Lot's things going on here in the G & G household, none of them very exciting, which means they are perfect material for this blog. We are getting a ton of work done on our house. This is on the heels of getting a ton of work done to our yard this summer. Some of it is just cosmetic stuff -- changing the blinds, touching up some bare paint, fixing a dent in the wall where Lil' S1 crashed a chair, and most importantly, getting rid of this damn dangling chandelier-like light fixture in our dining area that's good for nothing but whacking me in the head. Some of it is important maintenance -- our furnace was leaking carbon monoxide (not enough to harm anybody, but enough to set off our detectors, and you don't mess around with CO), so we are getting it replaced (the workers are here as I write this, actually). And that's our savings account drained down to nothing. But I don't mind. Improving where you live pretty much always seems like a good investment to me. For one thing, you improve where you live. For another thing, you can often get the money back (at least a decent portion of it), if/when you sell.
We are actually discussing doing some serious renovations -- like get-a-line-of-credit-for-a-couple-hundred-thousands-dollars renovations. And by "discussing," I mean S is telling me she wants to do this, and I'm trying to find the best way to keep a happy marriage. I don't really want to do renovations, to be honest. It's too much money for too little payoff, and it doesn't seem to me as if we have the type of house for it structurally (although admittedly I know very little about architecture). S wants three things: 1) a bigger kitchen, 2) a more open main area, 3) a room on the ground floor for her mom when she visits because she struggles going up and down stairs. But it's like $300,000 to do 1 and 2 (3 might not be realistic), and I'm not convinced it would be that much better when it's done. I mean, for that amount of money, we could buy a whole new house!
Except we couldn't. Not anything decent; not anywhere near DC proper. You have to go pretty far out in the suburbs, not even the suburbs, the suburbs of the suburbs to get a good house in a decent neighborhood for that price in this area. We have been keeping a close eye on DC real estate (well, S has at least, and then she makes me look at it), but the market is just INSANE. It's like $1 million for what we want, and you have to be ready to make an offer five minutes after you see it or somebody else is going to come in and snatch it. And these places aren't even that great. They are "yeah, okay, this could probably work" not "OMG! This is my dream house!" If we wanted to sell our house and move to a totally new place, now we would be a great time to do it. But since we want to sell and buy in the same market, it doesn't really work to our advantage.
My feeling on the whole thing is that I'm open to moving, but I don't really want to do it (similar to renovations). If a great deal presented itself, then I'd be all for it. But we haven't seen anything close to a great deal yet. So that being the case, I say we just stay here, don't pump a bunch of money into our place for a marginal upgrade, and live a happy life (or try to at least, it's hard to really be happy with Tangerine Idi Amin in the White House).
Unfortunately, the problem with having a family is that you have to consider what other people want as well. And S doesn't like that plan, so we have to figure something out. I think we might just end of moving next spring. We will sell our house and then move into a rental for a while and then look for a new place. I like that idea better than trying to do it simultaneously. It's easier to work out the financing (you don't have to put a contingency on the sale, which many sellers around here won't agree to anyway, because somebody else will make an offer without one), and we won't feel rushed into buying a just okay house for an obscene amount of money. Also, I ultimately would love to move somewhere else completely -- where? I don't know. But if we don't own a house, it's a lot easier to dream realistically about such scenarios.
But renovations are definitely still on the table. We wouldn't have to buy a new house, and we would ultimately get to stay in the neighborhood, two big pluses for me (although we would still have to move out for a few months). Renovations also have the upside that we have more control over what we want. But they have the downside that we are limited to what the current structure of our house will allow and that there are somethings we still won't get even if we renovate -- like a parking space.
So some "fun" conversations are on the horizon for S and me. Our marriage works because we, at a very macro level, agree on things -- we have similar values and we work really well as parental team. We're happy as a family, which is probably the singularly most important thing. But there are some big lifestyle issues on which we have never seen eye-to-eye. We have different priorities and derive satisfaction from different things. S always wants to be going, doing, moving someplace, something -- a new job, a better house, a better school so on and on -- onward and upward. Whereas I just want to get to a place of adequate comfort and free time, so that I can do things that actually make life worthwhile -- you know, like crossword puzzles and blogging.
And, by the way, it should go without saying, but neither one of us is right or wrong. We're just different. That's something I think we could both stand to remember is moments of frustration. S often chalks my attitude up to "not ever wanting to be bothered by anything" (as if moving to a new house is equivalent to running an errand), and I often dismiss S's opinions because I think she's just going to have new ones in a few weeks anyway. I think she often wants to change things just for the sake change not because they get us closer to any sort of final goal. But, even if this is the case (and it might not be) so what? Why is that any less worthy a way to live life than any other way?
Anyway...
Well, my blogging period has elapsed. Until next time...
We are actually discussing doing some serious renovations -- like get-a-line-of-credit-for-a-couple-hundred-thousands-dollars renovations. And by "discussing," I mean S is telling me she wants to do this, and I'm trying to find the best way to keep a happy marriage. I don't really want to do renovations, to be honest. It's too much money for too little payoff, and it doesn't seem to me as if we have the type of house for it structurally (although admittedly I know very little about architecture). S wants three things: 1) a bigger kitchen, 2) a more open main area, 3) a room on the ground floor for her mom when she visits because she struggles going up and down stairs. But it's like $300,000 to do 1 and 2 (3 might not be realistic), and I'm not convinced it would be that much better when it's done. I mean, for that amount of money, we could buy a whole new house!
Except we couldn't. Not anything decent; not anywhere near DC proper. You have to go pretty far out in the suburbs, not even the suburbs, the suburbs of the suburbs to get a good house in a decent neighborhood for that price in this area. We have been keeping a close eye on DC real estate (well, S has at least, and then she makes me look at it), but the market is just INSANE. It's like $1 million for what we want, and you have to be ready to make an offer five minutes after you see it or somebody else is going to come in and snatch it. And these places aren't even that great. They are "yeah, okay, this could probably work" not "OMG! This is my dream house!" If we wanted to sell our house and move to a totally new place, now we would be a great time to do it. But since we want to sell and buy in the same market, it doesn't really work to our advantage.
My feeling on the whole thing is that I'm open to moving, but I don't really want to do it (similar to renovations). If a great deal presented itself, then I'd be all for it. But we haven't seen anything close to a great deal yet. So that being the case, I say we just stay here, don't pump a bunch of money into our place for a marginal upgrade, and live a happy life (or try to at least, it's hard to really be happy with Tangerine Idi Amin in the White House).
Unfortunately, the problem with having a family is that you have to consider what other people want as well. And S doesn't like that plan, so we have to figure something out. I think we might just end of moving next spring. We will sell our house and then move into a rental for a while and then look for a new place. I like that idea better than trying to do it simultaneously. It's easier to work out the financing (you don't have to put a contingency on the sale, which many sellers around here won't agree to anyway, because somebody else will make an offer without one), and we won't feel rushed into buying a just okay house for an obscene amount of money. Also, I ultimately would love to move somewhere else completely -- where? I don't know. But if we don't own a house, it's a lot easier to dream realistically about such scenarios.
But renovations are definitely still on the table. We wouldn't have to buy a new house, and we would ultimately get to stay in the neighborhood, two big pluses for me (although we would still have to move out for a few months). Renovations also have the upside that we have more control over what we want. But they have the downside that we are limited to what the current structure of our house will allow and that there are somethings we still won't get even if we renovate -- like a parking space.
So some "fun" conversations are on the horizon for S and me. Our marriage works because we, at a very macro level, agree on things -- we have similar values and we work really well as parental team. We're happy as a family, which is probably the singularly most important thing. But there are some big lifestyle issues on which we have never seen eye-to-eye. We have different priorities and derive satisfaction from different things. S always wants to be going, doing, moving someplace, something -- a new job, a better house, a better school so on and on -- onward and upward. Whereas I just want to get to a place of adequate comfort and free time, so that I can do things that actually make life worthwhile -- you know, like crossword puzzles and blogging.
And, by the way, it should go without saying, but neither one of us is right or wrong. We're just different. That's something I think we could both stand to remember is moments of frustration. S often chalks my attitude up to "not ever wanting to be bothered by anything" (as if moving to a new house is equivalent to running an errand), and I often dismiss S's opinions because I think she's just going to have new ones in a few weeks anyway. I think she often wants to change things just for the sake change not because they get us closer to any sort of final goal. But, even if this is the case (and it might not be) so what? Why is that any less worthy a way to live life than any other way?
Anyway...
Well, my blogging period has elapsed. Until next time...
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