Friday, June 12, 2009

This house? Is weighing me down


It started with talk of downsizing. One thing led to another, and a townhouse (with a  swank pool and clubhouse) seemed like the answer to all of our problems. Less expensive than our house, smaller and no maintenance, freeing Tim up to spend all of his maintenance time and energy on the camp, aka his dream property.

Talk of townhomes led to, “Oooh, riverfront is nice” and “Or a golf course! Living on the golf course! That’s what we should do!” And 100 hours of drive-bys and collecting flyers later, we’ve narrowed it down to four choice townhouse units on the river that are in our price range, in our preferred location and with the right number of rooms and square feet.

Then today the realtor called. The realtor who came over Friday to give us an idea of what he can sell our house for. The realtor who specializes in our neighborhood. And guess what? If we find a buyer, we can earn, like a dollar in equity. Which is so completely beyond fucked up, I won’t even go into the details. But let’s just say the market? Sucks.

So now we’re stuck with our house. Stuck. With our house. The house that I was crying that I never wanted to leave. The house we all love. Now? It feels like a huge burden, what with the mowing and the painting and the no swank pool or clubhouse or river outside.

Yes, I am fully aware that I am ridiculous and there is no pleasing me. 

5 comments:

stephanie said...

You're not ridiculous. Last year I wanted to move into a new house because our shower was so awful and putting in a tub seemed really difficult. That is ridiculous.

My heart started to race a little when you were talking about the townhouse. If only we could get more than a dollar for our place, we might try to move into yours...

Jen on the Edge said...

I understand, I really do, especially since I am currently the owner of two houses, which is one more than I'd like to own.

Have you considered renting out your old house until the market improves and you can sell it for it's actual value?

Since we live in a university town, we were able to find a family coming here on sabbatical (www.sabbatical.com) to rent our place for the next academic year. They move in this summer and move out right after graduation next spring, which is perfect timing for us.

Margy said...

Sorry you are disappointed. me - I like a house. I like to do all the upkeep stuff(evidenced by me reading all my blogs & Hubby hard at work outside). In a townhouse - your neighbors would drive you nuts.

katydidnot said...

oh, yeah, i'm ridiculous like that too. which, i'm sure helps you in no way.

Fantastic Forrest said...

You are NOT ridiculous. This market is keeping a lot of marriages together because it would kill people to sell right now. I don't think it's going to rise to what we paid on our homes, but I do have hope that as the next couple of years roll by, we'll see some improvement.

Meanwhile, that renting it out idea sounds pretty good... especially if you can make the renter do the mowing.