Right after that beautiful weekend backpacking, my husband and I and our youngest flew to Austin to look at houses for three days. Austin has one of the most competitive housing markets in the country, or it did this summer. House after house we toured. Several had already sold by the time we got to them. Others were definite nos. A few were possibilities. We put an offer in on two. One went over asking price, and over our offer, which was above asking price. The other we got for a little under their asking price - probably because it was priced too high. I didn't really want to put an offer in on any. I still think we should have sat out the housing market for a year and rented while we decided what we wanted to do, but after renting for the last ten years, my husband really wanted to buy a home. And there is a psychological difference beween living in your place and living in someone else's that you are borrowing for awhile.
A break from househunting for ice cream cones
One house we looked at had an armadillo in residence under the deck
So we bought a house. And already plans have changed. We've already switched schools for one of the kids from one Catholic school to the other. I've wasted hours fretting about this commitment we've made. We spent a lot more than we intended. Although we can afford the payments because of the crazy low interest rates, I didn't want to take on this much debt - I wanted to have more money to save and to spend and to give away. My husband sees this as an investment. He was tired of throwing away money on a rental. However, I don't see us staying here long enough to make any money, unless by a miracle, prices continue to rise. I don't see how they can. I am also terrified we bought at the height of a market that could be a bubble and burst, although I read articles saying it is a balloon market in which growth will slow but won't pop. Let's pray. I obsessively check Redfin and Zillow and see that the value has gone up a tiny bit, which allays my anxiety for a minute, until I also search and see properties that could have worked for us that cost much less.
Why didn't I back out of the offer when we had the seven day option period? I keep asking myself that, and I can't find a satisfactory answer that gives me peace of mind. The attraction of this house was that it has space and amenities for all the kids to come home and visit at the same time.. We have a guest room for grandparents and other friends and family. We have a beautiful view of a forest preserve and a golf course. We have a pool and a pool table (I swore at some point I never wanted a pool again, but it's hot here in Texas...). We have a movie room! - never something I wanted, but it can be turned into a sleeping room for kids. We also have two wine refrigerators, another amenity I could do without - something I plan to sell if we stay. Instead of wine refrigerators, I wanted chickens and a big garden, but the HOA here doesn't allow fowl. Should have read those rules sooner. We have wonderful live oaks, one of which has died since we bought the house - it was probably dying since the winter storm, but we didn't notice, nor did the inspector point it out. Ups and downs. Highs and lows.
At the time we were in the option period, I was afraid we wouldn't find anything better. I was afraid - and hopeful - prices would continue to rise. I was afraid our kids, who already were tearful about leaving California, would mutiny if we rented for awhile and then had to pack and move again. I thought we needed some stability. And admittedly, I loved the view, although the house is a suburban giant unlike anything we have lived in before - we've typically lived in older, smaller, cozier places with more character in walkable neighborhoods. (We can walk here, but just through neighborhoods - not to a cute downtown restaurant or ice cream shop. Scratch that, we did walk a mile and a half to the local softserve ice cream stand, which was delicious and cheap.). I was afraid if we bought the smaller place I liked with a couple acres on a more secluded property, the kids would be unhappy. Farm life is something I crave, not them, and that place wasn't really a farm anyway. Then there was the pressure to decide. We were negotiating over the Fourth of July weekend when we had company visiting and parties and parades. We were in the seven day option when company started arriving for my husband's Change of Command and retirement ceremony. We had to think about that ceremony, not houses, so we just said yes rather than looking at more houses. After we committed, I was a nervous wreck and didn't sleep for weeks. I lost ten pounds. I still don't sleep well. I kept hoping the inspection or the appraisal would give us a way out, but they both came back fine. The appraisal was exactly what we had offered. So I suppose that is a positive.
Now I waste time calculating the amount of money we could potentially lose in a worst case scenario, which is if we decide we don't like it here, or a dream job opens up (Notre Dame?) in three years or less and the market has crashed, but we have to sell. Actual worst case is if husband loses job and we have to foreclose, but even I, the queen of worst case scenarios, feel that is unlikely, even for me to imagine - although not impossible.
Best case scenario is the market continues to expand, at a more modest rate, of course - I don't see how it could continue to rise much, if at all, at this point, but it has, even though it has already slowed considerably in the last two months. But even if the market doesn't expand, if the house just maintains its current value, we could sell in three years without paying any money over what we owe, but we wouldn't walk away with any money after closing costs, since we put so little down. So we'd be in the same situation as if we had rented, although we'd save the costs of maintenance. In a bad, but not quite worst case scenario, the housing market deteriorates modestly or uncomfortably. In my attempt to confront possibilities, I've suggested to myself that we could owe the mortgage company around $300,000 if it sold for the price it was listed seven years ago. In that case, we might try to find renters, and based on rental prices now, we would only be able to charge enough to cover mortgage and interest, but not taxes and insurance, so we would lose money every month - although maybe not as much as $300K, if the market recovered in a few years, allowing us to sell.
These are the kind of mental gymnastics that drive my husband batty. I shouldn't be letting them circulate in my mind, but maybe by writing them out here, I can exorcise them out of my brain a little and avoid revisiting the doomsday visions. We have been so fiscally conservative up to this point - although we have always stretched a bit on housing - that it feels almost sinful to spend as much as we are on a house with all this space we don't need regularly. I tell myself that I can at least moderate the use of utilities and keep them lower than some other owner might have, and so help the planet in a miniscule way. It is a nice neighborhood, and I have met several nice neighbors. LK has a friend three doors down already and I have walked with two neighbors, and I just hired the college student across the street to teach piano lessons. We do have great places to hike - no mountain vistas, but trails not far away. And we have conveniences like storage and two sinks and a big range with six burners. Luxuries. We have a place for everything except books. I need to get some more shelves. . .
To make me feel like we are getting our money's worth, we need to fill the house up with guests to make the space worthwhile - so come see us! Family, friends, internet strangers... all are welcome! We'll treat you right, as my uncle from Fort Worth used to always say.
Coming in the next edition: Summer celebrations and visitors from near and far.
