I had several homes in my lifetime, including small homes and larger ones. Living in these different homes has taught me a lesson, but first let me tell you how I learned this lesson.
I used to dream of having a large beautiful home. I had owned or rented six homes, plus the homes I lived in when I was a child. This passion to finding the perfect home forced me each Sunday to check out the newspaper section that included house plans. One particular Sunday I fell in love with a house plan. I carefully cut the house plan out and carried the clipping in my day timer for years. You can tell times have changed, today there are no house plans in the Sunday paper and now my day timer has been replaced by i-pad.
My children who were approaching their teenage years laughed at me. They thought I could never build such a house. A few years passed, and my husband decided he wanted to build a house. He told me we could build the house from the house plans I had been carrying around. There were obstacles all along the way. Our first obstacle was when we couldn't find a builder who was interested in building for us, at that time builders were all very busy. My husband decided he would be the general contractor.
We had already found the perfect lot. It was an acre lot in a small community but within driving distance to the city. Little did we know that this sleepy town of 7,000 was going to grow to a population of 25,000 in five years and even more throughout the next 15 years.
It took us about two years to secure the lot and build the house. I could share some stories that would probably change your mind about building your home. I am a diehard and would do it again. My children love to share stories of the sacrifices they made in helping to build this house. It's their way of making my husband, and I feel guilty. The guilt thing doesn't work because we know they would have their children do the same thing.
The process of building this home, living in it for 16 years, needing to update it, and finally discovering we have too much room has taught me one thing. Here is the big lesson. Home doesn't have to be big it just has to be clean and in good repair. That is one of my life's lessons.
To demonstrate where I am going with this, the picture you see above was my first home. The picture above is the home my parents brought me home to as a newborn baby. You can see that time has taken its toll. I know that when I lived in it, it was clean. My mother never allowed dirt in her house. My mother said for those times this house was in average repair.
You can always count on time marching on and time will always effect even the finest home. The homeowner must always be investing in the upkeep. Luckily I love to work on improving a home, but that alone will not keep a house in top repair. The next element that is needed is money to make these repairs.
Do you think a bigger home is better than a small home?
Refinancing could help you get that needed cash for home repair. If you live in Utah, check out my mortgage website at www.
Surely you wound not choose anyone but Shirley Nault for your mortgage lending needs. (NMLS #435308)
Posted 27th July 2011 by Shirley Nault
Labels: Time Takes itsToll on a Home
