After a year of trying to sell the spacious mountain home my husband and I raised our family in, (four realtors and five price reductions later) we have decided to also put our new townhome on the market. This was the home we “downsized” to in a picturesque new development on the other side of town.
This was our first new home ever! I’d spent years dreaming about when this day would come! I was so excited at the idea of living in a brand new place where I could pick everything out from colors to countertops, to flooring etc. (My husband delegated the decorating to me.) I would make it a haven where my husband could come home after a hard day’s work and relax with his bride of 33 years.
But the year was a tough one. It took all that time to iron out the kinks of buying new construction. Things went wrong…Lots of things that we had to go through the tedious process of reporting to the builder and getting fixed. I can’t count the hours we spent dealing with all of it. What should have been a wonderful honeymoon year (2nd honeymoon) turned out to be nothing but aggravation and stress.
Finally, all the issues have been resolved (the last one being taken care of as I write) and my husband and I have the spectacular home we envisioned.
Are we crazy (after all that) to give up our dream home? I don’t think so. I realize how much pressure we’ve been under for the past 12 months, being a slave to two mortgages. All I did all year was worry and worry and worry. (My husband said I worried enough for the both of us.) Obviously, we couldn’t change the real estate market. Lots of great, fairly priced homes didn’t sell. It was nothing we had control over.
I thought about what life was like over 30 years ago, when my husband and I (and 2 babies at the time) lived in less than ideal housing. Funny, how I remember very little about my surroundings but have wonderful memories about how extremely happy we were!
The truth is, I would live in a tent with the man I love if it meant that he didn’t have to work so hard and could enjoy life more.
And I know now more than ever that…
“ It’s not the house that makes a home!”
