Finding a Place To Live

My Klingon husband and I moved to New England last fall, and we are coming up on the end of our apartment lease in a few months. As such, we are in the throes of finding a new place to live.

We’re thinking about buying a house. Not a big one, just a little one, where we can have a garden and a dog.

We’ve never bought a house before. We’re not sure we have the money on hand to make it happen, and we aren’t sure it’s The Right Thing To Do, but we’re looking, and it’s exciting.

(Is anything like this ever The Right Thing To Do? Is there such a thing? The older I get, the more inclined I am to say that it’s all a shot in the dark. We can’t tell the future, so we prepare as best we can, we gamble based on the odds and our gut feelings, and we hope for the best.)

So here we are. I’ve called a realtor, suspended all unnecessary spending, started researching lenders, and have found the location that is flexible and still qualifies for the type of loan we want.

The Klingon wanted to buy a cheap 1-bedroom condo, where the mortgage would be unbelievably low. I thought about that appealing option for a while, but at the end of the day it isn’t what I want. I want to be in a house. I want a yard. I want room to grow, and room to stay exactly the way we are. A place to put chickens, if we want them (chickens are horrifying creatures), compost my kitchen scraps, and the freedom to modify the way we live. There are some fantastic cabinetry options that I would love to try out, but can’t when I am renting.

I wish that little houses were easier to find in our area; they all seem to be these monstrosities that waste space and drain your pocketbook. Big houses are expensive to build, expensive to maintain, and often are poorly organized. Condos are the alternative of choice out here, but there are plenty of down sides to having a condo. HOA fees, neighbors, rules you have to follow.

Has anyone been following the Tiny House movement? It’s amazing to watch the resourceful and creative ways people have found to live, and I am inspired by it. When I look at these tiny houses, I’m reminded that we don’t need a big house – just a little one, with garden, a dog, and each other.

And room for a crib. Always room for a crib; just in case.