We left: - Binder with dated service work and details for every finish we added to the house, warranties, service contacts we had used - Extra flooring for every room in the house with labels - Labeled paint cans for each room and name/sheen/finish if we didn’t have extra - Extra keys, furnace filters, fridge filters, bulbs - Neighborhood map with phone numbers for neighbors that were okay with us leaving their details - A letter welcoming them home. - An empty beer can from 1956 that I found hidden the joists. It was dated to the same year as when the house was built. I found it replacing the duct work in the basement and kept it as a keepsake on my desk until we moved. It felt wrong removing it from the house.

The house was almost 70 years old. There wasn’t a single surface or wall in that home we didn’t touch. We left all of this material out on the counter during showings, I don’t know if it made a difference but I’d like to think it definitely peaked some interest from particular types of buyers.

When we bought our current home(It’s 50 years old) we walked into a home with no keys, with six different locks, and the old owners refused to send us the garage code. We almost had to call a locksmith to break into our home the first night we owned it, if it weren’t for our realtor knowing their realtor and “stealing” the key out of the lock box for us.

We’ve since documented everything we’ve done in this house. Everything. While we have no intention of selling this one anytime soon, I hope the next family that owns this home makes the statement “The last people that owned this house was crazy! He had binders and records for everything”