"Honestly, there's a lot of work to be done," Joel answers. He doesn't want to sugar coat things and make her think this place is going to be easy by any means and he doesn't think she'd believe him even if he did say that. "A lot of work. That said, I've been doing renovations on the store for a long time and there's a good portion of that work I know how to do." Between the two of them, he thinks there's probably a lot they can do without having to worry about a contractor, because that's where the costs will really start to pile up. The more they can avoid having to hire out, the better.

"That's where you'd end up spending a lot of money to get this place into shape where it would pass an inspection," he says. "So that's good news."

Then he looks at her and smiles, shaking his head. "You love it, though." And that's enough. If it were a death trap or if he thought the work involved would be too much, he'd try to talk her out of it, but he can see how much she loves it and the work is doable. It's a lot, it'll be hard work, but it's certainly doable and if this is the place Raleigh wants, Joel doesn't see any reason for them to keep looking.