Another house that looks promising

Went to the open house. I asked the agent what was the condition of the roof. He said it was probably due to be re-roofed. Then I tried the bathroom sink for water. No water came out, but the handle came off. I asked if the water was shut off. The agent didn't know. Neither did he know when the septic had been serviced last. The I asked about the laundry room. It was just a closet space off the kitchen and no appliances in it - I'd have to supply my own as well as a refrigerator. The agent said that the owners had been renting it out since 2005. It looks a lot shabbier in person that it does in the website photos, plus it's a lot farther out in the country than I had thought.
 
debodun said:
Went to the open house. I asked the agent what was the condition of the roof. He said it was probably due to be re-roofed. Then I tried the bathroom sink for water. No water came out, but the handle came off. I asked if the water was shut off. The agent didn't know. Neither did he know when the septic had been serviced last. The I asked about the laundry room. It was just a closet space off the kitchen and no appliances in it - I'd have to supply my own as well as a refrigerator. The agent said that the owners had been renting it out since 2005. It looks a lot shabbier in person that it does in the website photos, plus it's a lot farther out in the country than I had thought.
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Good, scratch it off the list, Deb.
 

debodun said:
This is my kitchen - country antique. I am one step away from having a hand pump on the kitchen sink.

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LOL. When I was around 10, I was watching an episode of "The Rifleman." I remember thinking, "What is that big iron thing next to the kitchen sink?"
Then "Lucas" start washing dishes & he pumped water into the sink, then I understood about our water being under constant pressure so we just move a lever to get it.
 
Aunt Bea said:
Deb,

I like your kitchen!

I wouldn't change anything just get rid of the clutter, give it a scrub, and a fresh coat of paint.
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I’d toss the stove and get a new one-that much grease nearly impossible to get off. And the cabinets over the stove might be too low for current code. It will be a fine kitchen for one person once it’s cleaned, repainted, updated, and de-cluttered.

We had those type of cabinets. You can sand them down and repaint them. They will turn out fine.
 
debodun said:
Form the realtors that have looked at my house, I've noticed a trend. The men tend to say it's a tear-down. The women think with a little spit and polish, it would be a showplace. I wonder at the gender discrepancy.
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The woman are more sensitive to your feelings.
 
debodun said:
Form the realtors that have looked at my house, I've noticed a trend. The men tend to say it's a tear-down. The women think with a little spit and polish, it would be a showplace. I wonder at the gender discrepancy.
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Did the women offer how much it would cost to pay for the spit & polish?
 
debodun said:
Form the realtors that have looked at my house, I've noticed a trend. The men tend to say it's a tear-down. The women think with a little spit and polish, it would be a showplace. I wonder at the gender discrepancy.
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Personally, I'd go with the "little spit and polish" approach and stay right where you are, Deb.
 
Aunt Marg said:
Personally, I'd go with the "little spit and polish" approach and stay right where you are, Deb.
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Deb will stay where she is, IMO, but the house needs more than a little spit and polish. But, it’s ok, that Deb stays there. I still pull up pictures of the house I grew up in and look at it. It has changed very little. Looking at the house reminds me of the good and the bad that happened there.

It keeps my internal child in balance.

In all seriousness, Deb‘s life appears to be intertwined with her house as, like most of us, she did not leave when she was younger. @debodun why did you never leave?-or did you leave and return?
 
Aneeda72 said:
Deb will stay where she is, IMO, but the house needs more than a little spit and polish. But, it’s ok, that Deb stays there. I still pull up pictures of the house I grew up in and look at it. It has changed very little. Looking at the house reminds me of the good and the bad that happened there.

It keeps my internal child in balance.

In all seriousness, Deb‘s life appears to be intertwined with her house as, like most of us, she did not leave when she was younger. @debodun why did you never leave?-or did you leave and return?
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I find it to be such a bitter-sweet memory for me, looking at pictures of my childhood homes.

On one hand, it's so nice to know that they're still standing, but on the other-hand, I still see myself playing outside, I see my baby siblings toddling around, I hear laughing, crying, singing, I can still smell the smells that made those homes feel like homes.

I can still see my mom in the kitchen, baking, cooking, and sitting at the table playing cards, writing letters to family, and planning and budgeting the household expenses for the week.

In many ways it's as if I'm visiting ghosts of the past. So haunting to me.
 
Aunt Marg said:
I find it to be such a bitter-sweet memory for me, looking at pictures of my childhood homes.

On one hand, it's so nice to know that they're still standing, but on the other-hand, I still see myself playing outside, I see my baby siblings toddling around, I hear laughing, crying, singing, I can still smell the smells that made those homes feel like homes.

I can still see my mom in the kitchen, baking, cooking, and sitting at the table playing cards, writing letters to family, and planning and budgeting the household expenses for the week.

In many ways it's as if I'm visiting ghosts of the past. So haunting to me.
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Yes, it is haunting, but as we grow older we look back. I lived in that house only 10 years, but they were my school years and I have very many memories from that time which I want to remember and memories which I am forced to remember.

My dog Prince who loved me and his dog house where I hid. My half sister who I only knew for three years while living in that house. My grandparents who visited from Kansas, and on and on. The good memories that pour from that house and remind me that it was not a house of horrors but just a house where good and bad memories live.

I can leave the ghosts of the past there and, yet, remember the bitter and the sweet.
 
I tried several times, but my parents threw up roadblocks. One time I looked at an apartment in Albany and came home and told my mom I was moving out. She called up the landlord and threatened him and locked me in my room overnight. She said the next day that I couldn't move out until she thought I was ready. I guess she never thought that.
 
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debodun said:
I tried several times, but my parents threw up roadblocks. One time I looked at an apartment in Albany and came home and told my mom I was moving out. She called up the landlord and threatened him and locked me in my room overnight. She said the next day that I couldn't move out until she thought I was ready. I guess he never thought that.
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WOW, just wow. This explains so much. Thanks for sharing. In order to leave the house, you will need therapy, IMO, because you are tied to that house in so many ways. I am no therapist, but even I can see that letting the house fall in such disrepair is a blow struck against your mother.

You need to leave that house, Deb. If you were my sister, I would say this to you, you need to leave that house, but with the support of a therapist and get the life you deserve. 😍
 
Well, I do want to get out, but for much more mundane reasons - 1) it is getting more than I can handle in yard work and maintenance and swindling contractors. 2) It is just too large for an single woman who's almost 70 and climbing the 16 stairs.

I have no emotional attachment to the house - it's just a brick box where I keep my stuff.
 
debodun said:
Well, I do want to get out, but for much more mundane reasons - 1) it is getting more than I can handle in yard work and maintenance and swindling contractors. 2) It is just too large for an single woman who's almost 70 and climbing the 16 stairs.

I have no emotional attachment to the house - it's just a brick box where I keep my stuff.
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Exactly, I so believe that and I can’t climb stairs anymore.
 
Cheap spit
Upgrading the electrical.

Cheap polish
Repair to the roof, brick work, plumbing, kitchen ceiling, walls after electrical upgrade, windows & window sills, the ground around the foundation to keep water from entering the basement, painting, kitchen cabinets replacement due to years of cooking oils damaging the exterior of those cabinets.

Getting out to someplace new would probably be more than you can handle after not experiencing life beyond that brick box. Dumping everything and living in one of these is something we've been thinking about for our last years. I can't imagine you ever considering a last of life adventure.
https://www.rvcountry.com/product/used-2017-thor-motor-coach-ace-29-dot-3-1330553-9
 
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debodun said:
Well, I do want to get out, but for much more mundane reasons - 1) it is getting more than I can handle in yard work and maintenance and swindling contractors. 2) It is just too large for an single woman who's almost 70 and climbing the 16 stairs.

I have no emotional attachment to the house - it's just a brick box where I keep my stuff.
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Very logical thinking. You know what you’re capable of and what you need. Bottom line, it has no emotional attachment.
 
Knight said:
Cheap spit
Upgrading the electrical.

Cheap polish
Repair to the roof, brick work, plumbing, kitchen ceiling, walls after electrical upgrade, windows & window sills, the ground around the foundation to keep water from entering the basement, painting, kitchen cabinets replacement due to years of cooking oils damaging the exterior of those cabinets.

Getting out to someplace new would probably be more than you can handle after not experiencing life beyond that brick box. Dumping everything and living in one of these is something we've been thinking about for our last years. I can't imagine you ever considering a last of life adventure.
https://www.rvcountry.com/product/used-2017-thor-motor-coach-ace-29-dot-3-1330553-9
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This is what I want as well, but not husband. Even a small motor home would be fine with me. If only he would loose weight he would see it would be great.

As for Deb, without therapy, I believe you are right.
 
Most people are emotionally attached to houses they've lived in for a long time. I have no resistance to moving despite having some attachment to the house. Humans are typically hard wired to prefer the familiar to the unfamiliar.

That said, I've lived in three different states and in 15 different houses or apartments (11 of them when I was ages 18-30), so any possible trepidation about moving was wiped out long ago.

Deb, I think you DO have an attachment to that house or at least a fear of moving.
 

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