Looking forward to a bit more simplicity in the days ahead

The past week was a complete blur as evidenced by the lack of posts. So let’s see…

We put in an offer on a house (lowball), they countered (after being deeply offended by our offer), and we walked. There was much we liked about the house, but it was going to need some work and would also need a new drainfield in the next few years.  They run $4k-$12k and unless we could get a steal of a deal on the house, we weren’t going to set ourselves up for that expense.

We also walked because we have said so many times, “If we knew then what we know now, we would have never bought this house.” We’ve done the renovate a house thing and it is out of our system.  It is so much work and we are now ten years older, have a child, and run a business – none of which we had when we bought our first house. The house we almost bought would not have needed major renovating, per say, but it needed a lot of painting, all the trim replaced, all new doors, etc. in order for us to really like it and feel like it was “ours”. The more we thought about it, the more we realized that our idea of simplicity no longer involves investing large amounts of time in home projects to save money.

We discovered (anew) that some Realtors lie and apparently do not understand choose to ignore what the word “clean” means.  We are still considering the rental option and went to look at a condo.  I emphasized to the man renting the condo (a Realtor, no less) that it had to be CLEAN. That I have allergies and asthma and that we need something really CLEAN.  What a complete waste of time and if I hadn’t been a Christian I’m sure I would have had a few choice words for the man for wasting our time.  Not only that, but going to look at this soul-less and dirty and depressing place traumatized Caroline with the thought that we might end up living in a place like that.  Moving and looking for a house suddenly went from fun and exciting to fear, tears and “I don’t want to move.” We have since looked at two more houses with her (both of which were very nice) and she’s back to being more positive about it.

There is one house we currently like, but it is a short sale and we’re not totally convinced we want to start that process as it opens the door to so many uncertainties.  But if we want to do that we’ll need to make some quick decisions in the next few days.

So the housing question continues to loom over us as we try to sort out whether it will be a complete and total mistake to buy now with the economy and housing sure to be in the tank for a number of years to come.  We’re weighing the options of waiting and probably saving money with the downside of being in upheaval and not settled. At 43 I’m finding that settled means a lot more to me than the money.

Last week after multiple trips to the oral surgeon, dentist, and lab (where they make your crown and color it to match your teeth), I FINALLY have my dental work complete.  After having no tooth there for approximately five months, I STILL feel self-conscious even though the tooth is now there.  It was an interesting experience to understand why people with certain physical flaws or deficiencies might shy away from talking with people, interacting socially, etc. I often found myself cutting conversations short or not stopping to talk to people because I felt self-conscious.  Anyway, I’m glad it is done.

So that is where we are right now. 

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