I LOVE the house I live in now. Love it to the point that I never want to move.
However. (I bet you saw that however from a mile off…)
However, the schools here stick out loud. Really. REALLY.
The house across the street from the church is for sale. It’s in a FABULOUS school district.
However.
The price is similar to what we paid for this house, but it’s smaller. (5-3 vs. 3-2)
However, the house in question is move in ready and nice and a ranch and 4 – sided brink – all things that are selling points in my book. Also – it has a fenced in back yard, is close to the pool and a library and playgrounds (not walking distance, but still close). It is walking distance to a grocery and is much closer to my favorite grocery. Also, this house has a fenced in and LEVEL back yard. Fenced for kids. Fenced for a dog. It also has an area that is set aside for a garden. A real garden! With a fence around it. The yard also has a mature apple tree, with a TON of apples on it. I so wanted to pick one… But, I digress. Although I have yet to go inside it, I think I like it. A lot.
However… It may kill us financially to move. In this market, in this neighborhood, at this moment, we may regret trying to sell this house.
What to do?
Oh, maaaaan. Tough call.
Personally, I am all for small houses. Less to heat/cool, less to clean, less room to collect stuff. My current palace is 1300 sf. Truthfully, I’d add maybe 200 sf to it but that’s it. Small = happy.
Um, self-involved digression, anyone?
Where do you (or where would you like to) spend more of your time: indoors or out? Would you be able to save money in the new place because of the closer distance to things? How scared ARE you of the schools where you are? How’s the market where you live? Is it enough of a buyers’ market that you could put in a conditional, must-sell-this-house-first offer?
Those are the questions I would be asking.
I guess I would spend more time out if I could better manage the mosquitoes. Yes – I could save some money. Way scared – the elementary school got a 2 out of 10 at great schools dot com, and the high schools has a 30% graduation rate. It’s that bad. The market is really soft here. Tony seems to think that we will need to prepare ourselves to be able to pay the mortgage on BOTH houses for at least a year. We go to see the inside of the house on Tuesday. Then we will see…
[...] we take Eleanor to meet her teachers at preschool, and look at the potential house. Big day. I am sure to blog about [...]