(upbeat music)
- My name's Betsy Sweeney.
I live in Downtown Wheeling, West Virginia,
in the middle of a pandemic.
I purchased a house that was built in 1892
and will be about a year long construction project
to get it fully livable
and back in it's tip-top shape.
- [Instructor] This is relocated
where we tour the living situations
of people who choose to live off the beaten path.
(guitar upbeat music)
- I came to Wheeling about 18 months ago
for a position with the Wheeling National Heritage Area.
I moved here from Central Virginia
outside of Charlottesville.
I did a nationwide search for the sort of small city or town
where I felt like I could live my day to day life
a little differently and a little more locally.
It wasn't a hard decision at all.
As soon as I was here and met people,
saw the landscape,
saw the built environment.
It was a pretty easy decision to make the move.
At first, I started in a downtown loft
one that used to be a grocery warehouse
and was later adaptively reused into 73 Loft Apartments.
And that's where I am staying while I complete
the rehabilitation of my house.
My vision for the house is to have a house
where the architectural features speak for themselves.
The woodwork, the fireplaces, all the beautiful details
of the house,
but a lot of like furnishings and decor
will be quite modern.
I love this.
I love the way the handrail feels and the patinas
people running their hand over this and this over the last
hundred and some years.
(upbeat music)
This will be the master bedroom.
I've got one in the windows right now
because these windows systems are being
totally rebuilt.
These two windows will have that original curved glass.
This'll just be one big one,
master bed here
I think I can get a king size bed in here,
which is the stuff of dreams.
I think this will actually be more like a sitting room
I'll probably have my TV in here,
I'll work, I'll relax in here
and then that'll allow me to keep that living
in a little more formal and clean quite frankly,
not too much actually needs to be done in here.
Tile the shower,
finish the drywall, paint it, wallpaper it.
It will be done.
Everyone always asks if I found any hidden surprises
or they asked me how has this turned into a money pit?
Or something like that.
No, it could, but this is my job.
And so I did an excruciating amount of due diligence
before I purchased the property
to make sure that my financing structure
was as comprehensive as it possibly could be
to ensure that those things don't happen.
And then there's the third floor.
This started as a room that was completely full of junk
really couldn't see what you're working with
and nobody really cared about it.
And it's quickly become one of everyone's favorite rooms.
There are a couple big ticket items,
masonry, roof and gutter repairs
and windows are all pretty expensive.
The workforce of skilled craftsmen that are able to work
with historic brick and able to get on top
of a three-story house in the middle of town
is small and so you do end up paying a premium
for those craftsmen.
The amount of support and people in the community
that have just been like,
"Hey I'd love to come."
Like help you knock down a wall,
or you want me to pull weeds."
Has been a really pleasant surprise
and speaks to the community I invested in.
And then I have a whole second house in the back,
in the backyard here there's also this little mini house
that the previous owners built.
It's got this really eclectic kind of fun vibe.
It's very quirky.
One of the first things I did when I bought this house
before I even started working in the house at all,
was we made these garden planners
and planted things and planted flowers
and herbs and vegetables
so that people in the neighborhood knew
that something was happening here.
And this wasn't a vacant lot and anymore,
and this wasn't a vacant house anymore.
It's gonna be a long time
before this house looks like it's moving ready
and magazine ready and all that.
But brightening up the block a little bit
and just showing that there's someone here that cares
was really important to me.
One of the reasons that I chose to move to Wheeling
is because the cost of living is much lower
than the national average
and for a young professional working
in the nonprofit sector that allows me to live my life
in a way that is really, really attractive.
Once I am in this house
and I'm no longer paying rent at my apartment,
my mortgage will be just under $800 a month.
I think any one in my age group
would say it's kind of hard
to commit to anything being your forever home.
I don't know that's something
that's in our vernacular way it was for our parents,
but I certainly see myself being here for quite some time.
And I better be 'cause all this work
is gonna to be worth it.
(logo whooshing)