15th Anniversary

April Fools Day marks another anniversary of home ownership. A brief history:

With a generous gift from my folks and some aggressive saving I made the 20% down-payment on the house in Ashland in 1992. Unable to afford to furnish the place, I took on a roommate with furniture. Shortly thereafter I further ventured into the world of the slum lord by taking on another (paying) roommate. After the roommates were gone, I kicked around the place until a couple years ago when it finally became a family home. A year ago we picked up our weekend bags, went to the condo in Melrose, and never returned.

In addition to being the 15th anniversary, this month should also be the month that the house goes up for sale.

We have spent a couple of busy weeks finishing up the bathroom remodel, packing, and tossing stuff.

I got another dumpster (this is the 3rd in as many years) delivered last week and finished dumping yesterday. Unlike the others, this one is not completely over-full. A sign that the house will soon be vacant. The dumpster is being picked up today.

I hired our neighbor to do the yard cleanup. He gets to keep my chainsaw when he is done. He is also mulching the planting beds around the house.

We offered all the excess furniture to him. Hopefully he can find a good home for the oriental teak and burl wood dressers - sigh.

We hope to get back sometime on Easter Sunday to finish packing. The movers are coming the next day. I will supervise the loading in Ashland and Joni will supervise the unloading in Reading ("The bed and dresser go upstairs - everything else into the basement!!").

That week we will also meet with the real estate agent who will be listing the property.

The following weekend we paint, clean and arrange. The house should then be ready for showing. An additional weekend is scheduled to finish painting, cleaning, and arranging. At that point the the house should be almost vacant. We are leaving a few things there for staging - carpets, couches, breakfast table, window treatments - but otherwise it will be empty.

Stay tuned for pictures of the finished bathroom remodel, exterior updates, and "You want to buy this house" room staging.