Depending on the project, I don't mind doing some work around the house myself. Nothing overly complex, we've got pros to call in for that kind of stuff. For instance, since we completed our last remodeling project, Liz has wanted the TV moved from one side of the room to the other. There was already a cable outlet there, BUT it was wired from several years ago and no longer connected to the current cable lines. If I'd been the old lines would have routed through the unfinished basement and that would have been easy peasy.
However, that line actually went up through the attic and what is essentially a dead system. And frankly, climbing around in the attic and the insulation on a warm day isn't exactly my idea of a fun time, so it was time to reroute a line from the cable box and down into the basement to connect with the current system. Grab the drill with the long bit and head for the basement while Liz knocks on the floor so I know where to drill and NOT poke a hole through our hardwood floors. That part wasn't so bad. Initial hole drilled and nothing visible upstairs. I'm in the right section of the wall, so this should be easy, right?
Well this is the part where not having the right tool for the job made life complicated. The cable connector was a bit bigger than the hole, and because I was working through a small gap between the foundation and the last floor joist, I couldn't use my normal drill bits. Waaaay too short to reach the spot. The one bit I had that would work was fine for the initial work, but it wasn't going to widen the initial hole (trust me, I tried...and tried...and tried). So it was either figure out the way to get the hole bigger or cut the cable connector off, push the cut cable up through the wall and into the box and then add a new cable connector...oh wait, I don't have the tools for that either!
Fortunately one of the big box hardware stores is just a few miles down the road, so a short trip later I've got a drill bit long enough and wide enough to create the hole I really need, and just in case that doesn't work as planned, the tools and parts to cut and redo the cable connector. Once I got home and used the new drill bit, the rest of the project fell into place pretty quickly. Cable run, hooked up into the correct system and everything moved. Project done and another Honey-Do checked off.
Now at first glance you might think my experience in running cable today wouldn't have much to do with real estate, but there are parallels.
- Some jobs we can do ourselves, but it might get a bit messy and not go as well as we hope. Buying or selling a home can be the same way. Everything may go fine if it's all "vanilla", but it's when things are a bit different that experience comes into play. I've run cable before, but this is the first time I needed to squeeze between two joists. That took the job out of "vanilla" and into banana split territory. The job got done, but it wasn't as easy or as quick as I'd have preferred.
- The right tools matter. With the right tool, the rest of the cable job went quickly. Trying to buy a patio home on your own, or with an agent that doesn't know Cincinnati patio homes is like me and that initial hole. It wasn't good enough to get the job done. Now my job was fairly minor, but do you want to chance NOT finding the best possible patio home because you don't have the right tools for the job. I'm the right "drill bit" for your Cincinnati patio home search. We've been there and done that with lots of patio home buyers, both new construction and resale.
Ready to talk buying or selling a Cincinnati area home or finding that perfect patio home? Call Bill of The Liz Spear Team of RE/MAX Elite at 513-520-5305 or email Liz@LizSpear.com.
Serving Cincinnati area home buyers and sellers,
Liz and Bill aka BLiz
Serving Warren County Ohio & Adjacent Areas
The Liz Spear Team of RE/MAX Elite
Elizabeth Spear, ABR, CRS, Ohio License SAL.2002007747
William (Bill) Spear, CRS, Ohio License SAL.2004011109 Kentucky 77938
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Two locations: Lebanon & Mason, OH
Bill Direct: 513-520-5305
Liz Direct: 513-265-3004
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