We’re in soul searching mode with the house right now. Over the weekend we were sitting on the patio since it was down-right balmy and both said it is a day like this where we can’t imagine living anywhere else.
Then we started getting practical and looked at the destruction in the basement and the need to waterproof it and then put walls back up and do something about heating and flooring down there. And then we discussed what our kitchen needs, what our hardwood floors need, the fact that the washer and dryer are in the garage, etc. The dollar figures for doing all of that work make our heads spin and we haven’t even talked to a professional yet. We got our tax assessment in the mail over the weekend and at least from that perspective our value has increased decently in the time we’ve owned the property.
We’re pleased to live on 7 acres because that gives us privacy we wouldn’t have if we lived in a subdivision or in a town. There is a trade-off though and that includes probably waiting another 3-5 years before a wireless network comes anywhere close to us so that our cell phones work or give us a fast connection to the internet. We’ve been told we’ll never have the benefit of cable because of the distance we are from town and the road we live off of is a historic road so that means no real digging, expansion, etc.
With all of that said, we really are torn between spending a shload of money on expansion on our house to have everything we want and selling the house and buying something in, say, Ashland-which is the area where the better-half grew up and is the proverbial small town.
I’m not sure what we’ll do. It is probably prudent to find out how much it will cost to do what we want to do to the house and then decide. Honestly, though, it isn’t that simple. We got married in this house and we planned on staying here until we were too feeble. Emotional attachment is definitely something we have to consider.