MountainMornings

Here we go. A flip was switched somewhere and summer has arrived – triple H weather, hazy, hot and humid. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be scorchers, 90+ with crazy late afternoon thunderstorms. But July first also means the new interns and residents start at the hospital, and that means moving vans and cleaning crews.

When we moved South, we bought a hundred year old house in town. It was supposed to be our little nest egg, a small investment property, something to rent out to medical students, our own personal social experiment. But we bought at the height of the market, and the more we stripped away the years and “captured” space underground to make the basement rental beautiful, the more we realized this would be a non-profit adventure.

Our renovation to this grand little brick foursquare, three bedroom house proceeded with the vague thought that we may sometime in the future, when we can no longer drive, like to live in town and be able to walk everywhere. Presuming we could still walk!

My guilty TV pleasure is watching HGTV. I love International House Hunters, the Property Brothers, and Flea Market Flip.  But flipping tenants every three to four years is taking its toll. Most of the time I’ve lucked out, because word of mouth has meant that the house stayed in the general med school family. These students are rarely home, and when they are, they sleep. For a new landlord, this was a win win.

But as of today, the tenants are not med students, although one is a PhD student. They like to garden and take good care of the house. I feel bad for the new guy moving in today, on presumably one of the hottest days of the summer. And it was bittersweet saying goodbye to the emergency resident who packed up a van and left for Sloan Kettering. He got off a plane from Germany with two suitcases three years ago and is off to a fellowship in the Big Apple. That’s the best part of this whole thing, meeting new people.

We’ve even had two weddings that were linked to that brick house!

So maybe I could pitch a new show to HGTV called  “Investment in Medicine?”  About buying an investment property to rent to med students who only call you when they think the smoke alarm won’t go off and it turns out to be an abandoned beeper in the back of a closet. A Grey’s Anatomy meets House Hunters. I’ve got more stories, but I think I’ll keep them close to the hip.

I’ve turned over the key, and left a bottle of wine in the fridge. Here’s to you historic old house, we’ve had a good run. I hope your newest tenant loves you as much as I do. and I hope the AC holds out.

Bride and Groom near the brick house