I have been gingerly wading into the deep scary world of the housing market. I have a real estate agent, I got a loan application (which made me throw up in my mouth a little), and tonight I’m looking at a bunch of likely homes.
I’m sure most people have anxiety over house purchases, but mine isn’t necessarily about mortgaging my life away–it’s about how on earth I’ll maintain a house. In the area where I want to be, new houses are scarce and expensive, so I’m looking at age ranges from the 1920’s to the 40’s. Which means that there’s a lot more maintenance to keep on top of. (It also means that when it’s paid off in 30 years and I’m 60, I’ll be in a hundred-year-old house. Along with my 15 cats.)
I know how to maintain the inside of a house, and I suppose things like cleaning out gutters and lawn mowing and winterizing and fixing holes in the roof aren’t rocket science, or most people’s homes would look a lot worse than they do. A reasonably intelligent person who’s good at following instructions and reading diagrams should be able to learn as she goes, right?
Right?
I will keep the “Gutter Clutter Buster” in mind! 🙂
I learned real fast how to get the right tools to get those nasty chores around the house done, when my honey decided to go hunting for a week. I even learned how to clean our rain gutters out and thanks to his being so frugal and looks for the best buys around, I had a great new tool to clean them with while standing on the ground. This rain gutter cleaning tool is called a Gutter Clutter Buster and once you have used one you’ll NEVER forget its name! lol… Saved me lots of time and energy and what’s not to like about that? Had time to clean my windows and even get the lawnmower started to really impress him when he got home. I have long believed that we women can do just about every chore around the house, with the right tools and a little ingenuity! Right ladies???
I have every confidence that you’ll be able to handle it all fine; it might stress you out, but you’ll be alright. And remember, you have a very capable and loving family and good, close friends who are all willing to help you when you need it.
🙂
As the inhabitant of a nearly 100-year-old house, I second what stitchywitch said. Be careful when choosing a home to make sure things are relatively up to date, and that any renovations have been done well (a half-assed remodel can cause more problems than whatever was originally there).
Honestly, the biggest problem with my old house is that there are too few electrical outlets and the rooms are a bit small for modern furniture. Every old place is unique and has its own problems, of course. But I’ve also seen relatively new homes — built in the last decade or two — that are falling apart because of shoddy construction, so age doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Just have the place thoroughly checked out and make sure there aren’t any major problems. And good luck!
Thank you for the encouragement!
Well… I own a hundred and ten year old house (but only 3 cats… so far.) It really depends on how recently the systems have been updated. If you have fairly modern plumbing and electric (we do) then really the upkeep isn’t much different from a newer house. Gutters aren’t every year (though I hire someone for that) unless you have tons of trees, and the only roof issue we’ve had is a few shingles blowing off in a windstorm (I hired a handyman to replace them for 50 bucks plus the cost of shingles.) They really don’t build them like they used to, and my friends who have new houses have had to do a lot more than we have. I would never buy a new house, and houses from the 20s-30s are really well built. You can do it!
That’s true, but I’m realizing that might be prohibitively expensive at first. I just don’t want to end up like “Grey Gardens.”
You can definitely do it. I have no doubt in your capabilities as a home owner. And anything you can’t do, you can hire someone else to do while you have a cocktail.