We Came Home to Oregon. Then We Saw the House.

After twelve years in Canada, Dave and I decided it was time to come home to Oregon. I had officially retired in 2025, at 62, and I was looking forward to settling back in, enjoying some time with family, and maybe slowing down a little.

The house had been rented and managed while we were gone. We had hired a property management company because, quite reasonably, we expected them to look after the property while we were living in another country.

That didn’t exactly happen.

For twelve years, the property management company collected their fees and handled the occasional repair, but the house and property were not being properly maintained. Problems were allowed to sit. Repairs were deferred. The yard was neglected. Trees became overgrown and unhealthy, ivy took over large areas of the property, and things that should have been dealt with years earlier were left for us to discover when we came home.

And we didn’t really understand the extent of it until we were standing there looking at it ourselves.

We moved back in January 2026.

Then we started making a list.

And the list just kept getting longer.

The roof needed replacing. There was dry rot. There were electrical problems. Mold needed attention. The garage door was beyond saving. The septic system wasn’t functioning properly. And the yard had become something of a jungle.

This wasn’t a case of coming home to an older house that needed a little updating. We were dealing with twelve years of deferred maintenance and poor management all at once.

So much for retirement. 😂

And that’s where the renovation saga begins.