And I have been running around like a crazy person ever since.
The first house I have been assigned is one that I fought to purchase. It faces a major street, is close to a bus stop and is immediately adjacent to brand new houses that are all occupied. It had been sitting on the market for a long time, so we got a great deal and immediately we had to make decisions.
First, there was the question of the screened-in porch. Now I love a screened-in porch, but I am trying to sell this house and when I look around at the houses that are being built around the city, they all save the screens for the side or back porch, not the front. So I argued for tearing it down. Our team broke along generational lines. The older members thought the functionality of a screened-in porch was nice. The younger members thought it was ugly and deathly to curb appeal.
Once we moved inside, I wanted to paint the paneling in the kitchen. Nothing dates a house faster than walls of dark wood paneling. I got shouted down about cost and the beauty of the paneling (?!) so I let it go. Later, I learned that the washer-dryer was located in an adjacent shed that could not be accessed from indoors. Now look, I have lived in NYC where a personal washer-dryer would be an immense luxury so you take it wherever it is located. However, I am not in NYC now. In this city, everyone purchasing a house has a washer and a dryer and those connections are accessible from the indoors. When I protested, I got push back from the construction guys: "Oh, it's no big deal...", "It'll be expensive to move the connections....","They can go outside...". It was about 30 degrees on the day these men were tromping through the house bellowing about the ease of going outdoors to wash your clothes. Now I know how often they tend to their own laundry. Internally, I was shocked and furious, but externally I was cowed. This is my first house. It is not supposed to be a luxury renovation and what does the rookie know anyway?
We did the walk-through on a Friday afternoon. All weekend, the dark paneling and the "latrine laundry" gave me heartburn. People on limited incomes know that they can't buy mansions, but they also know money is too precious to spend it on crap. On Monday, I marched into work and announced that I could not stand behind the house with the paneling and the latrine laundry. I was greeted with frowns and muttering, but I got to make my changes. Good. I am not going to be the only person on the team who is unable to sell her house and is forced into a dead-end lease-purchase arrangement because my house suffers from a lackluster rehab.
We have taken on 3 houses so far and 2 more are coming down the pike that will be assigned to me. From this episode, I have learned that I need to speak up quickly and forcefully when we are coming up with our initial scope of work so that we can avoid the back and forth and second-guessing later on.
The first house I have been assigned is one that I fought to purchase. It faces a major street, is close to a bus stop and is immediately adjacent to brand new houses that are all occupied. It had been sitting on the market for a long time, so we got a great deal and immediately we had to make decisions.
First, there was the question of the screened-in porch. Now I love a screened-in porch, but I am trying to sell this house and when I look around at the houses that are being built around the city, they all save the screens for the side or back porch, not the front. So I argued for tearing it down. Our team broke along generational lines. The older members thought the functionality of a screened-in porch was nice. The younger members thought it was ugly and deathly to curb appeal.
Once we moved inside, I wanted to paint the paneling in the kitchen. Nothing dates a house faster than walls of dark wood paneling. I got shouted down about cost and the beauty of the paneling (?!) so I let it go. Later, I learned that the washer-dryer was located in an adjacent shed that could not be accessed from indoors. Now look, I have lived in NYC where a personal washer-dryer would be an immense luxury so you take it wherever it is located. However, I am not in NYC now. In this city, everyone purchasing a house has a washer and a dryer and those connections are accessible from the indoors. When I protested, I got push back from the construction guys: "Oh, it's no big deal...", "It'll be expensive to move the connections....","They can go outside...". It was about 30 degrees on the day these men were tromping through the house bellowing about the ease of going outdoors to wash your clothes. Now I know how often they tend to their own laundry. Internally, I was shocked and furious, but externally I was cowed. This is my first house. It is not supposed to be a luxury renovation and what does the rookie know anyway?
We did the walk-through on a Friday afternoon. All weekend, the dark paneling and the "latrine laundry" gave me heartburn. People on limited incomes know that they can't buy mansions, but they also know money is too precious to spend it on crap. On Monday, I marched into work and announced that I could not stand behind the house with the paneling and the latrine laundry. I was greeted with frowns and muttering, but I got to make my changes. Good. I am not going to be the only person on the team who is unable to sell her house and is forced into a dead-end lease-purchase arrangement because my house suffers from a lackluster rehab.
We have taken on 3 houses so far and 2 more are coming down the pike that will be assigned to me. From this episode, I have learned that I need to speak up quickly and forcefully when we are coming up with our initial scope of work so that we can avoid the back and forth and second-guessing later on.
