Today I got a little obsessive about possibly buying my childhood house. It's right across the street from where my mom and dad live now. And they share a driveway with my sister (I must expand the compound!), who's agreed to property manage the home where I spent the most fraught six years of my life.
J. and I have been thinking about investing in real estate, though I don't know how much of an investment this particular house would be. Relative to Seattle, it's dirt cheap. But homes don't appreciate very quickly here either.
It would be a sentimental buy for me. A the-skylight-leaks, needs-new-insulation-and-windows but I-love-the-place purchase.
I just don't think I can ask J. for a house. That would be a slightly more extravant Christmas gift than a Kindle.
All the same, I'm considering ambling across the road tomorrow, knocking on the door, and asking to take a peek.
Since I already have pretty much all of my rational 'wants' I suppose it could be said that all of my current desires would fall into the category of "Irrational want[s]" yet, I continue to dream.
Posted by: Bev | November 14, 2011 at 08:30 PM
Oh my. I just gave a cursory glance through your bookshelf. We read the same books, the same authors. The greatest shock...I thought that I was the only person reading Jane Hamilton's books. It took my breath away to see title after title that I have read or have on my table to be read. No one in my life circle reads these selections...too serious, too heavy, too literate are what I hear when I try to get friends to read my choices.
Posted by: Bev | November 14, 2011 at 08:39 PM
Bev, I read some cotton candy too, but it's never on my favorites list. What are you reading now?
Posted by: All Adither | November 15, 2011 at 12:12 PM
This happened to me a few years ago when I visited the small midwestern town where I grew up. It was my grandmother's old home. Listed for $50,000. I called my husband (in California) and tried to explain why we needed a home on a lake in Wisconsin, and he talked me down. If my parents and sister lived next door, I wouldn't have given in so easily. Nostalgia is very powerful.
I look forward to hearing how your story turns out.
Posted by: MSH | November 15, 2011 at 12:17 PM
Family compound with people you love? It would take a whole lot to talk me out of such a dream.
Would you feel bad if some unknown renters were living in YOUR special place, esp. living there instead of YOU being there? Something to consider...
Posted by: Karen (formerly kcinnova) | November 15, 2011 at 01:19 PM