Una Casita Para Mi?

So, for the first time ever, we're contemplating buying a house. We could have bought something all along, but we've been reluctant to spend what we have (because then it's gone) in a place we're not sure we'll stay in in order to take on a mortgage that might be the same as our rent or higher. It didn't make sense for a few years. But El Hijo has probably a year and a half on the dissertation, and then we're probably looking at a transition year or a year apart :( for the job market -- if we're that lucky on a first plunge into the job market for profs in his field. On top of that, a little house just a block away is for sale. So, we're looking into it.

And by "little" I really mean TINY. Hence, why I'm calling it a Casita instead of a Casa! I would post pictures, but they all come with an address attached. I'm taking my own pictures tomorrow, so we'll see. We'd be giving up space; we would be losing a whole room, plus a utility room. It's got two bedrooms allegedly about the same size as the ones we have now; it has a "dining room" that is tiny, a galley kitchen and a living room; it has a "full bath", and I'm interested to see how they've managed to cram a toilet and a bathtub and a sink in that house in addition to the other rooms. It was built in the 1930s; it has a huge yard, which is great. We'll just have to see. D/B is going with me tomorrow to look at the house; she owns property and has maintained them all her life. If anyone can spot a lemon, it's her.

The benefits would be the mortgage payment is significantly less than our rent is now. We lose a lot of energy (and pay for it) in this apartment because the window seal is broken in most of the rooms; so the living room and Dante's bedroom are always colder than they should be in the winter time. We have central air, but we live over a brick garage, so the bricks act like an oven in the summer time (and oddly don't do the same in winter time, just when we'd need it most!) -- you can run the air, but it hardly matters. By 4:00, it's sweltering in the summer time. You have to go up stairs on either side of the house to get into it, a real pain in the winter time. We'd have a place to call our own that people couldn't jack up the rent on or throw us (and our cats) out of. There would be a cheaper place to stay if the job market proves problematic after El Hijo is done with his PhD. We get to take advantage of the new first time home buyer's tax credit, which would give us cash in hand up to $8000 at tax time (although we wouldn't get that much off of this place).

The cons to buying this little house would be giving up space, first and foremost. While I'm one to stuff myself into a tiny but clean box in order to call it my own, that's me. Dante needs to have enough stomping off in a huff so he can "show us" space. El Hijo needs to feel like he has a place to escape and be all intellectual. I have to have a space to read books and drink tea and pretend I'm a lady detective in Botswana. All these things are critical. Second, there is no air conditioning in the house. It looks like it sits in the shade, and it's not like we've actually gotten the benefit out of our air conditioning in this place (we mostly use fans); but that's a consideration. I think the washer and dryer are in the kitchen. The optimist in me goes "Yay, more 'counter space'!" but the pessimist in me goes "Where the hell do you iron clothes?"

The other problem is that somebody already has an option to buy contract on it -- once her property sells. But, if we came in with an offer the seller liked, the first buyer would have 48 hours to get her financing together or the deal is rejected and ours would be accepted. So, we could even make an offer, be accepted, and we still wouldn't get it. I don't like that. Seems stressful. The good news is we seem to be credit worthy and the loan seems like it's not going to be hard to get (so far). I'm working on getting a preapproval letter from the bank I like (going to try to go with the credit union, if they can give us the best deal), we're looking at the house tomorrow.

And then, if we like (or can tolerate) what we see, we might just make an offer! That's scary and exciting all at once. I'm trying not to get attached to the concept -- although I will admit to having a moment of daydreaming about planting sweet pea all up the lattice work on the sides ...

Anyway, it seems like the choice might be to downsize ourselves and live snugly or to keep renting and just wait out the next few years. It all depends on how snug "snug" really is. I'll know more tomorrow.

If we do decide to proceed, I'm going to call it Casita "Virgil" (insert real last name here). :D

-- DV

Oh, and if you have horror stories, warnings and advice about houses and the purchasing of them, please do tell!