{"id":36802,"date":"2017-10-08T18:00:11","date_gmt":"2017-10-08T23:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=36802"},"modified":"2017-10-03T05:03:07","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T10:03:07","slug":"we-really-bought-a-fixer-upper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=36802","title":{"rendered":"We Really Bought a Fixer Upper"},"content":{"rendered":"

We really bought a fixer upper.\u00a0 We really did.\u00a0 A few years ago Jordan and I played a little April Fools joke<\/a> here on the blog and said we had bought a fixer upper.\u00a0 That wasn’t true, but this time it is.\u00a0 Jordan isn’t involved in this one, though.\u00a0 Mr. Right and I bought it but not<\/strong> for us.\u00a0 It’s to help out a refugee friend of ours.\u00a0 It’s kind of a long story, so I will show you the before photos of the exterior and give you the back story at the same time.\u00a0 I am going to call our friend Bobo because it just doesn’t seem right to use his real name.\u00a0 Next week I will be back with the inside.\u00a0 It is in horrible condition, but Bobo thinks it looks like a palace already.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Back Story<\/h2>\n

Our friend Bobo, his wife, and their six children were in a refugee camp in Burundi (it’s in Africa) for years.\u00a0 Then they were sponsored by a local church and were brought to Lexington to establish new lives here in our country.\u00a0 The church that sponsored them stopped offering support after just six months.\u00a0 That’s what they do with all of the refugee families they bring over.\u00a0 That makes me crazy because six months are not enough when you are in a new and very different country and can’t speak the language.\u00a0 That’s a whole other story, though.\u00a0 We met him when Mr. Right hired him to do some work for us at one of our commercial properties one weekend.\u00a0 My husband was so impressed with him and the other Burundi men who did part-time work for him.\u00a0 He continued (and continues) to hire them.\u00a0 They love and respect Mr. Right, and whenever they have a problem or a question about something, they come to Mr. Right, and he helps them work through it and solve the issue.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \"Fixer<\/p>\n

Bobo’s children are well-behaved and do well in school.\u00a0 Three have graduated and they are in college on scholarships.\u00a0 There are three still living at home and going to elementary and high school.\u00a0 After a few years of hard work, Bobo and his wife qualified for a Habitat for Humanity house.\u00a0 But sadly, after moving in, they divorced. We worked with them and counseled them to try to help them through their issues, but they still split.\u00a0 The ex-wife got the house, and Bobo lived (lives) in apartments that were really too small for his children to all be there comfortably at one time.\u00a0 Since he already had qualified for one Habitat House, he couldn’t apply for ownership of a second one.\u00a0 He desperately wanted to own his own home so his children could have a stable, permanent place to come to.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Fixer<\/p>\n

The House Hunt<\/h2>\n

Mr. Right and Bobo have been looking for homes that he could afford for over a year.\u00a0 Finally, they found one close enough that his children can walk to stay with him, and it’s in their school district.\u00a0 It’s in a neighborhood that is in transition which is good because it will increase in value.\u00a0 The down side is that it is in need of a major overhaul from the top to the bottom.\u00a0 I think Chip and Joanna Gaines might have walked away from this one, and they aren’t afraid of any challenge.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Fixer<\/p>\n

The way this is going to work is that Mr. Right and I now own the house, and we will pay for the improvements.\u00a0 Bobo and his friends will do as much as they are able to do, and we will hire professionals to do what they can’t.\u00a0 When it is completed, Bobo will buy it from us on a land contract for just what we have in it.\u00a0 We will not make a penny, and that was never our intention.\u00a0 We just want to help Bobo have a permanent home.<\/p>\n

\"Fixer<\/p>\n

\u00a0Plans for the Fixer Upper<\/h2>\n

The house needs a new roof, plumbing, wiring, some dry wall, kitchen, bath, along with a lot of other things.\u00a0 I get to make all of the design and decorating choices, but I have to keep the selections basic to hold down the costs for Bobo. I also have to consider that a single man and his children will be occupying the house which will have four bedrooms, one and a half baths, a kitchen\/dining room combo and a living room when we are finished.\u00a0 One wall between the kitchen and dining room will hopefully come down if we can work around a brick fireplace.\u00a0 We will add a mudroom\/laundry room\/powder room area by the back door.\u00a0 It has a deck that will get replaced and a big yard where he plans to plants a vegetable garden.\u00a0 There’s also a front porch that needs help.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Fixer<\/p>\n

I hope to give you regular updates here on the blog.\u00a0 I know most of us love a good before and after even when it’s on a shoestring budget.\u00a0 Next week you will see the inside.\u00a0 Meanwhile,wish us luck.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Take care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We really bought a fixer upper.\u00a0 We really did.\u00a0 A few years ago Jordan and I played a little April Fools joke here on the blog and said we had bought a fixer upper.\u00a0 That wasn’t true, but this time it is.\u00a0 Jordan isn’t involved in this one, though.\u00a0 Mr. Right and I bought it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36802"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36802"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36845,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36802\/revisions\/36845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}