The first words I was able to form while reading were very close to your closing: They must have scads of money (along with the "why don't we have scads of money?" question of the ages).
Our "new" (built in the 40s, new to us) house needs work, and we've been hemorrhaging money, but nothing like that. We did see a fantabulous Victorian when we were house hunting that sounds like what your friends have here. If we were in the trades and/or had scads of money, we would have scooped it up in a heartbeat. But it was covered in aluminum siding on the outside, and veneer panelling and shag on the inside. The plumbing and electricity were hazardous, and every update any owner had ever done was completely wrong for the period, the style, the neighborhood, and none of it seemed particularly sound, either.
They're lucky they can swing living in their old house while they fix up the new old house. I'm jealous, except I know how hard it is to get even small renovation projects complete anywhere near on schedule or on budget.
It sounds fun, but it also sounds hard. I'm tired of hard.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2004-01-20 09:07 pm (UTC)Our "new" (built in the 40s, new to us) house needs work, and we've been hemorrhaging money, but nothing like that. We did see a fantabulous Victorian when we were house hunting that sounds like what your friends have here. If we were in the trades and/or had scads of money, we would have scooped it up in a heartbeat. But it was covered in aluminum siding on the outside, and veneer panelling and shag on the inside. The plumbing and electricity were hazardous, and every update any owner had ever done was completely wrong for the period, the style, the neighborhood, and none of it seemed particularly sound, either.
They're lucky they can swing living in their old house while they fix up the new old house. I'm jealous, except I know how hard it is to get even small renovation projects complete anywhere near on schedule or on budget.
It sounds fun, but it also sounds hard. I'm tired of hard.