I was in the middle of a phone conversation with my mom one Friday night, several weeks ago. ‘My old [former] house is for sale,’ she informed me, ‘guess how much it’s going for?’ I had no clue and professed as much. ‘Forty-four thousand!’ My brain struggled to comprehend the number: 44,000. Dollars?! Isn’t that the price…..of a moderately expensive car?
We gasped. Enviously. Having spent nearly three years in a city where forty-four thousand dollars might buy you a used RV. A place where a dump of a house on a postage-stamp-sized lot…..will cost you ten times that amount.
So we sat on the couch and stared at the laptop screen as we looked at the real estate listings in our former hometown. There was the house we used to walk by on our neighborhood walks. The one with the tennis court. The one….for $485,000.
We wiped away our cheap real estate-induced tears and broadened our search to Indianapolis. Where we found this mid-century modern gem. Designed by an actual architect. For $249,000.
Suddenly we were depressed. And all the Snow Leopard in the world couldn’t cheer us up. So we buried the laptop.
On Sunday we went for a bike ‘ride’; meaning the oldest two were perched upon bikes while we adults walked beside them. Doing our best to [patiently] exhort the three year old and the one year old to move it! We followed the trail past Heritage Park into one of Calgary’s finer neighborhoods. There were chirping birds and tall trees, large lots and even larger houses. It was exactly the kind of neighborhood I’d like to live in…….if I was some sort of plastic-surgeon-to-the-stars.
We passed a bungalow that was for sale. ‘Look at that one,’ I motioned to the professor, a tinge of hope evident in my voice. Certain that, though we could definitely not afford it, it had the highest possibility of being the cheapest house on the block. ‘That’s going to be two million,’ the professor dashed my dreams. Dollars? He had to be joking. ‘But…..it’s small-ish,’ I protested, gesturing towards the modest facade and the measly two-car-garage. He shook his head at my real estate naivete. I vowed to prove him wrong.
Time to move to Mississippi, methinks.
No moving away – not allowed!
What’s not to like about the mid-century modern gem in Indianapolis? Lovely house and backyard and a good babysitter in the area.
5 bedrooms??? You could have another baby…..
I think Kristen sums Mississippi up best, ‘cheap real estate is not enough for me to move back! Ever!’ That and the fact that I was sweltering during that one 73 degree day we had last week. We may have to move north to the Yukon Territories. Perhaps we can find a cheap patch of ice upon which to perch an igloo. Berta, there was a $1.9 million home for sale in the same neighborhood, and the listing implied as much ‘perfect lot for your dream home.’ Brandi, seeing as we only seem to produce boy-children who are incapable of sleeping through the night during their first two years of life…..I’ll pass….I could use the 5th bedroom as my gift-wrapping room instead.