Part of my life adjustments I am having to make is to think about my housing situation. I bought my current place almost 10 years ago, and four years ago, I did a good amount of renovations in the kitchen, flooring, windows and carpet. I knew if I ever had to move doing those renovations would enable me to offload it quickly if I needed, and that it would be because I needed to move to something that is all one level. Well, if the last two weeks has taught me anything, is that time is now.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my condo for so many things, it is close to school, it is close enough to the parents and my sister and her husband, and it is a generally good area to live in. However, everything from the parking situation to the nearly 10 inch stoop to get in, to the two flights of stairs is more than just daunting right now, it is impossible. I am lucky that I can go up four stairs with support at the moment. Going down, is even less safe for me. There is also no full bath on the entry level. It is for this reason, I am coming to terms that my housing situation must change, and I may be in transition this way most of the year.
I am very fortunate, that my parents about 6 years ago now built a patio home in Middletown. It literally has three suites the Master, which has a walk-in shower, another full suite upstairs in the front part of the house and a downstairs basement suite. Normally when I stay for a few days I stay in the basement suite, but when I am discharged from the rehabilitation hospital, I will be staying in the front suite, given my current mobility issues. I honestly don’t know if I will ever be able to go back to my condo.
As you know real estate is absolutely crazy right now. It is definitely a sellers market, which is good, because I should get all of my renovation money back to finish off the loan I took on it, and then some, but finding the new place will be a task. I want to be independent, as soon a possible, but I am going to have some very specific needs going forward.
The first is all one level primary living. I want to get into a patio home type situation like my parents, but my budget is much less. That means my master suite, kitchen, and laundry all need to be on the main level. Ideally I would want a music room/office, and a guest room as well.
The area of town I want to be in. I want to stay northside, I would love it to be in the Princeton district, but that might be a tall order with my price range. Princeton also doesn’t have a lot of single level condos or patio homes. They do have a lot of mid-century ranches, but that involves yard work/snow removal, which I really have no interest in and I don’t really want to pay for that service. I would rather it be folded into an HOA fee.
The question then becomes, can I afford to build? Or what is available in my price range that meets my needs? I have started looking at least on the side. There is a community around the Franklin area where my parents live that do have a patio home in my price range, and the layout is actually pretty good…..It probably would be at the edge of my budget though. It’s also kinda far from school.
All I know, is that I hate moving. But I know I am going to at least have to do that. More later.
Bratschetech Baroque 