From House To Home

My father’s a builder, so when I was in college, one of my various summer jobs was working in one of his sales models down in South Jersey. I knew less than nothing about selling houses; still, I showed up every day to man the little desk in the front room of the two-story model, nervously waiting for prospects to arrive. My father is often vague on giving instructions, so I clung to the few details he felt I should know. I spent that summer praying that no one would venture beyond: “Is it built on a slab or crawlspace? What are the taxes? Is there city garbage collection?” I would soon find out that what I lacked in knowledge, I made up for in an appreciation for my father’s work. And I also learned that each person has very different priorities when choosing a place to live.

One of my favorite features of this particular model was the soaring ceiling in the living room, and I would often convey my enthusiasm during one of my signature shaky sales pitches. Though some would admire its dramatic appeal, I heard just as many people mumble, “What a waste of space,” or “It probably costs a fortune to heat.” Of course, this irritated me, and my 20-year-old self chalked it up to a lack of sophistication on their part.

But to my dismay, that was pretty much how it went with every room in the house for the rest of the summer. Some people thought the kitchen was too open; others thought it wasn’t open enough. The closets were too big, the bathrooms too small, and on and on. They continually startled me with their questions about countertop colors, room dimensions, appliances, and the possibility of flooding. But as I said, I learned a lot that summer, not least of which being that I wasn’t remotely interested in taking over the family business.

Obviously, now I get that cathedral ceilings and open kitchens might not work for every person’s style or budget. And though I know better, I still dislike that practicality and cost-effectiveness have to enter into the homebuying process at all. If it wasn’t the unrealistic dream of a naive young girl, I’d be living in an all-glass house up on a hill someplace picturesque. Though it wouldn’t be completely out of touch with reality—the place would be built on a crawl space in a neighborhood with regularly scheduled garbage collection.