Welcome to our World

It was Spring 2005. The housing market was crazy and interest rates were low. It seemed like a good time to jump in and actually buy a house, one we both could live in and enjoy. We were a middle-aged woman and her twenty-something daughter. Or, to hear her tell it, we were a twenty-something woman and her middle-aged mother. What did we want? An old house, preferably a duplex where we could each have our own space, preferably bungalow style. Character. That's what we wanted. And that's pretty much what we got. But being novices in real estate, we only saw potential, not the whole picture. And two and a half years later, we still see a lot of potential, but also an endless supply of hard work and expense. Would we do it again knowing what we know now? We just don't have a single answer for that question. There are multiple answers, and most come with qualifiers. Love our house, hate all the problems, but we just keep goin' down home improvement lane, never knowing what's around the bend, just keep singing those homesick renovation blues. . .