AM I JUST TYPICAL FOGEY - ANGRY AT THE YOUNGER GENERATION?

My wife and I enjoy life in a 1730 square foot apartment in a downtown condo building. We rent. We have better uses for our money than to spend it on real estate. That's another story we can discuss later. It is important enough to be part of my ideas about retirement.

As we sit idly watching one of those "House Hunter" type shows (my wife is addicted) we marvel at the criteria buyers bring to their choice of a new home. It puzzles me.

In our place we do not have crown moulding. We have popcorn ceilings. There is no fireplace.
We do not have a granite counter in the kitchen. We have old-fashioned vertical blinds. And, horror of horrors, the walls are covered with art, the windows are littered with art glass, there are bookshelves everywhere, and we do not own at HD-TV.

Totally out of touch I suppose.

Without dwelling on the kitchen - my favourite place - I simply do not understand why granite has become de rigeur, the toy du jour. If you cook you do a lot of cutting. You can't cut on granite. You'll wreck your knives. Woodblock is the only choice.

I do not understand the fascination with decks.

Many years ago the Toronto Star ran an article on what features attract home buyers. The biggest sellers - what today we call the "wow" factor, were a fireplace and a curving staircase. To me at that time, and I was in my 40s, those seemed to be the least important issues when it came to personal comfort and relaxation.

I was, and today am even more convinced that too many people buy things to impress other people. I really don't understand the new buzz word "curb appeal." How much time do you really spend standing in front of your home and gazing at it? Unless...what you really want is to have other people love your house and compliment you on how it looks from the street.

Mind you, I don't garden. I tried but everything popped up briefly then died.

I hope you have found the website and will contribute to it.
For the present, until we get to know each other, I'll be keeping it light.

When I watch these people inspect a home I am incredulous at some of their criteria.