Found on Facebook, reposted here after having posted earlier about some of the
ups and downs of looking at real estate in the Netherlands. Here are a few
more. :-)
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=884227808263867&fref=nf
From: "TurquoiseBee [email protected] [FairfieldLife]"
<[email protected]>
To: FairfieldLife <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2015 3:49 PM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] "Old" is relative
At least when it comes to real estate. I think I mentioned that we're
looking at houses in the Leiden area. Given our requirements (5 bedrooms plus
office space and a big-ass kitchen) and our budget, we haven't found a lot of
houses that are "possibles." It appears likely that the perfect place just the
right size and ready to move into may not appear, so we're looking at places
that have "great potential." They will require work and possibly some major
renovations to work for us, but they *could* be made to work for us. It would
be a long-term project, but we're up for that.
Seeing houses and thinking of buying them gets you to thinking about age, and
what constitutes "old." One house we saw today was built in 1920, and is a
definite fixer-upper. It would keep us very busy for some time to develop its
potential. It doesn't have the high degree of interior "finish" that we're used
to (it would need things like new floors, bathrooms, kitchen, etc.), but it
really does have great potential. But it got me thinking about that issue of
"finish" and wondering whether a nearly 100-year-old house is *worth* fixing up
-- can one really make a house that old into a comfortable urban home?
Then we went to the next house on our list. Walking in, the first thing that
struck me was that it had a much higher level of "finish" that the house we'd
seen previously. The paint was newer, the floors were wood and in great shape,
it had lots of charm and a great deal of light for a row house in the
Pieterskerk area of Leiden, and felt somehow "newer" or "less old" than the
other house.
But then something in my brain went, "Bzzzzzt...wait. This does not compute." I
had noticed a small red and white metal sign to the right of the front door
when we walked in, and asked the owner about it: "Is this house a Rijksmonument
(national monument building)?" He said yes, so I asked him when it was built.
He didn't skip a beat when he answered, "1400."
Really. They know how old this house is because of something I had to look up
-- dendrochronological testing. They can tell when the house was built by
measuring the rings of the trees used to create the still-in-place main
timbers. One of Rembrandt's teachers used to live here. The house is 615 years
old and yet it has a higher degree of interior "finish" and liveability that
the 100-year-old house. Go figure.
I guess it's like with classic cars. Or people. It's not how old they are, it's
how well they were taken care of along the Way. :-)
#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320 -- #yiv6043182320ygrp-mkp {border:1px solid
#d8d8d8;font-family:Arial;margin:10px 0;padding:0 10px;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320ygrp-mkp hr {border:1px solid #d8d8d8;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320ygrp-mkp #yiv6043182320hd
{color:#628c2a;font-size:85%;font-weight:700;line-height:122%;margin:10px
0;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-mkp #yiv6043182320ads
{margin-bottom:10px;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-mkp .yiv6043182320ad
{padding:0 0;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-mkp .yiv6043182320ad p
{margin:0;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-mkp .yiv6043182320ad a
{color:#0000ff;text-decoration:none;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-sponsor
#yiv6043182320ygrp-lc {font-family:Arial;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320ygrp-sponsor #yiv6043182320ygrp-lc #yiv6043182320hd {margin:10px
0px;font-weight:700;font-size:78%;line-height:122%;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320ygrp-sponsor #yiv6043182320ygrp-lc .yiv6043182320ad
{margin-bottom:10px;padding:0 0;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320actions
{font-family:Verdana;font-size:11px;padding:10px 0;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320activity
{background-color:#e0ecee;float:left;font-family:Verdana;font-size:10px;padding:10px;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320activity span {font-weight:700;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320activity span:first-child
{text-transform:uppercase;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320activity span a
{color:#5085b6;text-decoration:none;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320activity span
span {color:#ff7900;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320activity span
.yiv6043182320underline {text-decoration:underline;}#yiv6043182320
.yiv6043182320attach
{clear:both;display:table;font-family:Arial;font-size:12px;padding:10px
0;width:400px;}#yiv6043182320 .yiv6043182320attach div a
{text-decoration:none;}#yiv6043182320 .yiv6043182320attach img
{border:none;padding-right:5px;}#yiv6043182320 .yiv6043182320attach label
{display:block;margin-bottom:5px;}#yiv6043182320 .yiv6043182320attach label a
{text-decoration:none;}#yiv6043182320 blockquote {margin:0 0 0
4px;}#yiv6043182320 .yiv6043182320bold
{font-family:Arial;font-size:13px;font-weight:700;}#yiv6043182320
.yiv6043182320bold a {text-decoration:none;}#yiv6043182320 dd.yiv6043182320last
p a {font-family:Verdana;font-weight:700;}#yiv6043182320 dd.yiv6043182320last p
span {margin-right:10px;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:700;}#yiv6043182320
dd.yiv6043182320last p span.yiv6043182320yshortcuts
{margin-right:0;}#yiv6043182320 div.yiv6043182320attach-table div div a
{text-decoration:none;}#yiv6043182320 div.yiv6043182320attach-table
{width:400px;}#yiv6043182320 div.yiv6043182320file-title a, #yiv6043182320
div.yiv6043182320file-title a:active, #yiv6043182320
div.yiv6043182320file-title a:hover, #yiv6043182320 div.yiv6043182320file-title
a:visited {text-decoration:none;}#yiv6043182320 div.yiv6043182320photo-title a,
#yiv6043182320 div.yiv6043182320photo-title a:active, #yiv6043182320
div.yiv6043182320photo-title a:hover, #yiv6043182320
div.yiv6043182320photo-title a:visited {text-decoration:none;}#yiv6043182320
div#yiv6043182320ygrp-mlmsg #yiv6043182320ygrp-msg p a
span.yiv6043182320yshortcuts
{font-family:Verdana;font-size:10px;font-weight:normal;}#yiv6043182320
.yiv6043182320green {color:#628c2a;}#yiv6043182320 .yiv6043182320MsoNormal
{margin:0 0 0 0;}#yiv6043182320 o {font-size:0;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320photos div {float:left;width:72px;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320photos div div {border:1px solid
#666666;height:62px;overflow:hidden;width:62px;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320photos div label
{color:#666666;font-size:10px;overflow:hidden;text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;width:64px;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320reco-category {font-size:77%;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320reco-desc {font-size:77%;}#yiv6043182320 .yiv6043182320replbq
{margin:4px;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-actbar div a:first-child
{margin-right:2px;padding-right:5px;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-mlmsg
{font-size:13px;font-family:Arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320ygrp-mlmsg table {font-size:inherit;font:100%;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320ygrp-mlmsg select, #yiv6043182320 input, #yiv6043182320 textarea
{font:99% Arial, Helvetica, clean, sans-serif;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320ygrp-mlmsg pre, #yiv6043182320 code {font:115%
monospace;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-mlmsg *
{line-height:1.22em;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-mlmsg #yiv6043182320logo
{padding-bottom:10px;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-msg p a
{font-family:Verdana;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-msg
p#yiv6043182320attach-count span {color:#1E66AE;font-weight:700;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320ygrp-reco #yiv6043182320reco-head
{color:#ff7900;font-weight:700;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-reco
{margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-sponsor
#yiv6043182320ov li a {font-size:130%;text-decoration:none;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320ygrp-sponsor #yiv6043182320ov li
{font-size:77%;list-style-type:square;padding:6px 0;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320ygrp-sponsor #yiv6043182320ov ul {margin:0;padding:0 0 0
8px;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-text
{font-family:Georgia;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-text p {margin:0 0 1em
0;}#yiv6043182320 #yiv6043182320ygrp-text tt {font-size:120%;}#yiv6043182320
#yiv6043182320ygrp-vital ul li:last-child {border-right:none
!important;}#yiv6043182320
