Home Improvement

Back in April, we decided to put our house up for sale. We were thinking about having kids and wanted some more space. This proved fortuitous, as we became pregnant in May. Over the course of 6 months, we went to see a number of potential houses and had a handful of people come to see ours. During the last two months, no one came to see it. We thought about renting this house and buying another one. But that would mean we’d have two houses to care for and pay for. We wouldn’t get money from a sale to use as a down payment.

So we last week we decided to just go ahead and stay here. For the amount of money we would have had to spend on closing costs and a down payment, we could do a lot of upgrades to this house. We haven’t found any place, that we can afford, that we’d actually definitely want to live in. The mortgage payments are low enough that we can afford to but a good bit into savings. Had we rented, and the house sat vacant, we could have been in financial trouble.

We’ve already begun the renovation process. I like the idea of upgrading the home. I want to live in a brand new house, but I like it here too. It feels more like home if we put some of our own sweat into making it nicer. Of course, we’re also hiring people to do a lot of the complicated stuff.

Since we’ve been here we’ve done a number of things in the five years we’ve lived here:

1. Added a garage door opened (hired)
2. Replaced the toilets (hired)
3. Replaced the bathroom faucets (ourselves)
4. Redone the kitchen cabinets and counters (hired)
5. Painted the master bedroom (ourselves)
6. Painted the kitchen (ourselves)
7. Replaced the AC (hired)
8. Painted the front of the house and installed some trim (ourselves)
9. Replaced the windows (hired)
10. Replaced the kitchen fan (ourselves)
11. Replace the door to the master bedroom (ourselves)

But we’re not done yet. We plan on many more things:

1. Replace the carpet
2. Install ceiling lights in the living room (no more lamps!)
3. Upgrade the showers and bathroom counters/cabinets
4. Replace the fans in the bedrooms
5. Paint the future kids room, probably the other room and the bathroom as well
6. Get rid of the hand-me-down furniture and buy some matching stuff
7. Get the door to the garage replaced
8. Get the door to the master bedroom that we replaced fixed so it will close
9. Get the sliding door that the previous owner installed incorrectly fixed
10. Build a nice computer desk
11. Repaint and upgrade the hardware on all the doors so they match

Now, we can’t afford to all of this right away. But, with the money we would have spent on just a down payment, we can get a lot of it done. We’ve already scheduled the carpet, the ceiling lights, the garage door and purchased the hardware to replace the fans and redo the doors. That will be a big chunk of change, but by the time baby arrives, the house will look really nice.

Will be a lot of work, but worth it. We’re also planning on having a yard sale to get rid of a bunch of stuff. And of course, your usual yard work, now that it will soon be nice outside.

Ironically, this weekend, after two months without a hit, two people called about seeing the house.