The dilemma

Do we choose the 40-year-old brick house that is rich in character, well maintained, and is nestled into woods on a professionally landscaped lot that backs up to National Park land? The house is full of stained wood and very cozy and the yard is all plants, flowers, trees. No grass.

It has hard wood floors, custom cabinets, kitchen counters with tile hand made by a local craftsman, an incredible deck, and a beautiful stone patio. It has a finished walkout basement with a family room, library, and bedroom. It comes with a 42-inch plasma TV.

What it doesn't have is room for a table in the kitchen, all three bedrooms on one level, or a lot of storage (for Christmas decorations, camping gear, tools, extra dishes, etc).  It only has a one car garage, a problem for E, who is not comfortable parking cars outside. We'd have to rent a storage unit  and downsize, experiment with different furniture arrangements to see what would make the house work, and sacrifice some conveniences. The setting and neighborhood are so fabulous, it almost seems worth it.

The second house is practically new, and it's a classic modern colonial with a two-car garage. Spacious, bright and airy with 9 foot ceilings, a gourmet kitchen (double ovens, cooktop, counter bar, etc), a big breakfast room, an adjoining family room with a wall of transomed windows and gas logs in the fireplace, a full fledged laundry room with a folding table (woo hoo!), a full basement, and four perfectly proportioned bedrooms, and a big jetted tub in the master bath, sinks for both kids in the other upstairs bath.

What's not to love? The setting. The neighborhood is devoid of trees and mature landscaping and when you step into the small backyard you have an unobstructed view of every house's backyard on the street. No trees outside the windows, no place "natural" to rest one's eyes. A perfect house--a crappy lot and a small deck I'd never want to sit on because it feels more like a stage for the neighbors to view than anything else.

So can we suck up the storage and parking issues in the other house and make it work for us in exchange for a gorgeous natural setting or do we go for a house that will meet all our short and long term needs for space, storage, and modern amenities, but will never feed our love of the outdoors?

And did I mention we met with the mortgage guy and the financing might be tricky not because our credit isn't fine but because we won't be occupying the house as our primary residence until next summer? If we say we're going to rent it out, it becomes an "investment property" and probably won't be financed. We already own one home so we have to package this financing as a loan for a second home and it's a bit whack. And of course, we'll have to be making mortgage payments on this house long before we get to be free of our rent payments in Belgium.

Are y'all confused, anxious, excited, and thoroughly undecided? You are? Good. Me too. We're in this together.

July 14, 2007

Comments

[wordgirl]

All of the above are reasons why I don't ever want to move again. I don't think my brain is supple enough to handle all the decisions one has to make.

[stuckheretoo]

Been there. Go for the older house. It will make you happier. Why do you have to buy a house when you aren't moving for another year? I don't know anyone else who has done that.

[christina]

Just my tiny opinion, but I say "location, location, location". For me, being close to nature beats out all the fancy stuff any day.

[V-Grrrl]

Stuck,

We're shopping now because we're here now and the market is very favorable. House prices are relatively depressed, some of the houses are selling for $100,000 less than they did in 2005. A little more than a year ago, the market was fierce, with bidding wars going on and properties being sold within days. I don't want to deal with that.

If we wait, we risk less favorable circumstances, we'll have to spend thousands of dollars to travel back, buy a house without the kids seeing it, and enter the market at the same time as every other person who is moving in the summer.So when to buy is just another level of stress for us.

[Ortizzle]

Tough decision. I say "keep on looking" if you can spare the time. I complete understand that you would not want to wait ten years for the landscaping to keep you and your neighbors from having to stare at each other from your various backyards.

[Elisabeth]

I'd say keep on looking too, although your house-shopping time may be limited. Going with one's instinct is also usually a good thing to do. I, too, was wondering why you were buying the house now, since you'd be in Belgium for another year, but I fully understand your reasons, V. Tough stuff to deal with, that kind of thing scares me to death. I have read more lately on blogs that deal more with the problems of home ownership than with its advantages.

[Tera]

SOunds liek you haven't found 'the one''quite yet....too abd you can't mix the two together. That said, I'd go for the older house if I had to choose...it sounds really well-loved and nature really makes a huge difference at the end of a busy day. I wish yo0u success with all the mortgage troubles. Maybe a trip to Michaels will take away a few of those woes! ;-)

Most of all, enjoy the prospect of finding your dream home for the return to America...it's the first step in your true return "Home".

[V-Grrrl]

I'm leaning toward the older one. It feels right to me in my gut, appeals to my "soulful" side, and I think we'll have enough living space. My husband likes the new one. He's an engineer and a bit of a perfectionist--likes sleek, immaculate surfaces and ORDER in his environment and really, really, really wants a two-car garage. I'm not against those things, but I like a more casual, earthy feel to my living spaces, and my creative side enjoys a house that is not just like every other house in a neighborhood. I don't care whether we park the cars outside or not.

We both like the outdoors.

Anyway, we've looked at at least a dozen houses inside and more than that outside. I'm burnt out. We leave for Florida next Wednesday or Thursday. Our realtor leaves tomorrow. We're under the gun.

[Shirl Grrrl]

Another angle... the cost of storage and downsizing compared to having a landscaper come in and add some good size trees or a privacy fence to the newer home. You can always increase the size of the deck or add a screened-in porch. E could help the landscaper design the perfect yard which he'd love. Yes, I miss the privacy I had in NC but it's also kinda fun putting in my own trees and creating my own yard from scratch. It's also very nice having a lawn, which we didn't have due to all the trees we had before. Also all the shade and vegetation only led to a massive mosquito problem. I haven't even seen a mosquito this year. Just another view since everybody seems to be pulling for the old house.

[V-Grrrl]

There already is a privacy fence but it doesn't help us because the house is high above the back yard and the deck is above the privacy fence. The privacy fence isn't very tall and when you're in the back yard, because of the slope, you can see over it.

Trees would help a lot though, if we could afford BIG ones. I have no idea what professional landscaping would cost. Maybe we could get a higher fence.

The modern house will cost us $600 more a month than the older one.

[Neil]

Which is closer to Starbucks? Choose the other.

[RockGrrrl]

I vote for the older house! I'm a sucker for charm, and that one sounds like it has it! Those modern houses are actually--from what I've heard--going out of fashion already. (They're sooo not green!) Nobody wants to try to heat or cool those enormous spaces, and to me they seem impersonal.Lots of unused, empty rooms, vast echoing spaces of nothingness. Besides, just in the words you chose to decribe the first house--you made it sound pleasant, cozy, and as though living there would be both quaint and exciting. The second house you described more in terms of size, not comfort. Just something to think about. Downsizing and minimalizing isn't always such a bad thing--deciding what to get rid of helps show us what's REALLY important! :)

[Lynn]

Is there room in the lot of the older home to build a shed in the back yard for the storage of Christmas/camping stuff? I have to park outside my garage now, for a few years I was able to park inside - it's all good. What do the kids say? Any major difference in commute time for either neighborhood? Either neighborhood seem more kid friendly or more accessible to grocery stores, etc? $600 a month does add up pretty fast too...

[Nancy]

I definitely get this dilemma. We left our perfect house in the far-out suburbs because we didn't like the neighborhood and commute. Now we love our neighborhood, but we're in an older house that we don't love as much inside. I am happy with our choice, but more than once we've lamented that we couldn't pick up our old house and move it to the new location!

I'd definitely say go for the older house, myself, based on our experience. And I have found that really it's almost impossible to get BOTH location AND great house here in NoVa, so I'm not sure any more looking would be the answer (plus sounds like you are out of time.)

[mamatulip]

I'd say keep looking, but if it came down to these two houses I'd go with the first one. Is there room to add on to this house? That could be a consideration. But since I've moved here I've come to realize that setting and location are very, very important to body, mind and soul.

[JMo]

If it actually came down to these two houses - go for the old one. Tell E not to be fooled by "new" actually being better. If it was built in the last 10 years, chances are the workmanship is downright crap. It might look nice on the surface but I suspect the old house has much stronger bones.

[t]

Is there space at the older home to build a new garage or add on the the existing one? Or even add a carport for one of the cars?

[plain jane]

I'd definitely go for the older house, not only is the purchase price less but undoubtedly heating and maintenance will be less also. But most importantly, the second house seems to have benefits that are focused on "things" not people. Downsizing can be so freeing and make life a lot simpler. But, yes, commute times, schools, and the quality of the house all need to be considered too.

[wendy]

I was lured into a house that"seemed" to have every thing once...in a new subdivision. We lasted two years there. I needed the feel of an older neighborhood. No one wants to live in a fishbowl.

Go with your gut.

[Flubberwinkle]

I think I prefer the first one. It seems more like a "home" than a "house".