[speaker001:] we built our home in what was a brand new subdivision in nineteen sixty five and we were the fourth lot in this subdivision to be built on
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] uh finally just last year the last home of the last lot was sold and the home a home was built on it so the subdivision is now full but we're in a community of five thousand people
[speaker002:] oh that's pretty nice I did mine I built my own home in nineteen sixty one
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] that's pretty much about the same time and I I built on two acres of land in a town called Cumberland Rhode Island
[speaker001:] yes um-hum
[speaker002:] and it was it's uh it's just a private uh piece of property I mean there's no you know there's no other well there's other houses in the area but at that time there were just individual homes scattered throughout
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] the town and I guess the town of Cumberland's probably got thirty five thousand people in it or so
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] which is right on on the Massachusetts Rhode Island state line that's that's why I work in Massachusetts it's only it's only a twenty minute ride
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and uh I did the whole house myself as a matter of fact I had the foundation poured the concrete poured and the rest of all the building I did entirely on my own which was quite a project uh I don't
[speaker001:] um-hum would you do it again oh I see well we wouldn't have done it the first time so
[speaker002:] no no I I I don't think so uh I I would I would probably I would act as a contractor and subcontract everything out I think
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] I but I would not physically do the work because I worked every night after after working all day in the in the plant and then weekends all your weekends were tied up and it took me about oh a little over seven months to finish it which I thought was pretty good
[speaker001:] did you finish it
[speaker002:] yes I I completely finished the house
[speaker001:] so you do not have any place that has a mop board off or a a piece uh we have a friend who uh rents rents homes redoes homes and rents them
[speaker002:] no uh-huh
[speaker001:] and he never quite has finished any one of the houses that he's done I mean there's always just one little detail that
[speaker002:] well I I had uh when I moved in I did not have my garage built and my breezeway and the concrete stairs upstairs the stairs the stairs were were made out of wood and the reason I did that it was getting late in November and the winter was coming
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and I just I ran out of time really and I I waited until the house was completely finished in the interior and the exterior exterior of the house short of the breezeway and the and the attached garage
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] and I did that and the driveway the following spring which uh I needed a break from the work and I I needed a break to get a little more money ahead stuff like that so I waited
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] oh probably November December until March or April I guess around April and then I went ahead and built the breezeway and the garage because I thought it was too cold to be pouring concrete outside in the winter time
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum did do you find that uh the area has changed since you built your home or has or has the area mainly it are the rest of the homes in keeping with the decor or in the style of yours
[speaker002:] uh sure yeah they they that area has managed to maintain itself very well the people are
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] real proud of their homes and they've managed to take care of them
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] but I noticed now that several of the homes where the elderly folks that live there have either gone on or or moved or whatever
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and their children are now living there okay
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and they just don't team seem to tend as much to them as their parents did does that make sense
[speaker001:] um-hum well it's a little bit surprising because uh the older we get my husband retired a little over a year ago and
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] we still of course are maintaining our home and he keeps up the painting and and all of this and we did remodel we have a large uh den I suppose it is kitchen den combination and we did remodel that after
[speaker002:] oh I yeah yeah I've done the I
[speaker001:] after uh he retired but as far as doing anything uh major to it we at this point would rather travel and I uh
[speaker002:] I've done the same I did the same thing but what I'm saying is that some of the people that I know they have moved on to Florida or retired you know similar to your you know your situation
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] but their homes have passed on to their uh children or or to younger younger families and they don't seem to maintain it as well as the original people did I or or like you would or I would and perhaps its just it's
[speaker001:] right oh yeah um-hum
[speaker002:] you know some of them homes were given to them and some of them the young people had to buy and perhaps they don't have the money to spend on them
[speaker001:] yes somehow we don't think of a gift as being quite as dear to us as something that we've had to work for I mean
[speaker002:] yeah yeah I think you're right I think you're right
[speaker001:] uh we I I look at our home though and I think well gosh you know if we don't do this then the next person who owns this home for instance is going to probably remodel the kitchen put in new cabinets that kind of thing you know after oh twenty six years uh things get a little scuffed up and it's not something that I'm not interested in the mess anymore
[speaker002:] sure sure yeah
[speaker001:] uh the style of our neighborhood uh we're certainly not the smallest home and we're not the largest home but it has maintained itself in that the homes that were built afterwards uh have come up some of them are a little smaller because at one point they wanted to put some two thirty five housing in
[speaker002:] what is what is two thirty five housing I'm not familiar with that term here in Rhode Island
[speaker001:] well it it it's a law it was quite some time ago when the neighborhood was very new and we had some very very restrictive covenants uh in the subdivision and they were attempting to put seven houses in an area that was originally set aside for five
[speaker002:] oh okay
[speaker001:] and I think the two thirty five came because they could people could get into them for a down payment of something like two hundred and thirty five dollars
[speaker002:] I see
[speaker001:] and of course we were involved with an attorney and were able to stop that before it got off the ground and so the some of the homes on that side of the street are a little bit smaller but they were
[speaker002:] um-hum I built a I built a three bedroom Colonial home with one and a half baths up and down
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and a and an attached two car garage and a breezeway and it was a it's a pretty substantial home I
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] I I I like the roominess of it uh and and I actually the only thing I've done other than you know wallpaper and painting paint over the years in the in the interior is I did refinish all the kitchen cabinets and I put a kitchen in the basement
[speaker001:] uh-huh um um-hum
[speaker002:] which was probably the best move I ever did
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] okay and uh
[speaker001:] we have a rock base here and it's very difficult
[speaker002:] excuse me Verna for just a second can you hang on just a second okay
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] okay there's your report okay and that's everything would would you give this to Barbara Rashad for me please would you carry that over okay if you want to hang on a minute you got a minute okay hang on a minute and I'll I'll uh finish up with this lady yes ma'am
[speaker001:] we have a rock base here and it's very difficult to put in a basement our home is all brick and with the two
[speaker002:] yeah are you are you on a flat on a slab like
[speaker001:] no no we're build
[speaker002:] you do you have a basement
[speaker001:] no we do not have a basement because we would had to have built up instead of down because uh there's the rock is so close to the surface here that it's difficult to to do basements so we didn't do that but um
[speaker002:] I see okay
[speaker001:] we have an attached two car garage and etcetera typical family the family home
[speaker002:] well it sounds it sounds it sounds like you have it sounds like yeah sounds like you have a real nice home and it's uh it sounds like what part of Indiana or is is
[speaker001:] we're uh two miles we're between Indianapolis and Chicago on Interstate I sixty five and we're just now being found by the north end of the state and getting a lot of
[speaker002:] okay
[speaker001:] you know there were homes on the market for ten years that sold in the last year because there's a lot of people coming down from
[speaker002:] is your real estate market uh slowed down there like it is here in the northeast
[speaker001:] it just it just went crazy this last year everything sold absolutely everything I mean we had someone come knock on our door the other day and offer us a price which I thought was absolutely ridiculous for our home the problem is there's nothing else to buy
[speaker002:] it did is that right you know well if you sell it for that sure if you sell it for that price whatever you have to buy is going to be inflated by that same amount so there's really not an advantage to it
[speaker001:] that yeah well and our children are all here and we want to stay here so
[speaker002:] sure
[speaker001:] we have no reason to sell so nice talking with you sounds like you're busy
[speaker002:] well okay Verna yeah well I'm in my office and I have someone here with me and uh it's really been a pleasure I enjoyed it and uh if you ever get to New England look me up
[speaker001:] thank you bye-bye
[speaker002:] thank you ma'am