It’s been a fun few weeks in “Olderhouse Land Markham 3-5 p.m. this Sunday, Aug. 29. As soon as the seller’s tenant of two years moved out in mid August (she was such a good caretaker of their family home after their father moved into an extended-care facility), we had Mark Boyette and his crew come in. Mark worked miracles on the house by stripping off old wallpaper, patching plaster, giving everything a fresh coat of paint, rebuilding kichen cabinet doors, and even putting on a new front door!
This week, I worked with Home Designer/Stager Stewart Aycock who walked through the house and knew just where the finishing touches needed to be added. He suggested adding new house numbers so they could be seen from the street (now… why didn’t I think of that?). Changing a brick firewood box into a planter, converting Mr. Covington’s old steamer trunk into a coffee table… Stewart’s list of great ideas was just endless!
Stewart then recruited his assistant, Chris Tarrant, to bleach and pressure-wash the back deck, clean out the gutters and haul away the leaf debris, install a new light fixture in the foyer & in the upstairs master closet, caulk and sealing the cracks in the downstairs coat closet & in the upstairs master closet, remove an old PVC handrail from the front steps, blow off all the walkways and the patio, and remove all the storm windows & screens and neatly stack them in the outdoor storage shed (what a wonderful way to let in more light into the house).
Tomorrow, one of the owners will come to mow the yard and trim away some of the weeds that have grown up alongside the patio. Kim Henry and her crew will come to give the house a thorough cleaning and John Goddin of Goddin Real Estate Services will photograph the house so I can have some good pictures for our web site and for MLS.
Of course, an older home is always a work in progress. Just as soon as we start to update one, the more we see needs to be done. Sooner or later we have to decide at what point this is all we are going to do. If do not find a buyer for the house this weekend, we may wish to consider painting the concrete floor in the workshop a grey color and maybe even painting the walls.
My job is to get the best price for my sellers while guarding their bottom-line investment within the constraints of the current real estate market conditions. After all, I know they will be using the proceeds from the sale of their family’s home for the care of their parents’ healthcare. So it is critical that I be a good guardian of the older home that they have placed into my hands to find a new owner.
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