Ain't Life Funny?

So a little while ago, the universe put someone in my path by the name of Morgan. She was obviously very cool, because she said she liked my blog (check out her awesome blog here). Anyhoo, being the modern gals we are, we Facebooked each other and got around to hanging out, and it turns out they're new homeowners. (Also her son is extremely adorable and-- weirdness of weirdness--she and I used to live kind of near each other back in Clintonville, but never knew it. There are other similarities, but I don't want to scare you.)

So we had this conversation about homeownership, and suddenly all these obstacles that I'd just assumed would be blocking the path towards our owning a home just kind of melted away. And there's this $8,000 tax credit for first time home-buyers, and holy moo...that really is kind of enticing, isn't it? I mean, we've saved up a decent downpayment over the years, but wouldn't that make the beginnings of a nice house emergency fund?

So she talked about where they're living, and how happy they are, and I began to calculate how many years we have until Eva starts kindergarden, and the fact that we're pretty much eternally priced out of living within our current city (it's that pesky affordability + decent school system equation), and well...I started to think that the "someday" we'd move out of the city and into our own house might possibly be here.

Maybe "someday" is now.

So I e-mailed someone I trusted about it, and got some good food for thought from her, and went ahead and called a realtor and mortgage company yesterday. I've got a list of houses in a couple of places-- all of them modest, and some of them kind of cute-- and though no official balls have started rolling yet, we're pre-approved for a sensible amount upon which we could make a sensible downpayment.

There's still a lot-- a LOT-- to consider. The more I'm warming up to the idea of leaving the city, there's a lot to mourn about it-- walkability, the fact that Mr. Milkweed can bike to work, the proximity of cool coffee shops and library branches and playgrounds and farmer's markets-- the list goes on. However, the bald facts are that we can either strike now when the interest rates are low and there's an $8,000 tax credit, or sit on our stagnant downpayment amount until the kids are in school and I start earning more income, which is a good 7-8 years down the road. Renting for 7-8 more years just makes me kind of sad, even if we could stay in the city (and that's doubtful, because the affordability + good school system equation comes into play again. We're most likely priced out of renting in the city neighborhood with the coveted schools.) Also, we're going to get a lot less for our money as soon as the economy perks back up again.

So, yes-- ain't life funny? Here we are suddenly seriously exploring something that I thought I *might* be lucky enough to do once Eva was 9 or 10 years old. As to how it turns out, well...I'm doing a lot of praying and numbers crunching and a LOT of research online, and we're discussing every pro and con. I'll let you know how things develop!

Exciting...and a little scary, too.