Jive Weasel

Archive for July, 2009

The field of home remodelling changed the way I looked at the world, and will probably do the same to you. It engulfs you in the way a new job, marriage, or parenthood does. Before you know it:

• Your sense of sight will change. You’ll become aware of colours, shapes, patterns, materials, lighting—what works and what doesn’t. That means you may buy an eggplant at the grocery store and try to duplicate the rich, dark sheen on your dining-room walls.

• Your sense of hearing will change. You’ll be aware of traffic sounds, and whether they’re too close for comfort to the property you want to bid on. You’ll learn to know the hum of a properly functioning boiler and the sickening grind of a busted dishwasher.

• Your sense of smell will change. You’ll know that a purchase near a sewage-treatment plant is out, and that the bouquet of freshly cut lumber is in.

• Your way of thinking will change. You’ll start to think like a home wrecker, viewing houses for their investment potential and resalability. Don’t be surprised if on the third day of vacation, you start looking at property.

When your way of looking at real estate changes, your own city will take on new dimensions. You’ll start observing housing trends, changing neighborhoods, newly painted facades, terrific landscaping. You’ll drive down a street and realize that “For Sale” signs are as important to you as STOP Signs.

You’re about to dress up and go shopping

. I will show you where to look, whom to call, how to recognize the right property, when to buy it, and what to spend. Then I’ll explain what goes into that crucial transformation from “a nice house” to “a knockout.”
Any woman can take a house and turn it into a home. Now you’re going to learn how to turn it into a bonanza.