After 23 years in one house, Bill and I have decided it's time to move. When we bought our house, it was a wreck, but it was in our price range at the time - dirt cheap - and we had stars in our eyes. We would be fixer-uppers par excellence and we would end up with a lovely house in which to raise our family.
It worked out pretty well. It took more work, time, and money than we realized it would, of course, but we ended up with a house and yard where we have been very happy. We raised our three kids here and have the growth marks on the pantry door frame to prove it.
The maple trees in the backyard shade our yard and drop leaves and branches over the fence onto our retired neighbor's neatly groomed lawn. A dedicated grass farmer, he sees trees as nothing but an impediments to a perfect lawn, but he accepts us for our messy, tree-hugging ways.
Our kids are grown and gone now, and the neighborhood is changing. Some of the older people have died and their houses have become homes for students who like how close we are to the university. The street is crowded with too many cars, and noisy too late. It's still a nice, friendly neighborhood, and we love how close we are to work, but it seems like time to make a change.
Looking for a house is fun but exhausting. We have seen a lot of houses - and a lot of neighborhoods -- that turn us right around. We say, "They want HOW much for this house?"
We have seen a couple houses that were maybes but ended up deciding against. Not being in a hurry, we can be picky.
Recently, after a couple months of looking, we found a house that we thought would do very well. Unfortunately, someone else beat us to the punch.
The nice thing is, there is no rush. We could do this for a long time. Bill shudders when I say that.
Here's a house we might look at this weekend:
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