More Back and Forth
Today I am back to feeling ambivalent about buying this house. I’ve been feeling pretty content with the decision for the past few days so I’m not quite sure where this is coming from, but the issues that my brain is obsessing about are a) the fact that is has no usable garage (it has a garage but it is definitely not usable), and the ravages of age that result from it not being new construction.
Right now I live in a new construction townhouse that I do not love. The townhouse itself is fine except for the fact that it’s really dark and the fact that the only windows I have look directly into neighboring windows (less than ten feet away on both sides), means I never feel comfortable having my blinds open to alleviate the darkness…which you can’t alleviate much anyway, since the buildings on either side block out the light pretty thoroughly. And there are other things I don’t love (that have more to do with poor construction and lack of a final review/inspection and my neighbors), but there are also things that I do love. Like the walls being straight and the floors being flat and the walls being smooth and the trim not being covered with decades and decades of new paint.
This house I’m buying is 72 years old so its walls are filled with bad patch jobs and people have painted so many layers that there’s just a smooth curve between the walls and the trim instead of a nice 90 degree angle. Insignificant, I know (except that I really hate it), but I’m just so spoiled by my shiny new construction.
Obviously, I can’t afford new construction. Or I can, but I don’t want what I can afford. But maybe the compromise is choosing a house that’s just 30 or 40 years old? No charm, but no bad plaster patch jobs? No uneven, sloping floors? And maybe a garage, too?
My waffling is becoming annoying, even to me. Maybe I should just send out more estimate requests to garage builders.