"You scored a lot of points with us when you answered my specific questions straight up without any BS. I think other Realtors would have told us what they thought we wanted to hear." - Brad Rosser
"As a first-time homebuyer, I was nervous about the entire process. Step by step, Joe made it easy and fun. His expertise in the Columbus real estate market is a tremendous asset. He is highly recommended!" - Nicolette Horan
"I wanted to say thank you again, so much, for all your hard work. I know that you really put a lot of time into this transaction and I really, really appreciate it. I'm so happy I got the house and it all worked out and I just wanted to say thanks again, you did a great job and i really appreciate it. I will put that on the survey when they send it to me.
If there is ever anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate to give me a call. I will refer every single person I know to you. I'm going to go get my dog and we're going to sit on the floor of our new house and have a glass of champaign.
Thanks a lot Joe" -- Michael Mamp
I ran across a post today that made an impression on me. I show a lot of homes in the downtown neighborhoods where the homes can be as old they can be in Columbus–oldest maybe 140 years or so.
Many buyers fall in love with the homes themselves but not the idea of the upkeep and renovation that my be involved. Original Windows, in particular, are a double edged sword—They’re obviously historically accurate and add character to the home but if they are beat up and inoperable or sometimes just old, buyers consider an astronomical price to replace them with like-kind and move on to the next house.
Why replace them at all? Because most people feel original windows can’t be energy efficient and no one wants to waste money. Plus, keeping the old windows is now cool because preservation is a defacto green lifestyle. Well, Mark Alan Hewitt wrote the following in this post. He’s an architect & preservationist:
“…. It turns out that when considered holistically, older structures often make sense as examples of environmental conservation even if they haven’t been modernized.”
” One bugaboo, however, has existed since I began restoring houses 30 years ago–the question of what to do about “leaky” single glazed windows. Conventional wisdom was to throw them away in favor of double glazed sashes that would seal the house and keep heat and cold inside in hostile climates.”
“Finally the tide has changed and preservationists have started to look at windows as pieces of the treasured fabric of older buildings that don’t need to be sacrificed to the altar of sustainability. It turns out, according to recent research, that a well-made wooden double-hung or casement, equipped with tight-fitting wood storm sash, can perform almost as well as a double-glazed unit in terms of thermal resistance and infiltration. Moreover, the cost of replacing beautifully-crafted wooden sash continues to rise, increasing their potential “embodied energy.” There is really no compelling reason to remove character-defining wood windows from any historic structure, if storm/screen units can be installed outside.”
Bravo to you for posting this! I am a huge proponent of restoring not replacing windows. Not to be overly dramatic but I think the wholesale acceptance of replacement windows as the thing to do is one of the tragedies of my lifetime. It removes a window that can last 50 to 100 years and twice that once restored and replaces it with a shoddy substitute with an incredibly short lifespan. Just like water heaters are now disposable items, so have windows become. I push for window restoration whenever I can.
I ran across a post today that made an impression on me. I show a lot of homes in the downtown neighborhoods where the homes can be as old they can be in Columbus–oldest maybe 140 years or so.
Liz Bolton Cambridge MA
April 23rd, 2009
Bravo to you for posting this! I am a huge proponent of restoring not replacing windows. Not to be overly dramatic but I think the wholesale acceptance of replacement windows as the thing to do is one of the tragedies of my lifetime. It removes a window that can last 50 to 100 years and twice that once restored and replaces it with a shoddy substitute with an incredibly short lifespan. Just like water heaters are now disposable items, so have windows become. I push for window restoration whenever I can.