Josh and I have recently talked to a builder about adding a foyer to our house. We have no room by the front door and the garage door leads right into the kitchen, so therefore we have no room for coats, hats, bags, shoes and boots. On most days it is an obstacle no matter what door you come in. Now granted my sister-in-law is living with us right now so that is one more person's stuff but on the other hand, Hunter is 2 so he doesn't have a backpack or anything and his shoes are pretty little! The builder gave us an idea of how it would work (a little tricky because we have three roof lines that come together right there), but the cost per actual square foot that we would add is a little hard to swallow to say the least! Not that it is the builders fault, just the nature of the project.
So then I said I wanted to make sure that this is where we wanted to stay if we were going to spend the money. Which then prompted me to get on line and see what we could buy for our money. Well of course I found some houses that I liked, and Josh was drooling over the three car garages. So he said let's go take a look. So we did. Last night.
Let me preface this by saying we have a beautiful tri-level house (I guess actually quad-level), it is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,700 square feet, hard-wood floors, wood stove (just in case anyone is in the buying mood). This house we looked at was BEAUTIFUL. It was a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, aforementioned 3 car garage, the whole first level had Amish crafted oak 3/4" floors, 4 bay windows from top to bottom, and and AWESOME master suite. The basement wasn't finished but it was studded and ready to be finished.
Now our family consists of Josh, me, Hunter and possibly another little one someday. Do we really need a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2,600 square foot, 3 car garage house?? How do you justify spending that kind of money on a place to sleep?? But is it really just a place to sleep??
The guy that is selling the house said he isn't a salesman, but he said something that really sold me on the house. "This house needs a family." The house has a great dinning room and he talked about all of the meals and parties that they had in that room. He built a 2 tier deck that he talked about friends and kids playing on. I don't really know if I feel that way about our house.
We are a FAR way from moving, if that is even what we would do. And this was the first house we looked at. But these questions are hard ones to answer and unfortunately we need to answer them to figure out what we are going to do.
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4 comments:
Hmmm... Well, a house is an investment while a car is not.
I recommend an older house that requires putting some sweat equity into it. Josh is good with his hands (Josh - you know what I am talking about - *wink*), and I won't even mention his power tools.
Of course, I am partial to sweat equity. Go figure.
we have one on the way and wish that our house was much bigger. we have 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, 2 car garage. one more bedroom would make me feel so much better, because of the fact that one bedroom is now used as an office/game area. if we have a 2nd kid, we have no place for him/her.
Troy-I'm pretty sure Josh isn't into sweaty equity, he's got too many hobbies, that would cut into fishing, hunting, cutting wood, and the occasional XBox playing. You are right about it being an investment, kind of the reason we bought the house we are in right now, to make money when we sold it.
Kari-isn't it funny when you think you have one on the way and you don't have enough room with 3 bedrooms? But I can relate. The thing that really sticks for me is when I think about what we were raised in. My parents had a three-bedroom house. I have two brothers, but luckily I was the only girl (and youngest...doubly spoiled in case you wondered), so I had my own bedroom. But we didn't have a family room or a "usable" basement (our basement is a good topic for a different post), our toys were in our rooms, we played in our rooms and when our friends came over they played in them with us. That is except for the majority of the time we spent outside playing and running around.
The other thing Kari, you think your house seems small now...you probably haven't even started putting the baby "gear" in there...wait and watch your house shrink...and the luxury of 2 cars in the garage...give it a year!! But they are worth it!!!
I was going to comment on the "occasional" Xbox playing... and then realized it's been awhile since I've seen that happen...
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