Capital Homes: Pat Kennedy’s Washington, D.C., Real Estate Blog

Cindy Jones is one of my favorite blog buddies on Active Rain, a site where real estate professionals blog for each other and for their clients. Today, Cindy wrote a post that caught my attention. It’s about Habitat for Humanity’s “Re-Stores” where you can buy recycled home improvement items - and support a fabulous cause at the same time! So, I hope you enjoy reading Cindy’s post.

Fix Up Your Foreclosure and Support Habitat for Humanity at the Same Time

By Cindy Jones-Northern Virginia Real Estate & Military Relocation Services:

Recycle ReuseDid you just buy a foreclosure in Fairfax or Prince William County? Is your budget a little tight? Then before you head to one of the mega hardware stores stop by the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and see if you can’t find some of what you need.

A stop at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore gives you the chance to do three things at one time. The first is to support the great programs Habitat for Humanity offers to low income families to give them an opportunity to own their own home. The money raised by the ReStores across the US provides funds to build an additional 10 homes per year.

The second benefit is the Habitat ReStore has to offer is keeping usable building supplies out of the landfill and support a more “green” building environment. The ReStore only accepts clean reusable items which would otherwise be headed to the local dump. Builders and contractors provide excess inventory from construction projects so not only will you find “gently” used items but you will find brand new items as well.

And the third benefit is the chance to save money on your own remodeling project. I recently delivered to the ReStore dozens of brand new still in the plastic wrappers register vent covers in various sizes left over from a builder’s project. As a landlord I have found replacement items for my rental properties that have included a pedestal sink, a new toilet and refrigerator all at 50% off what I would have paid for them at a traditional store.

There are Habitat ReStores across the nation so if you aren’t in Fairfax or Prince William County check out this to see if there is a store near you. If you have reusable appliances, kitchen cabinets or any other building supplies in good condition consider taking them to the store for resale.

Copyright © 2008 By Cindy Jones, All Rights Reserved. *Fix up your foreclosure and support Habitat for Humanity at the same time* Contact Cindy Jones for more information on Fairfax or Prince William County Foreclosures. Reprinted with permission of the author.

Yesterday, I was checking out stuff in my neighborhood on our MLS.  And Oh!  My!  God!  There was a house that I’d missed!  A stone Tudor, circa 1925, listed by Eddie Dugas, one of my absolutely favorite colleagues.  And the price was in the five hundreds – the price of a hovel in this neighborhood.  And this was not a hovel.  Was it?

OK, there was a catch.  The MLS information said it was funky in the extreme.  But that’s fine.  I know someone who thinks that funky is good!  That would be master renovator, Henry Canby.  He waves his magic toolkit over the house and it becomes totally amazing.

So the showing instructions said the lister had to be there for showings.   I called Eddie to see if we could get in this evening at seven.  He said sure.   And he trusted me to show the place without him.  But there were some things we had to watch out for.

There was a bedroom and bath on the first floor, but we couldn’t walk in because the floors were “spongy”.

We shouldn’t walk into the back two bedrooms on the second floor because the floors were, yes, “spongy”.

Be careful of the raccoons that had moved in.

Bring a good flashlight because the electricity is off.

Oh, and be really really careful about going down to the basement.  It’s um, intense down there.

And a branch from a big tree fell on the roof, about four years ago, and there was a wee, well a huge, bit of water penetration.

“And Pat,” Eddie warned, “don’t wear your Ferregamo’s to this one!”   Fine, so it’ll be army boots!

Henry came by in his contractormobile to pick me up and we headed for Argyle Terrace a few blocks away.

It was raining pretty hard, but I’m not that sweet.  I won’t melt.   And we pulled up and I opened the lock box then the front door.

Duh duh duh DUH!  Duh duh duh DUH!

It’s the Adamms Family house!

There were not any small animals – the mice and raccoons had probably succumbed to lead poisoning from the layers of old paint that were dripping like stalagmites from the ceiling.  But the floors were spongy, as promised.  And I told Henry that if he wanted to see the basement, he would have to do it without me.  He did.  As promised, it was intense.

This house had been amazing – stone construction on a gigantic lot in a fabulous  neighborhood.  And as we stood out back looking at the huge wooded lot, we saw a red fox with a big bushy tail skulk across the property.

This house is what we call a grand dame in need of a face lift – sort of like me!  And Henry is the world’s best house plastic surgeon.   He could make this place totally amazing.

But Cousin Itt would have to move out first!

Recently, my State Farm agent, Greg Lyons, had the unmitigated nerve to retire on me.

Then, one of my Active Rain blog buddies mentioned that he’d never ever been to a retirement party for a real estate agent.

Come to think of it, neither have I!  I’ve been to some memorial services for some agents who worked long into their geezer-hood, but they never retired!   One of them ratified a contract on an $8 million dollar house in Georgetown only hours before drawing her last breath.  And her friends actually convinced the Washington Post obit writer that she on only 79.  Yeah!  Right!

And I have to wonder whether so many agents hang in there forever because they didn’t plan financially for a normal retirement, or because they just love real estate and can’t bring themselves to quit.

I have a colleague who has to be in her 90’s by now, and her only concession to old age is that she is now partnering with her daughter.  When I was a new agent a bunch of years age, we had a 70th birthday party for her.  She is still sharp as a tack and spry as all get out, and she still can qualify on her own for membership in Workahaulics Anonymous.  And she could have retired very comfortably decades ago had she wanted to.  But this woman loves real estate, and real estate clearly loves her.

But there are probably just as many agents who didn’t sock it away in any type of retirement account.  We hear so many stories of agents who have been living from one brokerage check to the next, and if they’re lucky, their taxes are up to date.  But they are still out there working hard because they don’t have other options.

I’m at a point where many of my friends are retiring, and I could if I wanted to.  But it’s hard for me to imagine what it would be like.   Other than bad knees (to be fixed soon), I’m in great health.  I love what I’m doing and have gotten pretty good at it.  I’ve learned to work smarter and take vacations.  But if I hung up my lock box keypad, I’d really miss it.  I’d miss the interaction with colleagues and clients.  I’d miss all of the people and houses and condos and flat tires and almost running out of gas.

So, am I going to be one of those geezer agents who doesn’t know when to quit?

Yeah.  I think so!