Golldangy!
No photos yet. I’m doing my best to distract myself. I sent an email to our photographer last night trying to sound all casual and not at all like I could climb a wall right now while I wait, and I haven’t gotten a response.
But now for some real excitement.
Steve and I have been looking for a home to buy for quite some time now, and since the housing market has been such a wild ride, we are a bit hesitant to jump in there. We have found pricing to be a moving target. So far, not a target worth wasting ammo on. Plus, our rent is super-economical, thanks to Julie & Dave, who double as our buddies and landlords. Hence, there's no urgent need for us to go flying out the door on our current arrangement.
Although, Steve said this week that the size of our current place is driving him crazy, and he says he needs more space. I'm doing my best not to be offended by that, since he obviously shares the space with me. But he assures me that when we have a family, he'll want to get away from all of them, not just me. Uuummmm. There's always the great outdoors? Take the kids to play tag, but then just run really fast.
Anyway. So we keep looking at homes, and we keep Not finding anything we want to buy. Yet. We’re hoping that prices keep moving in a southerly direction.
The crux of the matter is that we’re stuck in that age-old debate of size versus location. I’d had an inkling a long time ago that if Steve and I could find anything to really disagree on, it would probably be living arrangements – knowing that I need an urban area to be happy, and that Steve prefers a more spacious living quarters to feel at home.
Since we aren’t so wealthy that we own a commercial yacht and a sports franchise yet, we’re going to need to make that compromise between the “where” and the “how big.”
I found the perfect house today that would have met Steve’s needs – a large 4-bedroom house – and while it would have fell short in terms of location for me, it would have been marginally acceptable since it’s located on the metro. Except that the place is about 100 grand over our price target. So forget it anyway.
So if y’all would please do a dance to appease the housing gods for us, that would be swell. Thanks.
Katie Morton
9 Comments
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (9)
I was just reading an article today that housing prices are expected to drop another 10% to as much as 20% in the next year, before they start creeping up again. hooray!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Thanks Heather. Seems like we can postpone the debate for the foreseeable future, and Steve will have to suck it up in terms of living in close quarters with his wife for another year. :) The wiener.
We are in a similar situation. It pretty much sucks. I am totally writing a rant about house prices tomorrow.
Looking forward to it, Jess!
I moved to Sterling in '04 because it was affordable and I'm an unapologetic suburbanite. That's definitely too far out if you like DC, but keep an eye on the Herndon/Reston area if urban is too pricey. It's a straight shot down the Toll Road to East Falls Church on the Orange Line, and is generally unaffected by traffic at normal urban-partying hours. (Living around I-66 gets you to Vienna but that highway's at a stand-still in both directions at least 18 hours out of a day).
Plus, some day in the next 50 years, the Metro will run all the way out along the toll road so you can travel to your retirement party in style!
Hi Brian,
I was actually looking online at some places in Herndon / Reston, but I have that image of east-bound rush hour I-66 traffic seared into my brain, and I would need to get up to Silver Spring for my commute. Sounds kinda crapola. When I first moved down here, I worked out near Dulles, and Reston was looking like Heaven at the time. Silver Spring is definitely NOT convenient if you like living in VA, which we do. Unless! I could metro to work. But we don't have a bajillion dollars.
Alas. We're screwed.
Also -- I would like to add that you seem to have a wealth of friends living nearby in your suburban paradise? I'm jealous! We have a set of really good friends who live in DC and are thinking of moving a little further out into MD, and I don't want to get so far away from them that we only see them on holidays.
Add to list: Get more friends.
I've gotten used to the fact that visiting friends will involve lots of driving -- the close ones are scattered from Manassas to Arlington. The best thing to do is host a lot of events at home and liquor them all up, because you break even on gas and they equate driving to the boonies with having a good time!
Too bad about Silver Spring though... it's tough to get there from anywhere in VA, but not so tough that you'd want to move to Maryland :P
Hey Katie! Saw on Facebook that you had a blog, cool! Except your picture of yummy cupcakes above encouraged me to eat ALL the leftover ones from Andrew's birthday party. Not cool (but totally my fault). Anyway, we're in the same boat for housing. Although now that we have a family, suburbs are soooo much easier to deal with (or at least houses are easier than tall buildings). And I must say, while I too am rooting for the downward price spiral, I feel terrible for many of my neighbors who bought at the height and are watching what little equity they built up plummet into red. Yikes!