Renovation Without the Debt
Brooklynites may be able to learn a thing or two from the discipline and staying power of one Ohioan renovator. Granted, the Akron couple featured in today’s New York Times, David and Gina Giffels, picked up their 1913 Tudor for an envy-inducing $65,000 back in 1996. But their meticulous renovation in the intervening twelve years…
Brooklynites may be able to learn a thing or two from the discipline and staying power of one Ohioan renovator. Granted, the Akron couple featured in today’s New York Times, David and Gina Giffels, picked up their 1913 Tudor for an envy-inducing $65,000 back in 1996. But their meticulous renovation in the intervening twelve years without taking on a penny of debt (they don’t believe in credit cards) is impressive nonetheless. Of course, there were other costs, like vacation time spent with a caulk gun instead of the children. But it’s clear that the couple’s relationship with the house transcends finances anyway. What I put into it was about eight ounces of my heart, Mr. Giffels told the NY Times. It’s like asking, ‘Well, what do you have in Gina, what have you spent on Gina over the years? Gina is not a commodity; neither is this. It’s not something that we really bought, it’s something that came into our lives. We’re sure there are more than a couple readers who have a similar tale.
Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Solvent [NY Times]
An Artful Restoration Slideshow [NY Times]
It is definitely sad that he missed so much family time while renovating, but not any more sad than a new yorker obsessed with the earning power of a wall st banking/law job to pay for a renovation of a $2-$5 million brownstone. Surely those jobs result in cancelled vacations, interrupted or nonexistent family meals, etc. Mine does and I’m hardly a high earner with crazy hours by WS standards. To spend 12 years renovating by hand with no debt is a great story though!
But, 2:22 – come on, it’s a metaphor — not a smart one to make — but he did not literally ‘equate’ his wife to his house either.
1:19
I’m with you. What an A**hole this guy is and then these idiots here are praising him for equating his wife with the house. She should wait until it’s done, go to court for a divorce and then laugh all the way to the bank when he has to sell it to give her half its worth.
“Painted door hinges were a moral affront to him — rather than go to bed with his wife when she asked him to in the times after the miscarriages, he’d work on a project.
All my vacation time, all my possible spare time, a number of years of my children’s growing up I gave to my children’s house. And once you get in it, you can’t get out, you can’t sell a house in that condition. When all of a sudden you realize what it is costing you in your life, it’s too late”
Between these comments and the looks on his kids faces in that photo lies the REAL story — a man obsessed with a project at the expense of time with his family . How heartbreakingly ironic that his favorite movie ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’!
“Not leveraging something you will use over decades is not an admirable financial policy. It is just as stupid as buying what you cannot afford on credit nobody should have extended to you.”
Huh? I guess. If the only equity loans you’re ever going to take out are for renovations.
What about paying for college? What about layoffs and being without a job for several months like happens sometimes? What about a possible catastrophic illness and wanting to be treated at a decent clinic somewhere else and not have to use whatever in-network crap hospital you are forced to use with your insurance?
Renovating without debt is the way everybody used to do it and it’s not only totally fine financially, it IS smart, sorry. Be in debt up to your eyeballs if you want. Some of choose not to do that. We are renovating without debt too. Sure, our house is not a total perfect showcase, for those whose tastes run more “condo” and need everything to be new and perfect. But it’s a beautiful house and I change my mind all the time about what I want to do with renovations anyway, so it’s a good thing for me to do the renovations gradually not all at once. In the end, it’s just nice to remind people there is more than just ONE way to renovate.
This family is great. What a wonderful story. At last, people who do something, anything, for the love of it, not the financial end result. So what if Akron is not what it once was, does that mean everyone abandons the city? Kudos to people who want to stay, improve the city they love, and do their bit to make it attractive to the next wave. Cities can come back, NY certainly had its low points, not that long ago.
I guess the comments show how the readership of this blog has changed since the beginning. People like the Giffels would have been sainted, not scorned. Of course, not everyone can, or wants to go their route, and there is nothing whatsoever wrong with NOT going their route, everyone’s lives, finances, and even homes, are different. But to deride them for, of all things, not being in debt…… wow.
They did a great job on their house, too. How about that, the Times did a story on people not rich, or over-extended, and not selling for megabucks.
More stories on real people and homes, whether done themselves or not. The over-proliferation of new construction condo stories, speculation on the bubble, and endless money talk is taking its toll on this valuable site. More variety, please, Mr.B.
Sometimes its cheaper to have someone who knows what they are doing do the work. If I figure the hours it would take for me to learn how and actually do some of the expensive parts of my renovation, I could have made 5x the amt at work. Not counting the costs not quantified by the aggravation, time wasted, missed years of life, etc..
I don’t disagree about the debt – there is no reason to be paying for a renovation forever but there is also no reason to spend a decade working on something that could be done in a few months.
It is nice that they view their home as something dear to them vs. a financial asset alone. But realistically, you can’t look at it with so much emotion. At least in part, a home is a financial product.
Not leveraging something you will use over decades is not an admirable financial policy. It is just as stupid as buying what you cannot afford on credit nobody should have extended to you.
I think this is an amazing story; especially in NYC where everyone only values paying someone else to do something they could do themselves.
what I liked about these guys was that they were doing it for a “home”, not for a payday at the end. I’m sick of every conversation about renvovations here in brooklyn all coming down to the dollars and cents of the market — what they bought for, what they can get now. zzzzzzzzzzzz