I have the feeling in the pit of my stomach that our opportunity for buying a home is simply slipping a little further out of reach everyday. And that makes me want to cry. The fact is, if you are pay attention to such things, the real estate market in this area is actually going up. Great for sellers, not so good for buyers. We were locked into our lease through the winter months and now that we are nearing the end of it (June) we are paying more attention to the market and have been somewhat surprised by our options. There are still a lot of short sales on the market which we can't do (time limitations and they are a huge headache besides), some foreclosures but more then the usual amount of conventional sales. What might have been in our range a year ago is now most definitely out of range. But we also have limitations. Eric needs to be close to a train station to get to work. We need to be relatively close to our Church since we are there more then half the nights in a week. And of course, we can't really include my income in our long term budget. I will work after starting our family but only if I have to.
I have to let it go or I will drive myself crazy trying to find something perfect for us. I tell myself that houses come and go everyday and tomorrow there will be new options. But its hard for me to believe that, with the current trends, anything that comes available will be good for us. The lower priced homes need a lot of work, something we wouldn't be able to do either. But as it is, we have a PRIME location for everything that we need to be close it. Family, train, church, and friends. All my doctors are in the area too. I just learned our neighbor is also looking to buy a condo (she really needs the room) so our pet peeves with her will take care of themselves soon enough. Who might replace her is anyones guess. We have enough space here to start our family. We can, for the time being, afford the rent and still save a small chunk of money each month. So why not just stay? Because every fiber of my being wants to own a home and make it my own. I wish I could take up the carpet of the kitchen here and update the main bathroom. But I can't. So I will continue to deal with it. Its funny how tightly I cling to dreams of home ownership and bearing children. The two things I want more then anything in the world and they seem to be always just out of reach. God has a plan, of that I'm sure. I just which he'd share it with me sometime!
If by some miracle we get to buy a house this year that would be fantastic. But I am praying that God will help me to let go of the control of the situation and trust Him to give us the wisdom to know when and where he wants us to move.
*edit: After posting this I realized that we have another option. And that's to rent a house. My family rented houses for the first 19 or so years of my life. That was normal to me. Granted its not a long term solution but it would satisfy my craving to live in a house and not deplete our savings account and as a bonus, still not be responsible for major home repairs. It would however, cost more than renting our apartment. Which in turn, at some point in the future, require me to work at least part time so that we can make the rent and have savings besides. This is something I had to think about a lot. I will never work full time after children for a number of reasons. But working a weekend job plus maybe a night during the week might actually be good for me. A know some stay at home mom's climb the walls with boredom and are disparate for adult interaction. So there is that. Renting would also allow us to pay off my car and not be locked into a mortgage if something were to be wrong with the house or neighborhood. Also, if anything were to change for us financially, would would only be on a year (and quite breakable) lease. We also factor in the knowledge that Eric will eventually start school and make a rather large and fairly unpredictable career change. One that might have a significant impact on our finances and our location. If we need to up and move, its much easier to get out of a lease then own a home. However, the down side to renting a house: rents are extremely high right now due to a previously crappy real estate market. Those who couldn't sell their home rented for the mortgage and then some. We might decide to rent a particular house for the next 5 years. The owner may try to sell it again and we'd be out on our butts. So the saga continues.
So we truly do have 3 options. Stay right were we are for another year. Buy a home. Or rent a home. and I like options. We will sit right where we are for the next 2 months when our lease is officially up. And then we look to see what available and try to make the best decision we can for our family.
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