Buying a fixer upper
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Lets face it, fixer upper homes are everywhere but not everyone has the money, time or energy to devote to fixing up a home. There is something to be said for moving right in to a completely finished home. We are looking for a fixer upper, something that needs cosmetic work but is structurally sound. The snow has made life difficult here in Massachusetts so there are not many for sale at the moment but once the snow leaves, the market will pick back up. Do you remember my uncle Lou? He owns the construction company that my dad has been the Vice President of for the last 25+ years.
My grandfather still works (a couple hours a day) there and has been in the past, off and on for the last 20 years or so. Me, I started working there when I was 14 answering phones and doing odd jobs on summer vacations throughout my college years. I left for a while after college and started a career and then “retired” in 2005 to become a mom. At that time, I got my real estate license in 2005 and started doing real estate back at GBI with my dad and Lou. It made life easy when we were buying or selling a home. I have done quite a bit with it over the years but haven’t shared much of our work life on the blog. Why? There is only so much of me to go around. I can barely keep up with sharing what goes on in our house! ha.
Here is one of the houses just recently built and before the snow buried us! The inside still needs to be completed but it’s almost done.
When I started the blog 3 years ago, it was based on what life was like living with four generations, family stories and our own home renovations and DIY projects. Now, it’s time to start sharing the other side of what goes on in our lives. Here is a picture I snapped a few weeks ago of a super cute little kitchen in need of TLC. There are so many things we could do with this kitchen. When we look at a house to buy, one of the most important things is location and the yard. When reselling a home, a great town/school system and decent yard are very important. We can’t change those things (well we can do curb appeal stuff) but we can update and fix the inside. So for us, the location and yard (boundaries/size/abutting structures) are key.
Behind the scenes, there are usually 2 or 3 houses at a time being built, foreclosure auctions being attend (looking for a good deal) and lots of customer renovations, garages and additions being built on a regular basis. I’ve decided to start sharing some of these projects along with taking you on our journey of house hunting looking for a fixer upper. Lou and my dad are pretty funny guys and I think you might like to tag along 😉 Stay tuned, the house hunt in on!
Meet Jessica
What started as a hobby, Jessica’s blog now has millions of people visit yearly and while many of the projects and posts look and sound perfect, life hasn’t always been easy. Read Jessica’s story and how overcoming death, divorce and dementia was one of her biggest life lessons to date.
