HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1985-12-18, Page 441
Their me:
Castle
We are amateur carpet -layers,
glaziers, paperhangers,
plumbers. Slowly, slowly, the
house is being restored to its
former luster. The neighbors are
delighted.
A friend of ours admonishes
us to "live for the present" as
she watches us flurrying toward
our goal. But, I remind her, we
are doing both. We have the
enjoyment now of bringing our
home to life. And we have
Gary's little dream, which may
or may not be realized.
Of course, there's always the
possibility that, after all our
wheelings and dealings. the
By Nancy Shiner "Then, with the profits from
y husband plans to the first sale, we could buy
retire when he is 40, another, and so on for a few
to paint pictures in times. Till we have enough
the fields like Vincent money to retire on. Of course,
Van Gogh. by then, the original loan will
Of course, he have been paid off.,."
'won't be collecting Social I was surprised when the loan
Security, certainly won't have a was granted. We put the money
pension and doesn't expect to in the bank, packed up the baby
inherit a fortune. But still he and hit the real estate offices.
figures on living well: sleeping We toured fancy split levels far
indoors and eating regular beyond our economic reach and
meals. hovels that needed the Army
He announced his plans soon Corps of Engineers to work
after our first son was born. I overtime for five years just to
wondered how he intended to become habitable.
finance such a grand design. Seven months later, my
To say that we were a family mother called with a hot tip
of moderate means would have from the aunt -and -uncle
been a great understatement, for grapevine. Cousin Frankie just
w ere a family of no means bought shouse — and what a
vyer. Gary, a commercial house! — for 518,000. Well, it
lirho drew fighter bombers seemed, there was a place like
for a living, seemed to be Frankie's for sale right next door.
working merely to keep It was an unassuming little
obstetricians, pediatricians and bungalow, 40 years old, pleasant
supermarkets in business. but for the holes in the walls and
So Gary had a simple the striking absence of a bathtub.
solution: to invest in real estate. It wasn't exactly cover material
"The thing to do," he said, "is for Better Homes and Gardens,
to find a basically good house and 1 suspected my mother of
that needs work. A handyman's being an undercover agent for
special, you know. We could fix Multiple Listing. But we decided
it up and then sell it in a couple to sign the papers. The price
of years at a profit." was right, $23,000, and love,
He sounded serious. Of we philosophized, would come
course, we were living in tight We moved in on Halloween.
quarters since Andy arrived and We rearranged walls, we built
brought a juvenile furniture store floors, we painted and we
with him, But for us, a house plumbed, and by Christmas time
seemed to be pretty far in the we started living like normal
future. people. But we were far from
IININNIIfil- i®NINIMI -INNIS
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finished.
We carried on with
second-hand fixtures, borrowed
tools and bargain lumber. To
keep the cost of our investment
down, we were turning into
scavengers, becoming regulars at
the salvage yards. We enlisted
the aid of our families: My
father was our official plumber,
my in-laws donated aluminum
siding and the labor to go along.
Our mission was
accomplished in 14 months. But
besides creating a cozy little
house during that year, we had
also created little Brian, and our
starter house was starting to get
a bit crowded, It was time, we
decided, for Phase II.
Within a few weeks, we
found a buyer who thought
$31,000 was a steal for a house_
like ours. And our dazzling
$8,000 profit led us on to an
even greater challenge — a
rambling turn -of -the century
Dutch colonial.
The place was in a state of
sublime decay, sorely in need of
a paint job, sadly lacking in any
of the modern niceties. But it
was positively reeking with
"potential" and the price,
$23,500, was even lower than
we had planned on. The
location, too, was perfect: a
dilapidated house standing oddly
among its lovingly cared -for
neighbors.
We are inching our way, now,
through the alphabet of the
Do-lt-Yourself Encyclopedia.
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Regional Value Spotter, December 18, 1985
Page 11
world won't be prepared for yet
another Van Gogh. But our
experience should have given us
a certain resiliency. There will
probably always be fighter
bombers to draw, and houses to
renovate and plenty of other
dreams to dream. al
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