from Ben's mom
We've been itching to move to a bigger place for some time now but have waited because we wanted to get in a better financial position. We also hoped that the housing bubble would burst and we might be able to afford to become homeowners. While our market is growing more and more stagnant here, sellers aren't willing to give up on what they thought they would get for their homes and so anything decent is still out of range for first-time home buyers on a budget. At least in our income bracket.
With a new addition on its way, we've become even more anxious to move and have been looking for the perfect rental, preferably with an extra bedroom and a yard or nearby play area. We have yet to find anything we like in our price bracket. We had decided we could wait for another 3-6 months when we received notice yesterday that our rent was increasing. If we were willing to sign a 6-mo lease, it would go up $25 and if not, $105. Now our dissatisfaction has escalated to new heights. This is now a very overpriced 2 bdrm apt. with new noisy neighbors, no direct sunlight, and no space. So our search has begun again in earnest. Say a little prayer that we find something soon, before our patience runs out.
As we were driving around last night, checking out various addresses, we both had to comment on how ugly western architecture (housing) is vs. what we knew in the East. It is also non-sensical. This whole area is covered with duplexes; some 2000+ square feet. They look really stupid on little plots of land with about 2 feet of grass in between. Eastern architects know there is no point; if you can't afford land, you can't afford land. There you have row houses. Much more aesthetic (the newer ones anyway) and they have little yards in the back and sometimes in the front. The duplex idea just seems weird to me.
2 comments:
Not having seen what the west coast duplexes look like I can't really say anything about those. But I can say this about the east coast: I like them. In fact we own one. :) I really prefer our duplex to a town house/row house. A couple reasons that come to mind are 1) You only have one neighbor, instead of the possibility of two immediately on either side (you could have this with a row house, but usually have to pay extra for an “end unit”). You always have an end unit. 2) Your yard is much much larger than a row house yard, not including the side yard. I will be praying you find something that fits your needs and soon!
I hope you find something soon. I know how unpleasant it is having all that up in the air.
I've been astonished at how much cheaper houses are out here . . . but then the summers are awfully humid. So choose your poison.
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