Some Things I've Learned!

Well, I had some interesting things happen last night while showing houses. First, I really want to apologize to my client for the fact that both times I have showed her houses, I have managed to either run over top of some landscaping edged rocks into a culvert or plow right into a big huge pothole while pulling out of my office onto 460 Business Rt. (and yes. I did just say 'big huge', and while it may be redundant, I felt it to be necessary for the illustrative qualities it will surely elicit in your head as you try to picture not just any pothole.) Anyways, when we hit the pothole that I never even saw, I almost instinctively reached over to the passenger side to hold on to her father's arm, as if he were my six year old sitting there in his booster seat, because I was sure the bump was going to make his side of the car detach. I later had to explain that I was used to driving a Volkswagon Passat and am now so thrilled to be driving a bus, er car


that can boast it's ability to trump the measured length of a Chevy Suburban by 7 inches! Face Suburban!

So, onto what I've learned! When I'm showing property in Giles County to out of town folks, I like to point out the local natural attractions such as the Cascades or Mountain Lake. A lot of people have read about or seen pictures of how the Lake recedes and seems to drain. The lake is amazing in the fact that it literally sits atop a mountain at nearly 4,000 feet above sea level! It is fed entirely by springs and ground water from the surrounding mountain. The water level is determined largely by the amount of snowfall we receive. I am not surprised that the lake has all but disappeared over the last year or so, it seems that we get such little snowfall in this area compared to when I was a kid. Here is a great link to all things Mountain Lake:


And here is a link to The Mountain Lake Conservancy Blog.



Something else I learned more about is a Cistern. What is a cistern you ask? Well, we discovered one in a house I was showing last night. We had previously viewed this house and I had noticed the first time we were there a box shaped protrusion in the floor of an added on room at the back of the house. I had tried to life the carpeted box lid that covered the opening but couldn't get it up. It basically looked like this, but in a finished room (and minus the cute little old man who apparently is strong enough to open one of these covers when I'm not!) :

I tried again last night, and low and behold it came up, only to reveal a cavernous concrete opening that appeared to be about 3 or 4 feet deep before water was visible, and heaven only knows how deep the water was. My first thought was, "oh my gosh they built the addition over what used to be a spring house!" I've seen spring houses behind old homes, but maybe only one other cistern. So, I did what any good Realtor would do when I was clueless, and I called my husband. Doug happens to know a whole lot about home construction and well, pretty much anything there is to know about a house. I described it to him and he told me it was in fact a cistern. What is a cistern you ask?

A rainwater cistern is—as the name implies—simply a setup for collecting rainwater (usually the precipitation that falls on your home's or barn's roof) and storing it until it's needed in a (usually underground) concrete or masonry tank. Cisterns are ideal for farms and homesteads situated on waterless land, or for areas where the natural ground water is too hard—contains too many dissolved minerals—to drink, use for washing hair, etc. (Fact is, some of the people hereabouts who have good springs on their property have gone ahead and installed cisterns anyway, just because they prefer the taste of rainwater.)

Another thing I have been learning more about is Asbestos Siding. Should you be concerned? Will it effect the value of your home should you purchase a house with asbestos siding? There is actually a whole website dedicated to it, so I will let it speak for itself. asbestossiding.org