moves out," I told Pam and John.
So Samantha and I started negotiating when she would move out. Spring of 2018? Maybe. Definitely after the first of the year? Possibly. Start looking seriously this fall? Hmmm.
A couple of years ago...2014? 2013?...I could look it up...John, Samantha, and I went to San Diego on vacation. Sam loved it: the beach life, the outdoors activities, the whole enchilada. This summer, after a few of our conversations, she said she was flying out to San Diego for a week, scoping the city out, looking around at neighborhoods, and going on three job interviews. (She has worked for two brokerage firms since she graduated in 2015; right now she does 'mandated reconcilements,' whatever they are.) She flew out on 2 September and came back on the 9th.
While waiting to see if she got a nibble from one of the San Diego firms, Samantha went around the corner to check out the new, four-story apartment building that had just opened up. She fell in love with a one-bedroom apartment on the third floor. She came home with stars in her eyes and a one-year rental agreement. Then, last Monday, San Diego called.
The San Diego firm met her terms for employment, including a $5,000 bump in her salary BUT. She would be working in what was essentially a call center; she did that at Vanguard, and she did not enjoy it. The firm was in the suburbs; if she lived where she wanted to, she would have to buy a car and spend almost two hours a day in a bumper-to-bumper commute. That has the second reason she couldn't wait to leave Vanguard: a similar commute.
What to do? What to do? She talked to her father and he suggested going back to the San Diego firm and asking for an even bigger bump. She did. They said they had gone their limit. She said it had been nice talking to them, and she signed the rental agreement with The Bradford.
Her move-in date is 14 October.
Whew.
While Samantha was in San Diego, I tore through her bedroom like a cyclone, straightened it up, and invited my next door neighbor, Judy W., to walk through my house and tell me what I needed to fix up to get the most for my house and what I could safely ignore. (I was especially worried about sinking a lot of money into fixing up something that wouldn't make the house more salable, such as refinishing the stairs for approximately $7,000.)
Then I had the real estate agent who sold two houses for John and Pam and helped them buy two houses also walk through the house. Happily, the lists each of them came up with were almost identical, so I now feel like I have a grip on what I need to do.
In no particular order:
- Repair ceiling and install a vent in the laundry room
- Paint the entire laundry room
- Repair leak in 3rd floor deck. Check downspout for possible opening.
- Patch and paint in second floor bedroom ceiling
- Spot point mortar joints in front steps.
- Paint metal lintels over windows and doors
- New caulk around bathroom tub.
- Touch up paint where neeeded
- Replace any non-working bulbs (third floor steps, front stoop, etc.)
- Trim office door so that it shuts completely.
- New light fixture in garden
- Power clean laundry room floor
It's a daunting list which doesn't include de-cluttering the whole house so that it looks as close as possible to a model home. Much of what Tom and Judy deemed 'clutter' I call decoration, but it too shall go, at least temporarily. FanSee