I am not a big planner. I think about lots of stuff I want to do but I don’t set up many goals for myself. Truly. I am driven and think people perceive me as very goal-oriented. Alas, no. Wonder Boy and I share this trait and I’m not sure how healthy it is. There is one goal on which we agree, though. We know the area of town we want to move to and we know the style of house we want to buy. In fact, we know the very house. It’s extravagant, big, expensive and completely unnecessary for only two people. And yet, we love it. And loosely, our plan has been to save our butts off and move in about 3 years.
So the other day when Wonder Boy called me at work practically jumping out of his skin with excitement to tell me that the house was for sale, time stopped a little bit. It isn’t time yet. Our bathrooms aren’t done yet (even though the project started on early January and is becoming the bane if my existence). And more house… am I ready for more house?
But it’s the dream. And for dreams, you work a little harder. So Wonder Boy got pre-approved for a home loan. He scheduled a home tour for us. We worked out budgets where we could (barely) afford the house.
And when we saw it, it was beautiful. It was mid-century splendor. The chairs I’ve been collecting like a sick hoarder every time I go to an auction or garage sale? They would look beautiful and fit in perfectly with the style of the home. The yard was huge and sunny so we could garden. The street was quiet and almost, dare I say it, suburban, but you could still walk to restaurants and a movie theater.
We both tried to be so cool as we walked through the house, asking insightful questions to the realtor and acting like the house was totally within our means. And we got home and talked about it. And while not perfect, we could both see ourselves in the house. The dream house. So we walked through the math once more. And it was tight but it was doable. Make the leap? Go for it? Then we stumbled upon the property taxes which were substantial and suddenly the house was completely out of our reach.
Our dream house will be someone else’s house.
But, now we have a goal. Our new goal is to save our behinds off and buy a house like the one we just saw. My chairs need a place to shine.
