The Perks of the Older Home

This week, I bumped into a sweet young Mom from my church who is also in the middle of a corporate relocation. We compared notes on our buying and selling process. Her husband's job is taking them to Michigan. After house hunting for a while, they've decided to live in a temporary apartment while they build a new home.

I will admit, as the weeks went by, my husband and I did consider this possibility. There's something very appealing about a brand new, fresh house. You can pick the paint colors, the fixtures, the flooring, the lighting. But there are the drawbacks. In our area of Pittsburgh, brand new construction price points began at the top of our budget. That would mean we'd be getting a bare bones, builder grade house on a lot the size of a postage stamp.

And let's talk about that lot. In a new construction home, they literally scrape away the topsoil to build. You are left with a sand pit, or worse yet, clay soil that you are forever trying to amend.

My husband and I are lovers of nature. Our surroundings matter, both inside the home and outside as well. We could never be happy on a lot that my mother-in-law has dubbed "an F and F-er". She calls those open yards "Freeze and Fryers", because without the trees and landscaping, you are likely to freeze in the winter winds and fry in the summer sun.

She's got a point there!

This week, my husband went back to our potential future home for the inspection, while I stayed home to attend to the boys and the house and school events.

"Send me photos of the yard!" I begged. It has been a month since I toured the place, and I really didn't get to inspect the yard very thoroughly.

He sent me these photos, and I swooned with delight!

My future yard looks like a park! Flowering trees and shrubs! Hydrangeas and hostas and lilacs and rhododendrons! I'm so happy! And let me tell you this...my husband is normally pretty stingy with the photos, so when he sent me this many shots, I knew it could only mean one thing. He loves the yard, too!

"It's very private," he said. "You can't see your neighbors."

Wow!

"Trust me," he continued. "You are going to spend HOURS in Mary Rose world!"

He knows me too well.