Is An Old Home For You? – The Cons
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Article by: Raynor James So you think you might like to buy an old home? Perhaps even something old enough to be historic? It's a good idea to carefully evaluate the pros and cons before you decide. There are plenty of both. Will the pros be valuable enough for you to be willing to cope with the cons? Where shall we start? With a cautionary tale, I think. The Cons of An Old Home In 1972, my husband and I bought a house , Adding A Floor Lamp to Your Home! built in about 1825. We moved in on August 15th. My husband had an out of town business meeting and left about 5 AM the next day. (What makes him so smart?) About an hour later, I started downstairs and flipped the switch to turn on the chandelier in the downstairs hall. Boy did I get light. , Terrace Gardening And Landscaping Ideas There was a flash, and then what looked like lightening ran up the cord. I turned the switch off, but the fireworks continued. I ran and yelled for our sons (10 and 11 years old at the time). We got out a door , Overwintering Pond Fish off another hall and ran to our next door , The Ivy League neighbor's house , PVCu windows & doors Hardware spares for repairs to call , Burning Bushes Do Well In Doylestown Township, PA the fire , DESIGNING YOUR LOG HOME: Tips to keep you out of trouble department. (This is a very exciting way to meet one's new neighbors.) The fire , Improving Deer Quality in Northeastern Pa department was really fast and got to our home , Hiring a professional carpet cleaning company before we got back ourselves. By the time my husband returned late that evening, we had been visited by not just the fire , Do You Know How Important Your Air Conditioner Filter Is? department, but also an electrician (old wiring needed to be reworked and a fuse box replaced with circuit breakers), a painter (to get a price on fixing water , In The Garden Planning Before Planting Is Key and fire , PVCu windows & doors Hardware spares for repairs damage), and a floor , From The Science Desk refinisher (same reason as the painter), and both our sons had been offered marijuana. (Did I mention that beautiful , The Quick and Easy Formula For Pottery Buying old houses , How to Grow a Forest of Sundews are often located in intercity areas and sometimes the whole neighborhood has not yet been completely restored to its original state of gentility?) We were asking ourselves, "What have we done?" Well, we had the wiring fixed, put off having the floors , How to Grow Sweet Corn worked on and did the painting , How to Use Color in Your Perennial Garden ourselves. We also paid tuition and fees to keep the boys in their old school district. You have to be flexible to happily live in an old house. , What Makes a Hammock a Quality Hammock? Nothing is a standard size. Right angles are purely coincidental. (The water , Ceiling Fan Blades damage mentioned above had showed us that the floor , River Birch Trees on the outside , The Art Of Landscaping Your Garden edge of the front hall is about six inches higher than floor , The Quick and Easy Formula For Pottery Buying on the far side of the living room. , River Birch Trees ) Go to Lowes or Home , Have you been looking for the latest and accurate opinion re Depot to buy a standard replacement this or that? Forget it. You're probably going to have to fabricate it yourself , Hiring a professional carpet cleaning company or have it done. You need to either have a large home , Improving Deer Quality in Northeastern Pa maintenance budget, be prepared to invest a lot of "sweat equity" or both. We've lived in this same old house , How to Use Color in Your Perennial Garden for over thirty years now. Items we've had adventures with include: 1. Plumbing, , What Makes a Hammock a Quality Hammock? 2. Bringing in more electricity, , How To Prevent Clogged Gutters 3. Replacing the heating system, 4. Repointing the chimneys, , A Fast Growing Trees suitable for Plumstead Township 5. Having dampers made for the chimneys , Spring into Lawn Mowing so heat , Are Your Houseplants Safe? doesn't escape from them when they're not in use (did I mention we have four working fireplaces?), 6. Increasing the insulation, and 7. Painting , Improving Deer Quality in Pa many, many times. Our house , Part IV: Home Buyer Terms and Definitions is real wood, , Self Watering Violet Pots not vinyl, and the roof , Top 5 Secrets to Keeping Your Carnivorous Plants Alive, Healthy and Beautiful is standing seam tin : the original roof. , What Is An Outdoor Bonsai? That, of course, means there is a lot of surface to paint, , What Makes a Hammock a Quality Hammock? and, since the house , How to Grow a Forest of Sundews is two stories and has high ceilings, some of the surfaces are pretty high. (Did I mention that my husband has fallen off the roof , In The Garden Planning Before Planting Is Key twice?) We're in the process of having our home , How to Grow a Forest of Sundews painted (not a do it yourself , What Makes a Hammock a Quality Hammock? project this time) yet again. The bids we got ranged from $15,000 to $20,000. (Did I mention you need a larger maintenance budget with an old house?) Whew! I think the cons are clear, don't you? Owning an old home , The Quick and Easy Formula For Pottery Buying is wonderful. Just make sure you understand what you are getting into. About the Author: Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - an online , Bamboo flooring is Eco-friendly, elegant, and durable. site providing national exposure for sellers listing properties , Burning Bushes ....Brilliant Fall Foliage and a database of properties , Gardening Tips for Avoiding Fungal Diseases for buyers. Source: www.isnare.com |
  
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