The Old Folks Move to Town

Boomer and Sunny loved living out in the country, but it was not going to be a realistic option in their old age. It was a long way from services. The house was too big. They didn't want to go into old age paying a mortgage and sky-high-and-climbing property taxes.  And the property was built out, so Boomer had nothing left to build.

As John Michael Greer says, "Collapse now and avoid the rush."

They decided to sell the expensive property and move somewhere more affordable where Boomer could keep building, but still be able to walk to work.   

So how do you sell a place that looks like this?

Heeding the old saying, "A doctor who treats himself has a fool for a patient," they hired an appraiser to provide an objective, third-party opinion about the house.  

The appraiser deducted 25% for the solar roof ("functional obsolescence,") the lack of an obvious entrance, lack of air conditioning, and other issues.   

Boomer and Sunny used the appraiser's comments as a punch list and spent 18 months correcting the issues before putting the house up for sale.

Boomer tore off the underperforming solar roof and normalized the roofline.

The master bedroom on the second floor already had a bathroom with a shower. With the additional usable square footage, he was able to add a second bath to the master bedroom, this one with a whirlpool tub. 

The house ended up with five bathrooms: a full bath and a mudroom 3/4 bath on the first floor, a full bath by the stairs on the second floor, and a full bath and 3/4 bath in the master bedroom.

Five bathrooms. No waiting.

He reoriented, expanded, and painted the deck white to create a more inviting entrance; and added central heating and air conditioning, even though it wasn't really needed. But that's what the market expected in this price range.

Boomer built arches to soften the property's appearance. He built a small pyramid over the wellhead, and an arbor with a swing.