Seeing Our First Home For Sale Is a Real Wake Up Call!

Posted on February 1st, 2010 by James Lupori |

Our 1st Home circa 1990 in Shoreline, WA

My wife and I have a confession to make: We bought our first home because there was a raspberry patch in the back yard. Yup. That’s what sold us on the place! We were looking for a house with room for a garden and when we ate some of those sweet, ripe berries we were hooked. When we think back on it, we realize that we should have spent more time looking at the house itself because….well, we have 16 years of “home project” stories to share with you if you ever want to hear them.

It’s a classic story. We had been looking at homes in 1989 which was a tough time for a young couple to be buying their first house. Prices were rising, interest rates weren’t all that great (our first mortgage was at 10.25%) and a huge number of homes were being purchased by Californians who saw good values in Puget Sound. We had looked at a huge number of homes with our VERY PATIENT real estate agent and were losing patience as we kept getting beaten out of sales left and right. Luckily, our agent found a home that wasn’t yet listed and a contractor who was anxious to make a deal. Well, we ended up writing our offer on the hood of a car in the parking lot of the Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle on a warm July evening. We were excited and really, really scared!

We lived in our little house (barely 800 square feet) for 16 years. There was hardly one square inch of the place that we didn’t alter, remodel, tweak or paint. When it came to the yard Virginia was the “Flower Lady” and I was the “Vegetable Guy.” Necessity forced me to learn all about the challenges of owing an old home. Sometimes this was not very fun but today, as a real estate agent, the experiences of fixing that little house have made me a better advocate for my clients. I still can’t fix a leaking faucet!

The truth is, WE REALLY LOVED OUR HOUSE. Several of our cats were born, grew-up and died at that house. We entertained and frolicked there. It was a wonderful little universe that we made our own for many, many years. That’s why, when I drove through the old neighborhood on the way home from an appointment today, I was shocked to see a “For Sale” sign in front of our first house. A wave of intense emotion literally gripped me as I pulled into the driveway and saw the old house all “prettied-up” for potential buyers:

Manicured and “prettied-up” for sale!

When I drove up to the house, I discovered it was vacant. I have to tell you, I really struggled to get the key and go into our old house. I had not been in the home since we sold it and moved here to Kenmore in 2005 and I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel walking into a place where my wife and I had lived for so long………….

As it turned out, I was surprised to find that the home was almost the same as we left it 5 years ago. I was also overcome with a sense that Virginia and I had been good stewards of this little house as had the last owner. We really exerted a lot of hard work to make the house a better place when we lived there and as I write these words I’m proud that it’s going to be another lucky family’s home. It really is a cute little place.

When I got home today to share my experience and pictures with my wife she was very emotional. After all, we were in our 20’s when we bought the house and we became “real adults” living there with our crazy cats. It was a time in our lives when we learned how to deal with many of the challenges life throws at us. Most importantly, we share some wonderful memories of good times and creating a life together in that little house. I hope the new owners find as much joy there as we did.

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