One of the terrific things about having a place in Celebration FL – the “town that Disney Built” – is that we have a regular stream of friends, family, and acquaintances that are regularly swinging by Walt Disney World for vacation. This past week we met up with a MegaCorp friend who comes to WDW pretty often. They retired to Florida, but live about … Continue reading It’s A Small World
My Grandparents (on my Mom’s side of our family) lived most of their lives in Racine, Wisconsin. My Mom was born Racine, married my Dad there, and I was born there with my 3 brothers. Racine is a great little city on Lake Michigan, but unfortunately, like a lot of blue-collar Midwestern cities, it has struggled as a small city since the 1960s. It has … Continue reading Rising Tide Regions
We’re kicking off a kitchen makeover on Monday – the first real update we’ve done to our house in years. We’ve been here 16 years now, and while it’s been a great home for our family, the style has definitely slipped into that “a bit dated” category. What looked sharp and timeless in the mid-2000s now feels dark and heavy compared to what buyers (and … Continue reading Kitchen Makeover Project
We’ve been trying to sell our rental townhouse for the last 3+ months with no avail. The housing market, which is now being called “the worst in decades” – has dropped precipitously under the weight of high prices, high interest rates, and low wage growth. In the last 3+ months, we’ve dropped our price three times, re-carpeted, and re-painted the unit – but nothing seemed … Continue reading Free At Last …
I continue to be a bit obsessed with learning about air conditioning, since our central air unit went out in our vacation place in Florida last week. We’re back home in Minnesota now, and have had a few hot days here, too. Our air conditioning is happily chugging along, set at about 72° – day and night. I know people who keep it much warmer … Continue reading Air Conditioning & Energy Costs
The country is in peak summer right now and I’ve never been more thankful for central air conditioning. Except … when it’s not working. I spent the last 4 days at our condo in the Sunshine State and it was HOT & STEAMY. How hot? This was Thursday & Friday … mid 90° temperatures with humidity taking the “feels like” to 120° …! On tropical … Continue reading Peak Summer & Air Conditioning
The housing market has done quite a flip in the first half of 2025 and we’ve gotten caught up in it. Our rental townhouse is still sitting unsold after almost 90 days on the market. After several years of low real estate inventory, homes for sale have started to surge as buyers have disappeared. This chart from Redfin shows the issue … Even as more … Continue reading Where Have All The Buyers Gone?
Spring has wonderfully sprung in Minnesota, with warm weather, flowers blooming, and outdoor sports. Unfortunately, the real estate market hasn’t noticed. In Minnesota, every real estate agent will tell you to get your property ready for spring, when buyers flood back into the market. That’s the approach we’ve used for the rental townhouse we’d like to sell. Our son moved out in March (on a … Continue reading Spring Housing Stall
Living in Celebration FL, has been a unique experience. While some people don’t like the idea of living in an HOA-managed community, Celebration really makes it work. The town was originally designed by The Walt Disney Company, and thanks to the dedication of our HOAs, it has largely maintained that original vision of charm, order, and community spirit. One thing that sets Celebration apart is … Continue reading HOAs Working Well In Celebration
Our modest experiment in being landlords has ended. Our son – who we were bribing to be our neighbor for the last 3 years – has moved to an apartment in a cool neighborhood of downtown Minneapolis. His new space is much smaller, but in a very slick building close to all of the coffee shops, bars, & restaurants all the hipsters like him like … Continue reading Moving On From Landlording
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