By: Ben Freedman

This guest post from Doris Dillon

I never imagined I’d grow up and want to get into real estate. Well, not into “real estate” per se but I found this amazing house on my block and knew the second I went in it that I had to have it. It was practically falling down but I could tell it had good bones and just needed a little love (and a lot of money.) I got to work and my brother helped me out every chance he could – having a contractor in the family is really nice, I tell you what! I’m finally putting the finishing touches on the place: picking out paint for the front porch, choosing light fixtures for the garage and even going online to research Electric Companies Texas has to offer to choose one that’s right for the crazy energy bills a period home like mine’s going to have. I hope I’ve done a decent job fixing this place up and that I’ve retained the value of the charm that I bought it for. I am going to live in it for a few years before I even try to sell it – I didn’t buy the place so I could turn around and sell it immediately. I’ve always been drawn to the charm of old homes and Texas has precious few of them to spare. I hate that so many parts of the country raze their old properties so they can build strip malls and neighborhoods that all look-alike. I think we should be spending more resources to preserve historical homes and less trying to turn everywhere into a mass of chain restaurants and stores that they’ve got in every major metropolitan area! I can’t believe I’m saying this but after this house I don’t think I’ll ever go back to living in new construction again. There’s just something about the way the floor creaks underneath my feet and the way the house settles at night that I find oddly comforting, and you can’t get those kinds of details in a house that was build last year.