Day: August 23, 2006

Got this one from Jimbo… “Sometimes I Feel Like I’m The Only One Trying To Gentrify This Neighborhood”

When talking to some professionals about what I want to do with the house a couple of them have mentioned resale stuff. For some odd reason this is one of those little things that nearly set me off. I can’t explain it but the mention of resale touches a nerve. Calmly, I say that I intend to stay in this house until offered a dream job (I like my current job and employer) or marriage.
Since I intend to stay in the house for a number of years I don’t want to invest in something for somebody else. When I was posting on the Washington Post Real Estate discussion board I would write that I didn’t see the logic of doing something for the sake of resale if the people intended to stay longer than 5 years. Mainly because whatever you put in will be 5 years older when you sell. Will granite counter tops be the hot thing 5 years from now? Maybe. Remember Corian? I have Corian, but I only picked it because it is more forgiving with dishes than stone. Maybe future owners may want zinc, concrete, recycled glass, I don’t know, and I don’t care.
I live in this house with the idea that once I get rid of the crack head features, it will be the best reflection of Me that I can afford. Resale is the furthest thing from my mind. I figure whoever comes after me will move in and tear down or paint over whatever they don’t like. What I do for the house will be for me. The color and type of floors, the texture of the ceiling, the light fixtures, the tile in the bathroom, layout of the kitchen, all for me. Me. Me. Me.
What I am trying to do for future residents is strengthen the bones of the structure. There are cracks in the wall. Need to get a professional’s opinion of exactly why and what I need to do to remedy them. I would like to be able to sell something that may have 100 or more years in it to go.

No not a mash-up. Just a discussion happening elsewhere.
Frightening tales from condo owners and people in HOAs run badly, make me feel so much better about my fee-simple in the hood. I’m not talking nastygrams about grass 1/4 of an inch too high, I’m talking poor maintenance, low levels of corruption and skyrocketing dues.