Comments on: House Hunted.

By: Schoolgirl Crush

Schoolgirl Crush — Fri, 13 May 2011 15:18:17 +0000

[...] like our apartment fine, but it has always felt uneasily temporary. I’ve talked before about my longing for stability, for the right to paint my walls, for a place—even a fire escape would do, at this [...]

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:53:40 +0000

I live in Cheltenham which is in the ‘Cotswolds’ area of the UK.

We moved from Nottingham 3 years ago where we lived in an old Victorian inexpensive mid-terrace. We had spare cash to do the place up but little time/motivation to get round to doing just that. We moved because I missed seeing the Cotswold hills, being near my family and because crime levels in Nottingham aren’t great.

We now pay the earth for a 3 bedded semi-detached 1970′s style house that looks like every other house within 2-3 miles. It lacks character but it doesn’t have the problems an older house has. My daughter has her own room and we can stay here if we have another child. There is a little (secure) back garden that my little girl can play in whilst I do the dishes.

To look at, it’s certainly not my dream house and we have so little money left over once the whopping great mortgage is paid that we’re limited with what we can do to the place. But I feel part of a community here – my family near by, a supermarket, school, hairdresser, newsagents, pub, doctors, park and (most importantly) a library. There’s loads of other mums walking around with their buggies.

So, this is definately our home for now, where we are in our lives at this moment in time.

By: Chantale

Chantale — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:06:39 +0000

My parents live in a new subdivision, ranked the safest town in Canada. Even so, I STILL slept with a barricade in front of the door when I was alone in their house visiting. This was after living in downtown Toronto. Like you, I got used to people making noise/talking/fighting/whatever. Without people, it is eerie. Feels unsafe.

If I had a choice, I would move to a rowhouse in Toronto, or maybe Montreal. I would settle for a townhouse, but I do love the rowhouses… I currently live in an apartment, but am moving to a townhouse in 2 days. My 3 year old goes stir-crazy in the apartment now. Nowhere to burn energy. His sister, 10 months, doesn’t care yet. But she will! In a year or two, she’ll be running around in circles, too.

By: Gloria

Gloria — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:57:01 +0000

I grew up in a tiny, old house in downtown San Jose way before it was hip to live downtown (3 br, 1 ba w/2 adults and 5 kids). We had our share of scary incidents – like the naked guy on PCP running through our backyard as police helicopters circled right above our roof…and the homeless guy passed out on the lawn that went into the craziest tirade of obscentities I’ve ever heard when the police told him to move. We weren’t allowed to wander too far from home, but there was a park we could walk to, a library (which I LOVED), a high school across the street so in the summertime we could hang out in the bleachers of the football field and numerous liquor stores that sold ice cream and candy.

Now the husband and I live out in the suburbs(ironically the same area he grew up in before he got hip and moved downtown). We bought a townhouse at just the right time – I think it’s still worth just about what we paid for it. Although we’re a 20 minute drive to the “city” I do love where we live. We’re right near a state park that we can hike in and see deer, rabbits and the occasional wild boar. Sometimes racoons descend into our tiny yard to bathe in the water fountain. Our house is HUGE compared to what I grew up in and since it’s just the 2 of us and our 2 cats we have plenty of room to spread out. We also have several wineries within close driving distance so winetasting has become our new favorite hobby.

I would like to eventually move to a “real” house far enough away from the city to have some peace and quiet, but not too far that meeting friends downtown for drinks would constitute a hotel reservation. Also, I don’t think I’d want to have a septic tank on my property…with my luck that would just be a shitty mess.

By: Kath

Kath — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:49:11 +0000

I am in a bungalow in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario Canada – wine country – we are across from a vineyard. It is beautiful, charming and wonderful. And we are selling. We will move into rental housing for a while until we decide on the next thing. For now, we don’t want to be grownups any more, we don’t want to have to pay for shingles and paint, we don’t want to shovel and cut grass, we want to travel and simplify …

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:34:44 +0000

I live in the capital of fringeland, Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. I own a 4-story Victorian brownstone replete with fancy plasterwork, wood carvings and parquet floors. The garden is replete with mosquitoes, but I have a garden.

Would I like more shops, restaurants and a yoga studio? Of course. But coming home to my place makes my day every day. It’s an oasis.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:55:17 +0000

Moved from an 850 sqft 1920′s craftsman rental in a diverse, walkable neighborhood we could never in a million years afford since it is gentrifying to a 1440 sqft home at the top of a hill with a view of the San Diego skyline and the bay. with a yard. And roosters. Across the street. And we are the only people who speak English. And I love it.

By: Nic

Nic — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:27:47 +0000

Like another commenter, I think you need to come to Europe. I’m in London (England) in a Victorian terrace (?rowhouse) within 10 minutes of two stations, a tram, many shops, cafes, restaurants etc. I have to say, I like old houses best – big windows, high ceilings. Modern ones are too boxy – my first flat was well-located and all that, but I never really *liked* it – too modern and cookie-cutter. Not to mention the neighbours leaving rude anonymous notes about parking in the wrong space.

This, I’m sure, is entirely unhelpful to you in your dilemma. But you did say that you liked to hear from other people…

By: Corinne

Corinne — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:00:29 +0000

One comment: Cemeteries are wonderful neighbors. Quiet, beautiful, well-kept, permanent. After a while you stop seeing the stones and just see the grass and trees – it’s like an enormous garden you don’t pay taxes on.

By: Helen

Helen — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:18:36 +0000

Hiya
I know exactly where you are, i think. We went from a condo opposite Saji-Ya, to a house on Ashland just west of Lexington when our 2nd kid came along. The neighborhood there was unexpectedly phenomenal, a little perfect world. I missed the joys of Grand but the neighbors made up for it. Unfortunately we couldn’t afford to stay so now we are on the edges of where we want to be, on Iglehart around Victoria- certainly a different hood but we love the house and our lives are almost the same as before with a little more chainlink fence to look at. But our mortagage is halved and we pay around your rent for the joys (?!) of homeownership. Come up to the hood, we have two little girls for playdates… stalkerish? Don’t mean to be!