You readers know my story: married 54 years, taught school 30 years, raised and educated 3 children, loved the grandchildren, etc. Don and I have always stuck to our jobs. I often didn't want to, but Don kept me on track.
Every year or so throughout my life, when boredom set in, I have wanted to CHANGE things.
Usually I wanted another house. I would tempt Don into going to open houses, I read the ads.
But Mr. Sensible always managed to convince me that we couldn't do those things, we had to use our common sense.
I have always loved to redecorate. Or rather, I like to pick out things and have Don do the hard labor. He is the ultimate Mr. Painter Man, the ultimate Mr. Fix-it man. I get the ideas and he carries them out..............to the point where he says, "No." And it is a good thing that he knows that point. The only time he agreed to sell our house and move was when a cash buyer appeared at the door, and he knew we could pay all our bills and downsize for retirement.
I, on the other hand, had the DREAM. For instance, my all-time favorite dream is to buy an old country school house, turn it into a home, and furnish and decorate with all thrift store finds.
You see, I'm not a good decorator, but I am a cheap decorator. Our house is all hand-me-down,
inherited, and thrift store when it comes to decor.
Strange, then, that when we made a really big mistake, real estate wise, that it was Don who initiated the whole project. Our son, Rod, was single, just out of college, starting his own business. Don saw what he thought would be the perfect spot for Rod. It was on our side of town, it was a duplex with room to grow his business, and it had loads of paved, off-street parking. So we
gave Rod the down-payment and encouraged the purchase. I'm not sure that Rod was ever as enthusiastic about it as we were.
Well, he lived there, worked there, and even rented out the other half. Then he got married.
So the other half was made into the business side. Debra did a beautiful job of redecorating the house. It looked marvelous. Then they decided to move their business to the "perfect" spot in the country with an office building and pool.
The second big mistake was moving out before house #1 had sold. And haven't we all made that mistake. Debra and Rod took all the pretty decor with them, leaving an empty house. And this all happened at the same time that the real estate market was beginning to take its plunge. So the little house became the "sad and empty" little house that would not sell.
So Rod decided to use the house as a rental. Don acted as the rental agent. This worked out pretty well even though the house was still up for sale. Then the real estate agent complained that it was hard to show the property with renters in there who didn't always keep things in perfect order, or weren't home to make the property available to show. At this time Rod decided to hire this agent as a rental agent so she could coordinate all these things.
This was about six years ago, and she rented the large apartment to a family that consisted of
an aging mother who was not well, and an older son who was on disability. The good thing about these renters was that in six years they never once were late with the rent payment. That is where all the good ended. They kept all the windows covered with black plastic to "save on the heating bill," and parked many old junkers in the drive.
About a year ago Rod and Debra gave the rental agent job back to Don because they were tired of hearing all the complaints from both sides of the other arrangement. Let me tell you that Don is so good with renters and repair men. I guess it is because he is so NICE. He is fair, helpful, and attentive. Renters and repairmen seem to want to treat him fairly, too. Repairmen show up in emergencies and charge him a fair price. The renters "hated" the professional agent.
Well, at the beginning of this month, the disabled renter's daughter called and said that her mother was moving out and living with her because the son was not taking good care of his mother. The son could not afford to live there on his own, so they all moved out. Let me just say that they paid their rent, but, because of ill health, they had never cleaned in six years. I need say no more.
So Don with the help of our daughter, Cheryl, has been cleaning and painting all day every day for a week now. As usual I give advice as to decorating decisions, picked out window coverings, etc. Just like old times. Service Master is working their magic with carpet and floors. Little by little the sad little house is coming back to life. Every time I go check, another room is looking clean and bright, the sunshine is pouring in. Even from the outside, you can tell that the house is feeling happier about itself. With windows covered with curtains, and driveway and garage all cleaned out, it is beginning to look like a happy house.
With just a few more days of work, with just a few more weeds trimmed, just a few more decorative touches, the house should be ready for some renters. Let's hope that in the future the sad little house will become the happy little house that it deserves to be.
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