Where to start? Getting a house ready to sell
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Almost ready to start and getting cold feet!
Comments (19)Is it "normal" to get a sinking feeling every time you think about building a home? Of course not. It's normal to feel nervous about the project's enormity, the expense, the logistics. But a sinking feeling means this is not what you want. You might like parts of the house, but that is probably not enough. The fact is, you will have to put a huge amount of effort, money, commitment into a project that will end up with you living where you don't want to live, in a house and "yard" too much for you to deal with. And at an age when your health and energy are not likely to be trending upward. You will continue to resent his not following up on his commitments. He's getting his dream and you're gonna pick up the loose ends. No WONDER you have a sinking feeling. Just for a moment, and just to yourself, think about whether or not you can back out now. And how you would do it. I think you may already be too deep into this to back out now--for whatever reasons you've agreed to it. What would happen to your relationship with DH if you called a halt to it right now? (I'm not suggesting you answer any of this here; just to yourself.) If you can't see a way out of this, then what would it take to make it go better for you? I think you could assert your right to not have to work to age 70. If he's willing to handle it by himself, it's his dream--let him work for it. Or, let that be a real good reason to scale down the house. Just say you're not willing to work past 62 or whatever. He can run the numbers to see how to scale back the house accordingly. That will get you 2 big things you want: a smaller, more easily managed house and an earlier retirement. While you're having that discussion also tell him that the project has to be scaled back because you're not willing to be annoyed all the time, and scared by living in the midst of undergrowth, and you will need a bigger monthly budget to hire things done. (What was his plan for while he's away for 3 months?) I don't think he's been realistic about that and you haven't confronted him about it. Does he know how much you resent picking up the pieces for him and waiting for him to get around to things? Or, focus on how he's too busy working to consistently get the maintenance done and should plan on letting YOU hire it done; so in his free time he can play country squire or whatever he dreams of. Did you just agree to all this because you can live in a really nice house? Because other than that I don't hear you wanting any part of this. Until you come clean with him about ALL of your reservations, he will have no motivation to start planning realistically so that YOU will also be happy living his dream. (Or as happy as you are capable of, given that you basically don't want this.) This isn't just a house; it's your entire life. Especially since you work at home. That sinking feeling you have is a warning signal. I really hope you'll tell him now, while he has some motivation to make concessions and provisions and to scale things back. If you don't tell him now, he will have zero motivation later. And all you will have is the sad consolation of being right about the fact that he would disappoint you--again....See MoreClosets and Basements and Garages - getting ready to sell
Comments (12)Thanks for the input. I know it makes sense to get rid of the stuff instead of moving it. So this really becomes an issue of - do I need to empty these areas before I list the house for sale? My husband is a bit of a pack rat (seriously dear - why do we need to hold onto floppy discs? To prove to your clients that you've been working in IT since before they were born?). And I will never get him to agree to throw his stuff (or even the household stuff) out until I can put a dollar value on moving it. The tentative plan is to have the house in ready condition to list. Then start looking at new houses. When we find a house we like, place an offer with a 2 week selling contingency. Hopefully the sellers will sympathize with our school redistriciting issue (it's a hot political issue in town) and when they hear the sub-development we live in now, they will accept our contingent offer. And if they don't agree, we decide if we want to risk 2 mortgages. Waiting to hear back from the realtor regarding comps, then I'll need to talk to my mortgage guy and my RE attorney. Then look at my bank balance. The figure out a plan on where to go from here....See MoreGetting ready to remodel the second floor, where to start?
Comments (35)EnergyRater - I guess I would rather have the choice of a material that was non toxic. Just because it is enclosed out of my living space, it still is produced and people working in the production of it are exposed to it, people installing it, people removing it are exposed to it, and then it has to break down into the environment too. So if there is a non toxic choice, that would be my preference. An air tight house is something I’m not sure I agree with. I don’t now enough about it yet. I realize that with an air tight house, it can work if you provide enough ventilation, but I’ve heard of air tight homes that became a hazard. I’m going to have to read up on that more. We are not doing the first floor, so probably we could not make the house air tight, but maybe you mean, if we are going to try for air tight, we may as well do it that way on the upstairs. Part of the second floor is storage under the eaves of the roof. We have a cape. The hallway shares that wall. Thank you ERater… :-)...See MoreGetting ready to sell our condo
Comments (64)cpartist - I think it looks good overall. Some of the rugs looks a little wimpy etc. but doubt that will keep you from selling, same as some of the accessories being too many in some spots. Overall impression is very positive to me. Most of that stuff is just nit picks for lack of other things to pick on I think. If you do decide to balance the artwork you might want to look at command hooks. No need to make any holes. I think with wider angle pictures that shows the rooms it will be just fine. Only thing I would do is leave just the larger accessories and remove any groupings of smaller things - less to pack later anyways and it looks less busy in those spots, for those that like less "fuss"....See MoreHU-355484647
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