Committing to a House

A year ago today, we had an appointment to see the inside of the house we would eventually buy.  I had seen an ad on Zillow, a for sale by owner ad, although the house itself had no sign.  We had several phone conversations; the house had been taken off the market for remodeling, but I was not deterred.  I asked, "What if we offered you a lower price, and you didn't have to do the work?"

We agreed that the next step would be to see the house, and a year ago, today would be the day.  I stepped through the front door and thought, I could see us living here.  I had spent the spring driving by houses and saying, "No way.  How much money do they want for that house?"  We had gone to some open houses, and I usually walked through the front door and said, "No need to go further."

But a year ago, I fell in love.  I was already enchanted even before I walked through the door, and then I decided I wanted a long-term relationship.

The house was far from perfect.  We saw it when it had no kitchen:  the previous owner had stripped it to subfloor and drywall.  I liked the idea of being able to design the kitchen we wanted; remind me of that this summer as we remodel.

My husband loved the idea of the cottage that's in the back.  I worried that we wouldn't be able to restore it.  I needn't have worried; my husband is amazing in his ability to redeem structures.

We both loved the pool in the back yard and the fact that the house is a half mile from the beach; remind me of that as the seas rise.  We both loved the fact that the neighborhood had lots of people walking through it, and that almost all of them looked non-threatening.  We wanted to be in a house and a neighborhood that would be appreciating in value; hopefully, we've made a good choice.

This week has been one where we've gotten our insurance notifications.  I was relieved when the flood insurance didn't go up as much as I thought it might when we got the notice that our subsidized flood insurance would be ending.  Our flood insurance had been so high that I'd assumed we hadn't gotten any subsidies.  When it didn't go up by thousands of dollars, I was happy--then I realized it had gone up by hundreds of dollars.

Our homeowners/windstorm was the policy that went up by thousands.  Sigh.

Each year we get our insurance, and I say, "I don't know how much longer we can afford to live here."  My spouse says, "We can afford it now."

And so we go, year by year.