We have two different places that we are looking at and there are positives and negatives to both places.
On one hand we have a house. It’s 1800 sq ft…with a FREAKING HUGE YARD….there is a smallish deck off the kitchen (big enough for some chairs and a coffee table) with stairs that lead down to a HUGE house width deck and then miles (okay not quite miles) but a seriously HUGE back yard. It’s all fenced in and there is already a GIANT garden that needs to be weeded, filled with new dirt and then planted. We’d have the MOST AMAZING veggie garden next year. There is a huge tree in the back yard that would provide shade for the house and there is space to put our compost machine…in fact there is already a wood corner built in to put all the leaves that the tree dumps…can we say major work in the fall as they drop.
There is a huge tree in the front of the house and it makes it feel charming and private.
The house has been reno’d with new fake wood floor and painted all nice and neutral and we’d basically move in and enjoy. We would want to add our own touches here and there but it looks new for a 25 year old house. There is an issue with the plumbing in the kitchen and because this is an old house….all the rooms are separated. This is not a newer open concept house. It is still nice and we could be very happy there.
We’ve been working towards a different lifestyle over the past few years and this house would easily accommodate the “green” granola, crunchy, organic, whatever-you-want-to-call-it type of lifestyle….yah we’re working on becoming hippes…there I said it…now stop all the whispering. we’re urban hippies….does that even make any sense? I don’t even care cause that’s not the focus of this post.
Aside from the small master bedroom and a few issues, we do like this house it’s just not perfect.
Then, last night we went and looked at a 2600 sq ft townhouse. It is 13 years old and in original condition….old people lived there and so they’ve taken good care of it. There is no yard maintenance to do which would free some time up and we could focus that time on the kids. The Town house backs onto a central grassy area where the kids could go out and play. They would also be a 10 minute walk to school. The other house would be about 20 minute walk. and at the townhouse, they could come home after school and even if we weren’t there………..MY PARENTS LIVE IN THE COMPLEX ACROSS THE STREET….literally a 1 minute walk to their place.
So, my kids would be totally fine and if there were any issues….run over to grandma’s. They already have some friends in my parents complex and so that would be awesome.
The difference in price between the townhome and the house is $60,000. The townhome is $60,000 less than the house, BUT with taxes and the strata fee included, the monthly payment for the townhouse is actually about $40.00 more expensive than the house. BUT IT’S HUGE and we could decorate it the way we want it.
Seeing as the house has just been done, it would be a little bit stupid to rip all the new stuff out.
So, what do we do?
There are so many positives to both sides….and some negatives to both sides.
All of this might be taken out of our hands if the house won’t sell to us for our offering price…..But if it were to accept…then what do we do. Take the smaller house that has enough rooms for each kid to have their own room and a huge back yard, but the kitchen/dining room/living room is all segregated OR…..do we take the giant townhouse that has enough rooms for us, but two kids have to share but the room they’d be sharing is HUGE….as in bigger than the master bedroom…..AND…the house is an open concept floor plan…the kitchen, runs into the eating are which runs into the dining room which is open into the living room which open s back around again onto the kitchen….it’s amazing.
We could be so happy in both….
What would you choose and why?
