Oil is Cheaper than Water
Oil Is Cheaper than Water
It's a fact of life that when you're selling a house in Barre, Vermont that you have to deal with winter. For today's installment, I'm going to relay a story that happened to me just today. It's not a fun story.
When I take buyers out to look at houses, I often play the game where they pick two or three houses, and I pick one that I think they might like. That's what I did today. "Ray's Choice" was an easy fixer upper in Barre. Mostly cosmetic.
Except that when I went in, I heard water running. The floor had standing water. Water was literally showering dozens of places in the ceiling between the basement and the first floor. I sloshed around to turn off the water, then called the office to let the seller know, as well as to get the plumbers and contractors out to fix the problem.
It appears as if the tank ran out of oil, and the place just froze up.
Teachable Moment: If you're selling a house in Barre, remember to keep the heat on. It doesn't have to be 70 in there, but it darn well better be above 32.
I have some tips on how to make sure that you avoid a freeze up when you're selling a house in Barre (or Montpelier, or Northfield...)
1. Make sure your place is set on automatic fuel delivery.
2. Check in on it from time to time--especially when the weather's cold.
3. Use a "night watchman"--it's a light attached to a thermometer so that when the temperature goes below any set point (say, 40), it lights up. Then you just tell a neighbor that if they see the light on to call everyone on the list.
This was a big mess, and it isn't going to be cheap to fix. But it will be fixed.
When you're selling a house in Barre, be smart: Remember Ray.
