Friday, March 30, 2007

Tackling the Yard - Spring Installment

Well, my wife and I tackled the yard this past weekend. It took all of Saturday and a good part of Sunday to complete. But it was well worth getting it all done and out of the way.

Much of what we did would be considered basic Spring cleaning prior to the warm season. So to get started, I began to rake out the lawn of any thatch, leftover leaves or other undesirables left over the winter (dog poo and such). My wife began to bring out the flower pots and started in on the cleaning out the gardens. I turned on all of the outside spigots and tested them for and bursting, replaced and reset all of the sprinkler timers, and tested and repaired the entire underground sprinkler system. My wife cleaned off the porch and pitched all of the rampant newspapers, mailing and phonebooks that accumulated. She hung the front pots on the porch. I rolled out the entire lawn... not fun, not easy, but it is a good workout. Did I mention we live on top of a hill? My wife cleaned up the brick pile and storage area in the back. And I joined in on clearing out the gardens. My wife planted a few replacement bushes. To end Saturday we put down weed preventer and a fertilizer into all of the garden beds.

On Sunday my wife continued with getting the beds and pots ready to go while I swapped the tires on the vehicles from Winter to Summer tires. Basic cleanup ensued thereafter.

We did a lot of discussion later about the projects for this upcoming year and beyond. I can discuss that in other installments. But yesterday (Thursday) was a good sign that we chose the right time to do the yard. We decided earlier in the week that we would have Scott's Lawn Service deal with the shortcomings of the lawn that I was obviously not competent enough to instill... so low and behold, the first application came yesterday. Let's hope they get those weeds... and get 'em good!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Buying 'the' House

So it took us 3 months to find our "new" house. This was back in the hay-day of the Real Estate game when it was more of a seller's market; 2002. I'm sure our agent was pretty sick of us by the time we got to the point of signing up for another house. Or he believed that my wife and I are picky beyond the common man. The last few weeks we were meeting with his assistant to look at houses since he was probably locked into other clients moving faster than we were. That's OK because we found a place that we both like (most of the time) and in a neighborhood that is very stable and noteworthy.

The house was actually one that we had looked at when we started our search. We liked the house, but the price asked did not meet the presentation of the house; dirty and unkept. So we passed and on went a 10 week foraging through homes. We did go into a bidding fiasco for a house that was just on the edge. On the edge meaning not only on the edge (outside of) of the Heritage Hill Historic District but also on the line of two neighborhoods; the renaissance coming from the historic district and the "hood" which developed in the decades before and continued to that day. What it meant was a risk with the neighborhood depending on which side surged forward. There was no way to really tell. Three houses south, burned out drug house. One block east, full home restorations under way. A half block north, the protection of Heritage Hill. We went after it, but after 2 tries we and our agent were flabbergasted. We met their asking price, which put us at the edge of our top ceiling, but asked for $1000 for minor roof work where one could actually see light coming through. At inspection, there was wet white caulk (or toothpaste) stuffed in the holes... which does not constitute a proper repair... at least in my book. So, the sale went down in flames for $1000. It was the most frustrating experience. But it wasn't meant to be. So we kept looking.

Over the course of those weeks, we looked at several levels of homes, neighborhoods, new and old constructions... everything. We decided after pretty much exhausting the city that we wanted to look at that big brick house again and gave the green light for another look-see. We got a call that night from our agent. We were going to look at the house the next day and that there was a new agent on the other end as well as a significant price drop. They couldn't sell it and had broken down. Gold!

We were the second people through the house with this new agent. The home was now cleaned up with a few lingering details that were not the best. But we liked it and loved the dining room. While the first person through was asking her dad if it was a good purchase, we were prepping our offer... full asking price. A day later, we were in and on our way.

Inspections uncovered plenty of minor problems but the most significant was the garage roof which cracked like potato chips as our inspector walked on them. The disclosure statement had "new roof" and this was clearly not. Long story short, we got $2000 to get a new roof on the garage. We closed the deal a few weeks later.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Who Do I Think I Am?

Well, I'm a homeowner trying to do the best I can with what I've got. For the last 15 years or so I've been in the office furniture industry designing offices and environments as well as researching human behavior, ergonomics, psychological and social environmental factors, cockpit layout, space flow, etc. all relating to the space we, as humans occupy. Through the course of these 15 years, I have been required to be computer savvy, sketch and render like a demon and most pertinent of all to be able to prototype and build what I design. These prototyping and building skills have helped me to hone my ability to work on the home. Also, the research and current data I have to comb through regarding residential trends, technology and architecture give me a good perspective of relevant home issues.

I am in the process of restoring my second home. My first, a 1920's Arts&Crafts Bungalow, was purchased in 1997, completed and sold in 2002. The house was done right and against my Real Estate Agent's recommendation, I asked top dollar. Low and behold, one week later I got my asking price. My only regret is that I didn't get to enjoy the newly redone kitchen for longer than a couple of weeks.

My current home is a turn-of-the-century modified Arts&Crafts brick 4-Square. My wife and I moved in a week after we were married. Since then we have done quite a bit of work on the house and just recently (pretty much) finished the kitchen. But more on the projects that we've done and plan to do in later entries... so stay tuned!

Monday, March 19, 2007

Shack•Shack is born!

As with many out there, I own my home... or rather I maintain it and the bank lets me believe I own it. Actually, I share a portion with the bank and am gaining on them slowly ;).

I am planning to use this as a resource for homeowners out there that need advice on products and repairs, links to vendors, and share my own thoughts and ideas on homes and living in general.

I hope I hold your attention and I keep it fresh for you.

Thanks for passing by and hopefully you'll check in periodically.

-bd- <--- that's my two thumbs up symbol! At least I think it's a good one.