Oops, I Did It Again, I Purchased a House
Executive summary: We are buying a home for the second time in 11 months. @_@ That was not the plan, but that’s how the university housing lottery works, so we’re just going to roll with it.
Oops, it wasn’t supposed to work out this way, but it is what it is. When we closed on our condo last March, we thought it would be our indefinite home. But now, as my husband puts it, the home where we thought we’d stay the longest has turned out to be the one where we lived for the shortest amount of time: 11 months, to be exact. The reason is that much of Stanford faculty housing is on a lottery, meaning that you have to take what you can get. The single-family homes here are way oversubscribed and receive ~30 applicants for every property, so I figured there was minimal chance of anything happening by entering a lottery here and there for the smaller houses in our development. As they only come up a couple times a year, it would take 10-15 years for us to land anything, in expectation … although my ever-logical husband points out that the probability of every lottery is independent. So of course I was thoroughly shocked when we landed in the #1 spot on only our sixth lottery (out of a record-setting pool of 39 entrants!) for a duplex in our current neighborhood that is within our desired price range. That makes us the lucky ones; the unlucky faculty probably enter 30 lotteries without success. I don’t really want to buy/sell and move after 11 months (it’s so much work, not to mention a financial loss, ouch!) but if we don’t take this opportunity, it might not come around again until the kids are in college. This house is also on a prime lot: situated at the end of a tiny cul-de-sac, bordering green open space, bathed in sunlight from the south-facing windows, and across the street from the pool and clubhouse. So even though it’s bigger (and more expensive) than I’d ideally want it to be, the location alone makes it hard to pass up.
I can’t believe we’re not going to be apartment/condo-dwellers anymore; I had assumed that might never change. It’ll be so weird to have an attached garage, haha (but that’s the feature my husband is most looking forward to).
This 3br+den (town)house is 2,200 square feet, which is bonkers when I consider the fact that we were living in a 1br 800 ft² apartment (by choice!) less than a year ago, before we moved into our 2br+den 1,300 ft² condo. I already felt intimidated by the size of our condo and had to make some purchases (e.g., chairs, dressers, rugs, bigger dining table) to fill it out. And that was just going from 800 to 1,300 ft². Now we’re going from 1,300 to 2,200 ft² and I’m tempted to just give up. Like, if the house is empty, then so be it, and that’s how I’ll maintain my minimalist cred. I know I’m no longer walking the walk in regards to small space living, but my affinity for it has not dimmed, and I still plan to be as intentional about my home and possessions as ever. That means not flooding our new house with underutilized stuff or relaxing my gatekeeper duties at the door (although I now have to guard both the front door and the garage door, lol). The long-cultivated minimalist habits and discipline are here to stay!
Another blank slate for me to start from … I’m feeling both excited and exhausted about the work that needs to be done.
Not only is this house is bigger than I’d like, it’s also more expensive than I’d like, although within our budget. To understand that statement, you’d have to know that my husband and I are very conservative financially — we’ve been saving like crazy ever since we started working 15+ years ago. We live far below our means, saving up to 70% of our after-tax income every year. We have never been tempted to buy the biggest and priciest home that we can afford. We don’t want to be “house poor” — we’ve gladly traded space for more disposable income that we can put toward our nest egg or experiences like travel. We wouldn’t have been interested in purchasing a home of this size and price without the assistance of Stanford’s faculty housing programs. The rule of thumb around the Palo Alto area is that it costs $1M per bedroom, so a 3br+den house would be $3-4M on the open market. Stanford gives us a steep discount and a load of favorable loans (but with maaaany strings attached, including the fact that we’ll be kicked out when my husband leaves or retires from Stanford). When all is said and done, the monthly cost of this 2,200 ft² house is probably comparable to renting a 2br apartment in the complex we were living in last year. That’s nuts! And does feel like winning the lottery.
It was not ever my plan to buy/sell twice within a year, but we are so fortunate to have this opportunity (that 38 other faculty would have jumped at). It’s going to be an adjustment living in what other Americans might consider an average-sized home, but which I consider practically a McMansion by my small space standards. There’s going to be a lot more chasing the kids around, which might be painful (but maybe we’ll get more exercise). One thing I am looking forward to is not having to constantly police the kids’ running/jumping. My primary gripe with apartment/condo living is the poor sound insulation between floors. When our upstairs neighbors walk around, every step sounds like a stomp, and the light fixtures even rattle on the ceiling. Knowing this, we are nonstop admonishing our kids to walk gently at home (which is halfway achievable for a 6yo but almost impossible for a 3yo whose natural gait makes the floor reverberate like a drum). That is the aspect I’m really looking forward to in the house and will make my life easier. That, and maybe being able to bring our groceries straight inside from the garage instead of schlepping it up three floors. Everything else … we’ll see. I hope this is truly the last time we’ll move in a long time, and that this will be the house the kids make their memories in. Wish us luck on a smooth move next month, and I’ll do my best to keep you posted as we make progress on settling in!