Monday, April 17, 2006

Well We're Movin On Up, Movin On Up.......

Ok, not exactly. Not yet. But I've decided to blog the long road to some new digs.
The house Jon, Noah,Priya,Dr. Fleischman and I live in is nice. It was well cared for by the owners before us, was updated a few years ago and is solidly built. The only problem is, it's small, SO small! We have three bedrooms, the third being a playroom as our home lacks a family room. It's about 1,100 square feet,and filled to the brim. Detroit is a really weird housing market, especially where we live. For the longest time, real estate was artificially inflated due to the automotive industry. Around us, you can't expect to get even basic housing like 1950's bungalows inexpensively. We happen to live in an even smaller than a bungalow ranch.

Behind our house is a very nice, private, fenced in yard. Theoretically, we could get a loan and add-on, there's space. It's crossed our mind many times and we've just had the first two story add-on go up on our street. The big foot homes are coming too, we saw the first little home tear down be replaces by a giant house. So we wonder, do we stay?

On the other hand, while our neighborhood is nice, safe, and quiet, it doesn't have many young people and children. And on top of that, we can't picture ourselves being in this neighborhood for years. You know when you find the right fit, and we're still looking for something a bit more "homey" at bit more "neighborhoody".

The reason we need to move is that we need more space and I want to feel settled in a home I know I will be in for a while. Our house now, we viewed as a 5 year or less starter home. I like it here, but we want to find a place to put roots down and a home to make into our own. I don't know, and neither does Jon, if we'll have more kids in the future, but if we do, there just isn't enough space here. I know, I know, I've heard it a million times...people have had 5-6 kids living in small houses for years. I get it, but this isn't even a bungalow with a room upstairs or bedrooms down the hall. Noah's bedroom butts up against the family room and the bathroom, he's always waking up. The third bedroom has two doors, one that goes through to the kitchen. It's more of a den then suitable for a bedroom with privacy. On top of that if we had a family room, that would make a HUGE difference space wise. We have a great partially finished basement with a living room/playroom type space. The only problem, it's cold and kind of dark down there, not a room you'd want to always be in.

So! We've found a house we like. It's a long shot, but I'll at least try and see what happens. I'll keep y'all posted on this stuff. It's a buyers, not a sellers market here, so I'm kind of worried. One thing, on an interesting note, the home we have our eyes set on is on the very street my Mom and Dad bought their first home!!! I was came home when I was born to this street, how cool! The only difference, back then, they paid a lot less for basically the same home., Argh! Inflation, yuck.

More to come soon!

3 comments:

Kendra Lynn said...

Oh I hope you can get a bigger home, Lauren. I know you need the space. Will it still be in Birmingham?
I thought of you the other day, I took the girls to a park in Farmington, and a lady there was from Birmingham.
I miss you and love you. HOpe I get tosee you soon.

Kendra

Jonathan said...

There's nothing like going from 1100 to 1400 sq ft and really being able to stretch out.

Judy said...

Okay, I don't know how I missed this post the other day! LOL

We're in 2100 sft and it doesn't seem big enough - I can't imagine half the size of this! In our last house, though, I can totally relate to the whole Noah-waking-up bit...Travis was the same way. It is nice to have a little distance between the boys' rooms and our room!