I've alluded to our desire to move several times on this blog, so I thought it was about time I wrote more about that. Chris and I would really like to be able to sell our condo and move to a house. We want a nice yard for our children to play in. I want flower beds and a garden for fruits and vegetables. I want to know where our kids will go to school, get to know the town we'll live in, and be settled into a house that we'll live in for the next forty or fifty years.
It's not that we don't like our condo. We've lived here for 3 1/2 years, and the process of building it and anticipating moving into our first place was so exciting. We moved in after we got engaged. We were newlyweds and had our first child here. Our condo is in a neighborhood that's nice for walking, on a hill with beautiful views. It's sunny, homey and comfortable, and just the right size. We're very lucky to have such a nice home. We have loved living here, and leaving will be difficult. But, we didn't move here with our future children in mind. We didn't know that there are certain aspects of living in a homeowners' association that we wouldn't like and wouldn't want to be a part of. The things we want now weren't even on our radar four years ago.
It would be so nice if when we wanted to move, we knew exactly where we wanted to go and could just do it. I doubt many moves go that way, especially in this economy. Unfortunately we're no exception. Next spring, Chris will graduate from business school. He might end up looking for a new job. We don't know where. Around that time, it's possible that we'll be expecting another baby. Again, who knows? But I certainly don't want to be moving with a newborn. It would be so much better to get settled in a house before we have any more kids. Location is an issue. We have to decide whether to stay where we are, or move closer to my parents. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. A big concern for me is schooling for our kids. I have researched public schools in the areas we might live in, and the towns I'm willing to move to are very limited by the quality of the schools. If we considered homeschooling we wouldn't have to worry about that as much, but Chris doesn't want to home school. We would both love for our kids to attend private school like we did, but that isn't something we can count on being able to do. So, a lot of factors, right? There's one more really big one. Selling our condo, as nice and new as it is, is not going to be easy. Even if we figure out all the other stuff, we have to be able to sell to move. The real estate market is not good for sellers right now, especially because our area is full of condos for sale.
We're both itching to move: to be free of the worries about living in our condo that make us want to jump ship as soon as we possibly can. But, for now we need to wait and just keep biding our time until the time is really right. I'm still hoping that by next spring or summer everything will miraculously align and we'll be able to move.
Until then, we'll continue to torture ourselves by looking at real estate listings on a weekly basis ;).
I can definitely relate to all of these thoughts!!! We definitely didn't plan on having a baby when me moved into our apartment. It all works out in the end.
ReplyDeleteBest luck househunting! I LOVE house hunting so much!
I was homeschooled my entire life, and cannot wait to homeschool Dmitri...it's unlikely that we will be able to afford private school, so I feel like it's a great alternative!
good luck... we looked at towns and houses for a year before we got serious enough to put our house on the market. it was also 5 years ago, when things were selling w/in the first week.
ReplyDeleteoh, and when we put an offer in on our new house i wasn't pregnant, but by the time we closed on it, i was. i was so tired with packing, and moving during the first trimester, and i also had a 2 year old. i'm glad we did it when we did, because now we are having baby #4 and still have plenty of room.