Dream Home...

This is going to be a good post for me. I'm not going to post pictures because I'm too lazy, but my cousin Megan is house shopping and she posted about her pickiness and I had been thinking about how we've been in our house for two years now and how the place that I once envisioned changing cosmetically looks virtually the same. Still, though I bought a place with dated wood stains, wallpaper and a bathroom with mirrors that surround you, I did check off every last "want" on my list. Here's a history of our home ownership...

Our first home, Chris moved into a year before we got engaged. By real estate terms it was a "detached condo" meaning that it had it's own four walls, but we didn't have a garage or a driveway, we didn't have to maintain the grounds or the exterior of our house/condo. It was 1200 square feet with three bedrooms and we sold it for $138k. It was (sigh) a rambler and I had no idea how wonderful it was to have the whole house on one floor until we moved. I had no big complaints with the house, so I went into the next house looking mostly for just an actual laundry room and two sinks in the mater bathroom.

We relocated an hour and a half south and bought a 2500 square foot, 4-bedroom home and was BRAND NEW. I was able to check off the wants on my list, and Chris got his garage. We had to fence the yard, put a sprinkler system in, order screens and blinds/window coverings and it was a lot of work. Still, it was the first home that I'd shopped for and I loved it, we could have lived there forever, it had a den and a nice big kitchen and all the indoor space we could need...except for a bonus room, eek, I know, not a necessity, but it was on our want list. Why the move? LOCATION. For us, the location was a deal breaker. We are from up north and I commuted for all my doctor/prenatal appts, etc an hour north. Sometimes it would add 30 minutes to that hour just getting from our front door to the nearest freeway. I have traffic phobia, and so we wanted to live closer to Chris' work, closer to the freeways, shopping, farmer's market, etc. We also wanted more privacy from neighbors and a bigger yard.

So here's the list that I gave my realtor...

three car garage
sprinkler system
fenced yard
no bedrooms bordering other bedrooms I (sometimes babies need to cry it out)
no child bedrooms above the garage (the garage opening is loud)
specific proximity to a major highway
bonus room
four bedrooms
den
no gates (people are really big on "gated communities" here and it drove us crazy in our last neighborhood)

My realtor did not think we could find a house that met all the qualifications, but we did! It was the first house we saw, and though every single room in the house needed some minor cosmetic work (new window treatments, wallpaper coming down) and the kitchen needed an overhaul, I was thrilled to find what we really wanted in one house knowing that if we lived there long enough maybe we'd update it too. We love the location and we have room for more kids (PLEASE) and we even scored a driveway that doubles as a pickle ball court, a stunning view of Mt. Rainier (when it shows itself) and a mature pear and apple tree and a blueberry bush.

It is such a blessing to have a home. Being faced with the rising unemployment and knowing people who have hard choices to make and taking into consideration all the unknowns that the current economic state could mean for our family, I'm glad to know that if my life were to be reduced to a one bedroom apartment or a room at my parents' house, I'd still have what really matters to me. I love my husband and our two kids and I hope we can make a life in this home and someday refinish the floors and spruce up the faded tile on the roof, but if not, I just pray for healthy kids and a long life together.

(P.S. Everything is great for us, I'm not currently worried about Chris' job or anything, we are so blessed, but I have reflected a lot as a result of the hardship faced by friends and I'm grateful to know what matters.)