"Settling down" as you must have heard in your 30's is a big thing, It involves- house buying and being a proud mortgage owner, car ownership, throw in a dog or two, definitely a child or two and possessions that depending on income bracket may or may not be from Ikea.
So here we are in our 30's brimming with everything ^ except dog- we shall get to that. We are biting the bullet and buying the house yo!
After ]much intense and painful discussions we have concluded that the suburban Americana isn't for us. I was of course, naturally, tempted by the crazy large houses and the yards which to be fair to me was mostly inspired by my own lack of a house growing up so I had total pucham for an apartment. It wasn't even in the running. Or condos as they say here were never considered.
Then the more I pondered on it, did the math, the pros and cons I was petrified by The House.
A of all, these houses are all in some far flung and remote areas where there are only houses around. They are all beautifully kept and well maintained but during the day to see another soul one might have to literally sell your soul or easier go to a mall. I can't go to a mall without feeling like my throat is closing down and without a lot of hand sanitizing and lot of minor peeves.
These houses require us to keep lawns clean, yards clean, snow plowed and other activities which my husband has declared he is unwilling to do. I did not see that coming. I dont have any interest in manicured lawns either. A garden, on the other hand. Oh well. We shall terrace garden.
Then lastly, cleaning. Oh the crazy charges we have heard being quoted for a 4bed 3bath home. We currently have a wonderful cleaning lady who honestly isnt charging us enough and who is now going with us to the new house! Yippee.
The fact that most restaurants in suburbia are either diners or chains or strip mall Indian/Chinese/Thai isn't running in its favor either.
The fact that play grounds are so rare was also making me panic. We need play grounds.
The only thing it had going for it was that large, our parents would be impressed and it was close to our favorite grocery store.
So we started looking for condos in HP where we currently live which was a drama of its own. HP is historically old, old, old. But I love everything ( almost everything) about HP. It has the most amazing community feel to it, when we go to the playground we recognize other parents! Most people bike to work. We have community gardens where you can buy a small patch of land, we have the local theater group where I am auditioning for "Ariel" btw. You either get it or you don't.
We have two farmers market and unfortunately a Whole Foods ( whole paycheck cough, cough) We have lovely churches and play spaces and parks than you can count on your fingers. We have Lab school where we plan to send the little. That was a tough one because I really thought of us as public school parents except CPS sucks so much especially in our area. And paying out of pocket for private school always seemed a waste. But its really worked out in our favor for now. HP also has a wonderful diverse feel to it thanks to the university close to it where A works and it is also where I now work. So now throw in commute of an hour each way easily if we moved away. We tried it one day and were pretty much at each others throat and V seemed to feed off our negativity and whine double doses. The downside of course is there is some crime. But then again its Chicago. I have no idea where in Chicago I could go to escape crime except maybe well, suburbs!!
So we looked and we looked and everything we saw had high HOA, radiant heat, old but gorgeous ( my style) and then finally we stumbled into our going to be home and fell in love with it. It is huge and spacious, it has been rehabbed so its all brand new. It has lovely light and and an eat in kitchen. Its close to work and school. We barely negotiated since we didn't want to enter into any kind of a bidding war which is quite common thanks to how rare good units are in HP. So there we go. IL post some photos after we move.
But look at us adulting like the pros we are. Adulting is serious business, yall. And so tiring. I now get why everyone always used to say dont be in a rush to grow up because except for having the ability to order take-out and drink legally I sometimes dont see the fuss.
So here we are in our 30's brimming with everything ^ except dog- we shall get to that. We are biting the bullet and buying the house yo!
After ]much intense and painful discussions we have concluded that the suburban Americana isn't for us. I was of course, naturally, tempted by the crazy large houses and the yards which to be fair to me was mostly inspired by my own lack of a house growing up so I had total pucham for an apartment. It wasn't even in the running. Or condos as they say here were never considered.
Then the more I pondered on it, did the math, the pros and cons I was petrified by The House.
A of all, these houses are all in some far flung and remote areas where there are only houses around. They are all beautifully kept and well maintained but during the day to see another soul one might have to literally sell your soul or easier go to a mall. I can't go to a mall without feeling like my throat is closing down and without a lot of hand sanitizing and lot of minor peeves.
These houses require us to keep lawns clean, yards clean, snow plowed and other activities which my husband has declared he is unwilling to do. I did not see that coming. I dont have any interest in manicured lawns either. A garden, on the other hand. Oh well. We shall terrace garden.
Then lastly, cleaning. Oh the crazy charges we have heard being quoted for a 4bed 3bath home. We currently have a wonderful cleaning lady who honestly isnt charging us enough and who is now going with us to the new house! Yippee.
The fact that most restaurants in suburbia are either diners or chains or strip mall Indian/Chinese/Thai isn't running in its favor either.
The fact that play grounds are so rare was also making me panic. We need play grounds.
The only thing it had going for it was that large, our parents would be impressed and it was close to our favorite grocery store.
So we started looking for condos in HP where we currently live which was a drama of its own. HP is historically old, old, old. But I love everything ( almost everything) about HP. It has the most amazing community feel to it, when we go to the playground we recognize other parents! Most people bike to work. We have community gardens where you can buy a small patch of land, we have the local theater group where I am auditioning for "Ariel" btw. You either get it or you don't.
We have two farmers market and unfortunately a Whole Foods ( whole paycheck cough, cough) We have lovely churches and play spaces and parks than you can count on your fingers. We have Lab school where we plan to send the little. That was a tough one because I really thought of us as public school parents except CPS sucks so much especially in our area. And paying out of pocket for private school always seemed a waste. But its really worked out in our favor for now. HP also has a wonderful diverse feel to it thanks to the university close to it where A works and it is also where I now work. So now throw in commute of an hour each way easily if we moved away. We tried it one day and were pretty much at each others throat and V seemed to feed off our negativity and whine double doses. The downside of course is there is some crime. But then again its Chicago. I have no idea where in Chicago I could go to escape crime except maybe well, suburbs!!
So we looked and we looked and everything we saw had high HOA, radiant heat, old but gorgeous ( my style) and then finally we stumbled into our going to be home and fell in love with it. It is huge and spacious, it has been rehabbed so its all brand new. It has lovely light and and an eat in kitchen. Its close to work and school. We barely negotiated since we didn't want to enter into any kind of a bidding war which is quite common thanks to how rare good units are in HP. So there we go. IL post some photos after we move.
But look at us adulting like the pros we are. Adulting is serious business, yall. And so tiring. I now get why everyone always used to say dont be in a rush to grow up because except for having the ability to order take-out and drink legally I sometimes dont see the fuss.
1 comment:
Congrats!! Post pics soon. Have to call A and congratulate him in person. A call is long due anyway. Vichu is excited too I guess.
Have fun.
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