These are very hard weeks to get anything done. Our daily routines rely so heavily on the schools, universities, camps and other Institutions of education/child rearing, that when they are not in session the consequences are profound. These few weeks, known as the period between camps ending and schools starting, are different in nature from the scheduled, well planned hiatus aka Jewish Holiday Breaks. The Yom Tovim are well planned in advance with meals and activities all set up months earlier. Your kids will even come home having learned in school, for a full month prior, exactly how this break will unfold.
But no one teaches us what we are supposed to do during the current few weeks. As this is a real estate column my prime intent in writing these pages is to focus on our “Homes” and it particularly interests me how our homes are impacted by these two weeks as well as what role the “house” plays during this break.
For some in our community it’s as simple as a family vacation to the beach. Whether that beach happens to be in Miami, Mexico, the Jersey Shore or the lakefront in Vacation Village the answer to this “problem” of what to do is solved by getting out of town and taking the family away on a much needed vacation.
But for others—these two weeks put our homes to the ultimate test. Every bedroom will be taken as family and guests from out of town arrive. All our children will be home from sleepaway camp while others are in a holding pattern as they have not, as yet, gone off to University, Israel or their new apartments. The line for the bathroom in the morning will have the longest wait time of the year and our kitchens will feel like they have become school cafeterias serving multiple meals across different shifts throughout the day.
Nighttime puts a different strain on the house as positioning everyone around the Family Room TV to watch that night’s selected Movie becomes the latest issue. Those fortunate enough to have more than one large room to watch a movie will see different groups break off… upstairs will feature the Drama and Downstairs will feature the comedy.
Most of the traffic will occur in the outdoor spaces we have invested in over the last 18 months. The BBQ grill will barely turn off as we cook every piece of protein available to us and if we are the lucky ones who have a friend/cousin/neighbor/parent who has put in a pool we will be sure to spend as much time there as possible. Herein lies the misconception to those that don’t actually own a pool; maintaining the thing isn’t the expensive part, it’s buying all the meat for the BBQ where the real expense comes in. So make sure you offer to contribute to the night’s offerings thus ensuring you get invited back.
For some, reading this article will make you realize that you should start planning your beach vacation now for next year and for others you may be thinking that it’s time to get a bigger house… for the latter you know how to reach me.
Nechama Polak is the Broker of Record and Owner of V and N Group LLC located at 1401 Palisade Ave, Teaneck. [email protected] 201 826 8809.
