Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Between a rock and . . .

Is it really only Wednesday? It seems like it should be much later in the week to me. 
I'm so busy, every time I open my email there are 3 more emails of houses to look at from our realtor. It's a lot to sift though, so if you are waiting for an email from me, email me again. It's quite possible it's buried under tons of houses. 
A lot of these houses are bank owned and trashed. The problem is, the bank can't sell them for much less and once we would pay that price, there would be no money left to fix them. Another strange dilemma here? Normally if you bought a new house, you would pay more then for an existing (used) house. Normally. Not here. The old (used) houses are much more expensive because they are in coveted commute locations and in established/good school districts. But the houses are seriously from the 1960s, no joke. And very few have been remodeled or updated in anyway. Why would they? By doing nothing to them whatsoever, they are still worth 1/2 million dollars. 
The new homes, in contrast, are much less expensive, new, updated, in questionable or untested school districts with miserable commutes. And we got a wonderful little piece of info from the realtor that there is to be an influx of 25,000 people in 2011 to the area, so any commute now might go up by 15-30 mins anyway. If you live an hour away, that's a lot. This is why we are ready to throw in the towel. We just can't seem to win. Our only option is to stay here, eat Ramen noodles and send J to private school. It's such a waste when we live so close to some of the best school districts in the county. Sob, enough of that.
Here is a peek at the Garden A Kiss on the Chic kit for May:
Hey, I used that Maya road leaf pin. And I only stabbed myself twice! Happy Wednesday to you! Until tomorrow. PS Please don't worry, I won't shave my head. It was a reference to the rehab queen Brittany Spears' infamous meltdown. Although, pounding my vehicle with an umbrella sounds like pretty good stress relief to me right now. :)

13 comments:

Creative Junkie said...

I remember that sinking, depressing feeling I had when looking at houses. We knew that location was our prime goal so we wound up buying a house we liked in a neighborhood we wanted but WOW. The amount of money we've sunk into renovations and the like? Scary. So I feel your pain.

liz mataraza said...

ugh, i was there a year ago with the house issues. hang in there. something will give and it will all work out perfectly and for the best.

and beating my car with an umbrella...i'm going to hold on to that idea. sounds like great stress relief and not much damage.

Kate said...

I remember redoing our first two houses. The one in Michigan especially we just got most of the remodeling done and Jim was transfered. On the bright side it sold to the second people that looked at the house. BUT I had to start all over again in the "new to us" house in Tennessee. There were gray stenciled elephants in the dining room... but it had good bones...I also had a toddler, and no one but Jim and I to do the work... We survived it! We did enjoy that house for Years at least!

GOOD LUCK! it will happen!

mean mom productions said...

Ugh...I am in the same boat at the moment for a house.

email me and I will give you the strageties that DH and I have developed after a year of searching ourselves.

meanmomdigitalproductions@gmail.com

Vanessa said...

cute peek! good luck with the houses...im sure there is a diamond in the rough hidden somewhere!

Lydia said...

I hear you on the housing issue, it is tough, I am currently faced with the prospect of building from scratch with two toddler(uuurgh).

That is equally painful, good luck!

Murphy's Law said...

wow. what choices to make on houses. good luck. and love the butterfly kiss.

Jen Martakis said...

ugh....house hunting. NO FUN. You would think things would be a bit different with the way the economy is right now. Good luck with your search Danielle! The right one is there...somewhere. ;)

Only stuck yourself twice? Bonus. LOL

Suz said...

House hunting is so time consuming and a whole new ball game in todays market. We ended up buying an older house for location & it does take some extra work. Thankfully the older ones here were much cheaper even with location. Hang in there the right one will come along

Love the sneak peak... can't wait to see the rest.

Terri said...

its a day for posting about homes isn't it? Hang in there re: house hunt. Your home is out there just waiting for you to find it!

Linda Beeson said...

That red butterfly is just amazing! WOW!
As for the house hunt, I have been there and I know how hard it is to make decisions. We have a house in our neighborhood that the people trashed and someone was able to buy it at a greatly reduced price that let him come in and really fix it up great. So it does happen.

Jennifer Davis said...

Looking at houses is a pretty tough job...hang in there!

Love that sneak!

Anonymous said...

UGH! I am so sorry! I just went through the same thing, looking for new houses in PA, and just got really lucky. Hopefully, the same will happen to you. It got to the point with me that if I saw another house email I was just going to chuck the computer out the window. ;) But now i am better, out of rehab...;)...no, seriously, it just took a bit, for me to find the house that fit our needs. Here's hoping that the same will happen with you! :)