I'm sure you all remember the saga that was the sale of our house. Well now we are looking at moving again. We knew that this was going to happen. Selling that house and moving here was a stop gap. Very few people can say that they sold something small and old, got something larger and newer and end up in better financial position. Well honey and I can seeing as we did it with our cars a few years back. Not something I recommend to everyone though, but it seems to work for us.
So where do we want to live? Well we are torn. There is part of me that would like to stay where we are. It's a nice little suburb. Close to bus routes and walking distance to a library and shopping, two schools too. But this area has some issues. For one, we don't like the schools and I'm not sure what busing would be like or if it would even be available to the kind of school we want our children to attend. It's also very hard to find a house in this area that has a garage, even a single. Many that do have a garage have no yard left or they are further south in the slightly newer area. Buying a house like that, we may as well go new build and in the area where our preferred schools are.
So on to that option. We've been considering building for some time now. We've been attending the Parade of Homes and we know which builder and plans we like. We also know which area we prefer. One is pretty walkable to shopping and our first choice school. My cousin and his fiancee live there. We're not fans. Despite a corner lot, once their deck went up(and it's not even that big a deck) there is no room left for a shed, small garden and/or a swing set. All of which are very important to us. And there seems to be no street parking. We've had a few family functions at his place since he took possession. Last one was in July and as I was the last one to arrive there was no room left in his driveway and I had to park a very long way away. The spot I did get was in front of house still under construction. Not something we really want to have to deal with.
Second area is slightly less walkable, but still close to grocery and gas station. It also happens to be walking distance to my aunt and uncle's house as well as my grandparents' condo. Lots are a bit larger here with better street parking. But the bigger lots are mostly backing onto a busy street with truck traffic. Honey and I lived on a major truck route and it's not something that we really care to repeat.
Our first choice area is by far the least walkable. In fact there isn't much that is close by. The lots are the largest and the least expensive. It's probably the least pretentious of all the new subdivisions in the city much less our target area. This really appeals to us.
So what is the problem with all these sub-divsions, both new and older. Well, the houses are all cookie cutter copies of each other. On my street alone, there are fourteen! Yes fourteen houses that share the same floor plan as my own. Some are mirror images and there are a few that have slightly different elevations and of course different paint colours but at the core, they are all the same. If we move to any one of the new sub-divisions, we are more than likely to be hit with the same problem. I'm not sure if that is what we really want. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
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