Forty nine years in manufacturing, about 40 of them in management roles, and I never before have felt the level of stress that I have over the last couple of months.
We decided to return to Florida after being back home in Pittsburgh for the last 8 years. Now I love my home town and did not really want to leave, but wife hates the winters, her folks are gone, and our kids and grandkids are in Florida...so we're on our way.
Housing market is insane, so we ended up buying a house after seeing it only on video...now we had worked with this agent for over a year, so we thought she knew our expectations.
So, day of closing, June 30, we walk into the house and were stunned... nowhere near what we expected...and not in a good way....wife says, "I'm not living here." We consider walking away, earnest money be damned. Instead, we decide, ok, we'll just flip it, like we've done with several others......the next week the tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife.....we start the process of renovating to resell.. about two weeks in, we take out a wall and mrs says maybe...then she meets a neighbor who shows here what she had done to the house next door...and the neighbor and her friend are very nice....mrs says do this, and i can live with it.....a week or so later, we decide to do a full blown renovation. New kitchen, two new baths, ceramic tile throughout...only thing untouched is the garage door opener...making it everything we want minus a few sq ft.
of course that means getting.most of the work done before August 20 when our furniture gets delivered.
Somehow we look to be able to be ready, at least to unload our stuff into the house...kitchen cabinets wont be in till mid october, so looks like we can actually live there by the end of october...
Back up to the Burgh to close on the house there and trying to go from 3500 sq ft to 1750...doable, but the dining room, spare bedroom, and various other furniture and art items, sold, given away, donated..sold my gun safe, will buy a bigger one when we get in.
When all this is done, i am taking a week to do nothing...
And please dont tell me how dumb it was to buy the house without seeing it...this is the fourth house I have bought that way, with someone I trusted looking at it, so I guess we were due.
If you have read this far, please feel free to send me a bull for counseling services....i wont pay it, but you can send it.
Thank you, sincerely,
Robert
We decided to return to Florida after being back home in Pittsburgh for the last 8 years. Now I love my home town and did not really want to leave, but wife hates the winters, her folks are gone, and our kids and grandkids are in Florida...so we're on our way.
Housing market is insane, so we ended up buying a house after seeing it only on video...now we had worked with this agent for over a year, so we thought she knew our expectations.
So, day of closing, June 30, we walk into the house and were stunned... nowhere near what we expected...and not in a good way....wife says, "I'm not living here." We consider walking away, earnest money be damned. Instead, we decide, ok, we'll just flip it, like we've done with several others......the next week the tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife.....we start the process of renovating to resell.. about two weeks in, we take out a wall and mrs says maybe...then she meets a neighbor who shows here what she had done to the house next door...and the neighbor and her friend are very nice....mrs says do this, and i can live with it.....a week or so later, we decide to do a full blown renovation. New kitchen, two new baths, ceramic tile throughout...only thing untouched is the garage door opener...making it everything we want minus a few sq ft.
of course that means getting.most of the work done before August 20 when our furniture gets delivered.
Somehow we look to be able to be ready, at least to unload our stuff into the house...kitchen cabinets wont be in till mid october, so looks like we can actually live there by the end of october...
Back up to the Burgh to close on the house there and trying to go from 3500 sq ft to 1750...doable, but the dining room, spare bedroom, and various other furniture and art items, sold, given away, donated..sold my gun safe, will buy a bigger one when we get in.
When all this is done, i am taking a week to do nothing...
And please dont tell me how dumb it was to buy the house without seeing it...this is the fourth house I have bought that way, with someone I trusted looking at it, so I guess we were due.
If you have read this far, please feel free to send me a bull for counseling services....i wont pay it, but you can send it.
Thank you, sincerely,
Robert
