My wife and I have been house hunting for the past two months and are struggling with where we should settle (hopefully for the rest of our days). I teach in South Portland (Maine), she teaches in Westbrook (Maine). The trickiest part of the equation is my son. Jared is 13 months old and will be going to my sister's for daycare in Cape Elizabeth, so our house would hopefully be in a location that makes going to drop him off, to school, get him, and then to home, reasonable. This is of course a problem that only exists until he goes to school, so it is not an absolute factor, but is still one. I am personally drawn to a large yard, and dream of spending my summers tending vegetable plots. My wife desires a nice house and insists on public water and having Jared be able to ride his bike around a nice neighborhood. With all of these factors put together, we are having a hard time finding and agreeing on many properties.
If any of you have advice or thoughts on this I would greatly appreciate it.
The three pictures attached are three options we are currently considering. If you have any thought on those I would also appreciate it.
Schooner rd- South Portland -MLS#: 969439
Wagner Farm- Gorham- MLS#968869
Qunicy Drive- Gorham- MLS#972692
Hi Jeremy!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your house hunt! There really are so many considerations. My husband and I will be married for two years this July and we will have lived in our house for two years come September. It took us nearly an entire year to find our house--and in the end it was the third house that we put an offer on--but now it is so worth it.
We both grew up in NH, but my husband grew up in the Granite State's capital "city," Concord. When we began looking, we thought that we wanted to live in Concord (a city of about 40,000). I was excited for something larger (my hometown has about 5,000 folks in it) and was eager to be close enough to walk to the park or the lively downtown. Eventually our search took us about 15 minutes away from Concord and we ended up in our teeny, tiny town: Dunbarton, population 2000. Our neighborhood is serene, wooded, and tucked behind a major road that takes us to the convenience of the city and the highway in one direction, and the commute to work in the other. What I like most is our large yard. It is idea for gardening, enjoying a fire, and spotting the local wildlife. Though we do not have any little ones yet, we hope to some day soon. I am, however, quite confident that this neighborhood will be a great place for our kids to ride their bikes around the neighborhood.
So I say: go for the location that feels best. It sounds so silly, but you'll know it when you see it. And for us, location has made all the difference. If that advice is too vague, go for the yard (you'll love the fresh summertime veggies!!!) So go for the yard and look for a neighborhood that has space for kids to run and play. And do listen to your lovely wife about the public water. We have a well and we have a little bit of arsenic. We are working on treating it, but it is very expensive.
Again, good luck with this process!
Maureen