So today - we begin a new chapter in our lives together - a journey of restoration, of taking something that was discarded, something most people would have run away from - and choosing instead to use it as a catalyst for our future together.
In our foursquare journey I hope that you will be able to share with us in the excitement of saving a piece of small town America history, and creating something beautiful from something abandoned. Our house is a 1915 Colonial Foursquare home that was left vacant for over a decade.
Finding Our House
How did we find our fixer upper you ask? I wrote a letter. Yep, one letter. Well, we have written letters over these last couple of yours on our search for the right house - but I hadn't written a letter in almost a year. After speaking with the owner, touring the house, which was in much worse but also very original condition than we had at first thought, and much discussion and planning as to whether we could make the renovation and timeline work, we made an offer to purchase. The rest as they say, is history...well, it will be history. Read my blog to follow along on our journey.
Inspections, Budgets, and More...
Did I mention Jeff was an investors realtor, and broker in his past life, and that he is a contractor, and specializes in historic home renovations. He is truly skilled in so many areas, it amazes me sometimes. Always get an inspection, and have a professional write up contracts for purchase, unless you happen to be married to the professional. In our case, Jeff spent several hours inspecting the house from top to bottom, and many hours writing up a renovation budget before we made an offer. Make sure to do your homework. Renovating an old house top to bottom like this one needs, is not necessarily cheaper when you factor in the cost for labor.
Buying A Fixer Upper?
So why are we buying a falling apart "abandoned" house? I've tried to come up with "the right" explanation to give people when we mention what our plans are, and why we would choose to move further away than we really wanted to move from everything we do. I think the answer is complex, and many storied. My quick answer is - this is what we've talked about for a long time.
The long answer? It's a mixture of our love for old house, my husband's awesome talents and skills, a desire to truly make our home the way we want to make it. And finally, our goal of being mortgage free and able to purchase and renovate more homes in the future.