For us, the key to this adventure from a financial perspective is being able to rent our house out so that we’re not spending a year making mortgage payments for an unoccupied house. Our house, which we love dearly, is located on the best street in our amazing community of Montclair, New Jersey, but it is old, and while it’s long on charm, we’ve admittedly been a bit remiss in upkeep over the past decade. So now we’re doing ten years of maintenance in one fell swoop. Our renters will be lucky indeed!
First, we discovered that the reason our downstairs toilet wasn’t flushing properly is because SOMEBODY flushed a water squirter, which then got stuck in the bend of the toilet.
Then, a few weeks ago the house gained a new roof.
As you can see at the top, the exterior painters started their sanding and carpentry work this morning, and inside, the carpenter has been hard at work on a few deferred maintenance projects. Our three season back porch once again has a ceiling, and our master bathroom shower is in the process of being renovated so that it will no longer leak onto the floor. Old houses have lots of issues, but our house has good bones, and it is heartening to see our maintenance to-do list rapidly shrinking.
The realtors tell us that the goal is to have the house on the rental market by April, so it should be a busy few weeks. Our renters will be lucky, as our goal is to make sure that the house, old as it is, is in such good shape that we don’t have to worry about it while we’re off in Vietnam or Cambodia. Wish us luck!
Blaine Voyage 