An erotic daydream encounter!
Freakin home ownership! You know what I'm talking about. It's always something. Yea, Yea, Yea; blah, blah, blah. Own some dirt they said. It will never decrease in value and you can pass it down to your kids. Build a house they said. Buy a house they said!
What they never reveal is the flippin dirt is taxed every year, as well as the dwelling or buildings on said land. They never told me the friggin building will need to be maintained for christ's sake, nor did they let on that if you can't do the work yourself your gonna have to pay some sad sack SOB to do it for you. Good luck finding a competent craftsman that takes pride in his work and one that isn't out to pick your pocket.
Luckily, I'm quite skilled with tools, mainly because I'm also a cheap bastard and there's not much else I dislike more than handing my hard earned dinero over to some smuck my neighbor recommends. I grew up on a small farm about 3 miles outside of town. Back in the day, a person had to be self sufficient or that person did not survive very long. I was field stripping my bike every other week at 10 years old just because I wanted to change the color. While other kids were playing jacks, or whatever kids did at that age...I was up to my elbows in grease, either taking something apart or trying to put it back together, and not have any parts left over on the barn floor.
Anyhoo...I digress. So the current saga I find myself embroiled in started with a conversation between Tracey, the wifey, and yours truly. We've owned and lived in our house for 30 years. Were getting up there in age, although both of us are very healthy and in good condition, so like everybody else in our shoes...we start discussing the 'final move' to Florida. Now keep in mind, I have been working on old gal for over 5 years about taking that plunge and low and behold, it was she who brought it up this time!
Needless to say, I sit bolt upright, and for the first time in a long time I listen very intently to what she is saying. Without boring you with all the fine details, it comes down to this. She is willing to begin a search for the 'right' property in Florida as long as we are able to sell our current house at the top of the market.
Well shucks, I immediately saw where this was going. "Tracey honey!" I plead. "Buyers don't give a rip one about the condition of any house, the market is tight...they all do their own renovations after they close on the property! This house has good bones...it will sell."
She is having none of it! The deal she lays out for me is to renovate this house, and then, if and only then, if we can find 'the right' house, we could make the move. "That's all I'm gonna say about that!" she snarks with a high degree of finality.
So after replacing the central heat and air system, renovating the kitchen, installing new floors throughout the whole house, renovating the main bathroom, replacing the hot water heater as well as a new roof, we found ourselves having to replace the front door to the house. It was 30 years old and looked really bad. I had replaced the back door, a job I didn't have any issues with but this front door deal was a whole different story. One I didnt want to mess with.
"The front door is the greeting that a person experiences when they are looking for a house!" Tracey states. "You're good Jack, but I want a real nice door and I want it professionally installed," she continues emphatically.
You long time married guys know its useless to even try and counter that attitude. 'Happy wife; happy life,' and all that freakin jazz so they say.
So, Tracey picks out her door and it is finally being installed today. The damn thing cost $6,000 freakin dollars! Unbelievable! The object does nothing more than any other door has done for centuries...it opens, it closes, and it locks! Add that to the out of pocket renovation costs and we were $45K out of pocket. "This freaking door better be all the buyers talk about," I jab at Tracey. She just grins, turns, and wiggles her ass at me, then slips away with Salt and Pepper, our 2 chihuahuas, right on her heels. "Man's best friend huh?" I called out to the little ingrates.
The installers were pretty competent and finished up in about 2.5 hours. I confess, I could have bought a door at the local department store for around $750 but it would have probably taken me two days to install it and trim it out. They finished the job and the guy hands me the invoice and 2 keys. He smiles and says, "Have a nice weekend," and poof, they dissapear direct to their next bank heist! I must confess: the door does look nice and it operates very smoothly.
Hold on, hold on ya'll, I'm getting to the good part...
So now this expensive door causes me to have a major 'key' situation. The front door locks and the back door locks, as well as the interior garage door locks, are now differently keyed. Who wants to have to fish around for a specific key depending on which door you want to use. I just want to get in the friggin house using one key that opens all doors!