What To Do

Dallas, Take Three. We literally spent all of last weekend driving the surrounding areas, trying to get a feel for what may be considered a good neighborhood or bad neighborhood.

We went to four open houses, wrote down a dozen addresses of houses that had 'for sale' signs in the front yard and even looked at a condominium. In all the driving around, we did find an area that we absolutely loved. It's an older area with well kept homes, manicured yards and lots of space. The houses didn't all look the same, which we like. Anyway, after getting back home and plugging the addresses in, we learned that the highly sought after area is just a wee bit over our budget. Or to put it another way - 'there is no way we're going to spend that kind of money on a house.'

The bigger issue I personally have is that after having lived in 400 square feet for the past 5 years, it's hard to walk into a house with 2200 square feet and imagine myself living in it. What in the world would I do with 4 bedrooms? Or 3 baths? A living room AND a family room? Formal dining and breakfast room? And a yard? Uh, that means grass, which translates to 'need a lawn mower', and an edger, weed killer, flower pots, a spade.......the thoughts make me tired.

Another option is a condominium. No exterior maintenance to worry about, right? There are several drawbacks to condo living though. First and foremost, HOA fees which can run anywhere from $300-a month and up. Second, living in a condo is really no different than living in an apartment. Would your neighbors blast the TV at 3:00 a.m.? What if they cooked brussel sprouts all the time? What if they have a newborn baby with colic?

Option Number 3: Rent. We did look at loft apartments in downtown Dallas to lease. They were nice...I could see myself living in one. But! $1500/month to rent....plus utilities. Shoot, that's a house payment. And, you'd have the same possibilities you'd have with a condo. You don't know what your neighbors are going to do. OH! Plus, they charge a huge pet deposit, 1/2 of which is non-refundable, and the 'pet area' would never work for Jack.

Suffice it to say, the past few days have been exasperating and exhausting. At the end of the day, I love my RV.