Jon and I have been looking at houses in the Denver area, which is where we hope to end up, to buy lately. Even though we aren't going anywhere for over a year, we both like to know what we are looking at. We are kind of planners!! So we were checking things out and getting quite overwhelmed at the cost of living there. The only other places I have looked at housing prices is Laramie and Oklahoma. Laramie is very similar to Denver, but let me tell you Oklahoma is CHEAP!!! I couldn't believe it when we first moved here. Basically, for the same that you could get a nice house (150K) in the OKC/Edmond area, you get junk here. JUNK!!!
That's what I thought when we moved here. I thought, either we are going to have to spend twice as much money on something of "equal quality" or we are going to have to live in a dive. I pictured a scary neighborhood and running from my car to my house at night...well so I still don't know about that, but I do know that it's not as bad as I thought. Denver, fortunatly for us, has been hit hard by the economic downturning, which has opened up lots of potential opportunity for us. We are probably going to look into some of the foreclosure markets. Any tips on that would be great!!!
It's tough though because part of me wants to have a nice, "dream house" whatever that means. I realized the other day that I would rather have something small, that won't strap us for cash, than something really nice. Being the planner that I am, I have been thinking about when we have kids, having a guest bedroom for our family and friends to use, having a cool "game room" for our kids, and finding the place that we are going to be in for a long time. I get a little ahead of myself don't I?? So I started looking at a website that has listings in the area we are thinking about, and it had a mortgage calculator on it. So I put the number in that were required, and realized that the houses we were looking at were at least double what we are paying now in rent. Whoa!! That doesn't fit at all with the way we want to live our lives. Jon and I are big "get out of debt and save" kinds of people. I was quickly humbled and remembered our priorities are different. So I just need to relax and I do believe that when it is time, there will be a house that is perfect for us. Please remind me of this later on, as I tend to "forget" about stuff like this if I am in denial. Bring on the dives!!! I told Jon we may have to install a security system or something, but I am willing to do whatever it is that we can afford.
I have had such a peace about these last few days knowing that even though we aren't doing what may seem "normal" we are trying to do what's best and we believe what is honoring the Lord. So I am excited, and think that in the next few weeks we will find ourselves in that area of Denver checking things out!!
2 comments:
Hello darling! No worries...the Lord is SO in control of where you live. Heck, if He provides down feathers to make a finch's spring nest more cozy, don't you think He is perfectly capable of finding you the 'dream' home right off the bat? Okay...so it might not look like it immediately, but you can make it into one.
I would advise you to search high and low for a fabulous neighborhood, and then buy the ugliest/worst/cheapest house in that neighborhood. Over time you can completely overhaul the whole thing. That's what we did with our Cape Cod in Norfolk. It was HIDEOUS (so much so that I boo-hood when Andy first took me into it AFTER he had already purchased it) but within 6 months we turned it into a precious little gem of a place. You guys can do the same!
Or course you'll have to remember to have that guest room done first :) for when Andy Lex and Lallie Beth come for a visit.
XOXO
Of course there will always be room for the Weymouths!!
Post a Comment