You are standing on Spring Street in Vineyard Haven, looking at house #10, the house that I recently bought with Beth Rosenberg.
This house is more than 150 years old. It was built in three stages. In the 1840s, the front half of the first floor was built. In the late 1800s or early 1900s, the back half of the first floor was built, and the house was extended to a second floor. Then, in the 1940s, a porch was added in the rear of the house.
At the left of the photograph you can see a small garage that haunts the eastern side of the property. There is also a very large driveway that can accomidate four cars.
From this angle, the house looks like it is in excellent condition. This is an illusion, brought to you by the magic of aluminum siding. For all of my life, I could never understand the attraction of aluminum siding. But now I do: it doesn't need to be painted, and it hides many, many problems beneath.
If you look carefully at the roof, you will notice something wrong: there are three layers of shingles. This is quite illegal. When we bought the house, the first thing that we did was put a new roof on it. We are also having a skylight cut into the room on the left side of the house, which is the side that has a water view.