{"id":8510,"date":"2021-02-17T14:14:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T19:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/\/?p=8510"},"modified":"2023-02-23T05:35:01","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T10:35:01","slug":"the-story-of-charlotte-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/project\/the-story-of-charlotte-house\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of Charlotte House"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Grande Dame<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Hello, there!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are Jack and Jim, and this is the story of how we became the owners of a dirty old frat house.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once upon a time, we decided we wanted to buy a building where we could both live and run a local small business. Jackie was pregnant at the time, and without any family living nearby to lend a hand, it just made sense to keep everything within arm\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real estate in our small city was also pretty hot, so finding something we could budget for meant that we needed to keep our eye on properties that were a little worse for wear and could be improved over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t too long before destiny presented us with a very special gift\u2014the kind of opportunity that seems truly unique, full of potential, and just perfect\u2026for someone else?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, when we first walked through the house, Jackie was impressed with the old woodwork that \u201csomeone\u201d would make beautiful again, and how good the house could look once \u201cwhoever\u201d was going to buy it took over. Jim, on the other hand, was smitten. (This, by the way, is essentially the story of this relationship. He is the yin to her yang, the peanut butter to her jelly, the \u201cW\u201d to her \u201cTF\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n

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Not pictured: The stars in Jim’s eyes<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At any rate, we are both gluttons for punishment and don\u2019t seem to know what\u2019s good for us, so with only a mild amount of convincing and probably a foot rub, Jack was on board and we decided to go for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The house was nearly empty at this point, as the fraternity had mostly already moved into a newly-expanded house closer to their school campus. What was left was all the stuff so gross that even a bunch of college kids didn\u2019t want to touch it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stairway to questionable decisions<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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This photo was drunk when we took it<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But we moved forward, hoping to seal the deal and get some contractors going before the baby came. But the old grande dame had other ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a fun fact you probably weren\u2019t interested in knowing: when a property is appraised, it receives a \u201cC\u201d value. This represents the condition of the building on a scale of 1-6, with 1 being a brand-spankin\u2019 new build and 6 representing a condemned cesspool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guess what we got?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you guessed a 6, your pessimism is admired and appreciated. In this case, however, we did in fact receive a 5 \u2013 an honorable mention in the \u201cHow gross is this place\u201d category.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While not the worst of the worst, our lender was sufficiently grossed out. They took their ball and went home, and we went on a hunt for a new lender. Luckily, there is a great local bank that was willing to allow us to make some improvements and get the home reappraised. The downside of this was that the delay in switching lenders and making repairs meant that we also had to push back the closing date, and with the baby due in a matter of weeks, we pushed it back even further to allow for a nice buffer between birthing a human and buying a catastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Apparently this space is unsuitable for human habitation<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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You mean you don’t want to pee here?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, the repairs were made(-ish), the human was birthed, and sale went through. And with that, we began our journey of home renovation chronicles that mostly follow the same inevitable loop: a questionable plan, an energetic start, a world of pain and frustration, and a final leap to eventual success and glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we’ve trudged along with our restoration these last few years, there have been huge changes within our family and the world around us. Our squishy new baby became a big brother, and his little sister became a big sister herself, and we finally closed up the baby shop after the universe dropped a pair of unexpected twins in our laps. There’s also been a whirlwind of political and social upheaval, plus a pandemic to boot. Plans for the business have been put on hold, but it’s full steam ahead for finishing up the living space and getting the fam settled in our new digs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve made it a long<\/em> way over the past few years and have lots of stories and strategies to share, so thanks for taking some time to check out our story and follow along!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the story of how we became the owners of a dirty old frat house.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[98],"tags":[104,53],"class_list":["post-8510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project","tag-about","tag-chr"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/exterior.jpg?fit=995%2C746&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8701,"url":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/project\/old-wood-what-we-started-with-what-were-doing-with-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":8510,"position":0},"title":"Old Wood: What We Started With & What We’re Doing With It","author":"jack","date":"March 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We fell in love with Charlotte's Old Woodwork, but Wow. What a headache.","rel":"","context":"In "Project Spotlight"","block_context":{"text":"Project Spotlight","link":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/category\/project\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/sash-compare-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/sash-compare-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/sash-compare-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/sash-compare-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/sash-compare-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 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Week","link":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/category\/whats-up\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/wp-1639163478422.-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/wp-1639163478422.-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/wp-1639163478422.-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/wp-1639163478422.-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/wp-1639163478422.-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 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Maybe we need to be institutionalized, but despite its ups and downs, we might just be in love.","rel":"","context":"In "What's Up This Week"","block_context":{"text":"What's Up This Week","link":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/category\/whats-up\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/post-its-cover-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/post-its-cover-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/post-its-cover-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/post-its-cover-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/post-its-cover-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peC2Za-2dg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8510"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9236,"href":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8510\/revisions\/9236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withjackandjim.com\/chr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}