We have been in our current home for five years. We moved in at the end of 2006 after we remodeled. We have always said that, at the most, we would live at this house until our children started school. Our neighborhood is on the border of a very nice area and a pretty crappy one. We would never put our children in the schools.
We live here because this house was given to us by my in-laws after we put in all of the labor to remodel it ourselves. We do pay them some money for living there as well. We are extremely grateful to have a house of our own and no mortgage. When we sell this house, we will use most of the money as a down payment on our next home and likely pay out Nick's parents so we can stop paying them a monthly payment. It's not just the area that bothers us. It's that our house is just barely 1,300 sq ft. More so than that, our master bedroom is literally the smallest bedroom I have ever seen. It gets frustrating when Apollo's bed takes up the tiny bit of floor space left. This is looking way down the road, but if we have a 2nd baby before we move, it's going to be a tight squeeze.
We were planning to move this upcoming summer because, on paper, we would have owned the house for two years in June. Any sooner, and we would have had to pay capital gains taxes. However, we have now decided to stay longer ::cringe:: There are several reasons and we know that waiting will be best, as hard as it is. 2016 is the absolute latest we will live here. Baby B will be 3 1/2 years old at that point.
We have nearly four years to finish everything on this house, pay off all debts and build up a nice savings account. Gotta look at the bright side of things! We definitely want to try and get everything finished up before baby arrives. The first two things on the home list for me: the nursery {which is currently Apollo's room} and a new A/C unit. I will be 9 months pregnant in the dead of summer. A/C has become a priority :)
xoxo,
Megan
Our new apartment is going to be just under 1000 sq ft., so I definitely feel your pain. It sounds like you have a good plan though. Even at 3 1/2 years, Baby B won't need too much space, so I think it will work out well. I'm looking forward to seeing your nursery (if you decide to post pictures, of course!)
ReplyDeleteI feel ya! Our townhome is also barely 1300 sq. ft., and it has the worst layout on the main floor EVER. While the basement and the upstairs of the house are great, the livingroom/dining room area is a nightmare. It's just so small, and the kitchen is all closed off and we can't open it up because all the main conduits and structures of the house run right through the middle of the main floor. There's seriously no room there for a toddler to run around at all, and it would cost us a fortune to set this floor up the way we want it, and at that point, so not worth it for this house!
ReplyDeleteDH and I are thinking of getting a larger townhome in another couple of years if we are unable to find an affordable single home... But we'd make sure this time that the house is EXACTLY what we want without having to renovate!!! In this house, so far, we've redone all of the floors, finished the basement (which still needs work), redoing all the staircases, putting in a brand new kitchen, as well as replacing the patio door in the kitchen... and when we're done that, we're putting a new deck on the house and we need a ton of landscaping done! The exterior alone should keep us busy for a couple of years. We've also replaced the furnace, and re-shingled the roof... whoever gets this place after us will be getting a pretty stinkin' great deal!! I'd like to think once all the renos are done, we'd be happier there, but in all likelihood we'll be so sick of the place, we'll want to move just to never have to deal with it again! LOL
lol, wow, sorry my comment was much longer than anticipated. :)
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