Your house...

[PamE]

Dh found a job in Kansas about 4 mos later and we moved there.

What part of Kansas? We lived in Newton and Leavenworth and I remember loving it (esp. Leavenworth).

[PamE]

After dh and I were married we moved into the (2/1) trailer he'd bought and been living in for a few years. Two years later, right after dd1 was born we moved into a 2/1 HUD home and lived there until ds1 was about 3mos old (a little over 4 years). Our house payment kept going up and up and we knew we'd have to move. About that time dh's parents an hour south of Tucson bought the house next door to theirs (bigger house and had more features they wanted) and offered the other one to us. We've lived here for eleven years now. It has three bedrooms, two baths and seems to fit us well. I have a love/hate relationship with the town we're in and loathe the Az summers. If I could move I'd do it in a heartbeat (with some reservations about leaving family, of course)!

[Ryleigh S.]

How many places have you lived in since you got married?
Five different houses, 3 different places.
Our first home, actually dh's before we married, we lived in for about six months before buying a house, just down the street from his Mother. (that has it's good and bad points). We moved to the Toronto area just before the came along. Then moved to the Thunder Bay area for a couple years and now back to the place we began, just not in town. I don't see us moving again...at least not for a very long time.

How many years have you lived in your house?
The one we are in now.... almost two.

When looking for a home, were there certain things you were looking for? (Fireplace, # of bedrooms... Location?) Location, # and size of bedrooms, lots of outdoor space for the kids, school zone, big kitchen (hate cooking, but hate feeling cramped even more).

What turned you off from some of the homes you looked at?
Some of the homes we looked at were just so dirty and grimy looking. One even had a kids bed under the stairs in the unfinished basement- holes in the plastic covering the insulation, spider webs hanging from the ceiling etc

What was the deciding factor in choosing the house you chose?
Lots of land (80 acres), good schools, close but not too close to family. Short drive to city, close to dh work so he would be home more and also better job for dh (better hours/ better pay/ better benifits)

[angie r]

Linda, except for ministers, I never heard of employers providing housing. That's really cool.

I was thinking the same thing!

[RCT]

about a month after dh and I met I moved into is one bedroom bachelor pad, for about 4 months, then we rented a little 2 bedroom home about 10 minutes from my parents, we lived there for three years. we were married for about a year when we moved to New Jersey, employer paid housing for us too, the office was in the house so it was really a great deal, we lived in a HUGE home 5/3, I called it a funeral home, lived there for a couple years, then moved to a smaller single story ranch, still employer paid around the block from the other house, it was nice 4/2, we had both kids there, I loved that house we were there for about 5 years, moved about 15 minutes away from there, so we are still in NJ and still employer paid 3/2 house split level ranch, I liked that house too, stayed there about a year then dh and I bought our farm house in Upstate NY, 5/2 needed alot of work, lived there for about 2 years, and the business wasn't taking off, and dh's company wanted us back in CA....sold our house, and moved back to CA...been renting this 3/2 for about 4 years now..its ok...can't afford to buy anything in this market. happy renting.

[Amy]

After I graduated from my Master's degree, I moved down to Fayetteville, NC and dh and I had a 2 /1 apartment. A year later, we bought a 5/3 farmhouse in Colorado with 5 acres (sight unseen). To say it was a fixer upper is an understatement! I was never more cultured shocked in my life. 2 years later we moved back to NC, but in Pinehurst,NC and rented a 3/2 bedroom house. The house needed updating, but the lot was beautiful. 4 years after that we moved back to Colorado and into another 3/2 rental. When dh was finally able to retire we were seriously looking into the Syracuse area. Put a bid on an estate that was amazing, but got outbid. Decided on the area we are in now due to the school district. Dh flew back here to look at houses that we available and chose this one (we had already seen it on realtor.com). It needed updating too and we have covered almost every room. This winter will be all new carpeting and within 3 years we would like to reside, new windows and redesign the outside to possibly include a front porch. I love my house and the layout and the small neighborhood, but we always wanted more land. 10 acres would have been ideal, but our size house, with that much land and in our area would cost 10,000 in taxes a year. Dh and I are deciding if this is our forever house or not.

[angie r]

about a month after dh and I met I moved into is one bedroom bachelor pad, for about 4 months, then we rented a little 2 bedroom home about 10 minutes from my parents, we lived there for three years. we were married for about a year when we moved to New Jersey, employer paid housing for us too, the office was in the house so it was really a great deal, we lived in a HUGE home 5/3, I called it a funeral home, lived there for a couple years, then moved to a smaller single story ranch, still employer paid around the block from the other house, it was nice 4/2, we had both kids there, I loved that house we were there for about 5 years, moved about 15 minutes away from there, so we are still in NJ and still employer paid 3/2 house split level ranch, I liked that house too, stayed there about a year then dh and I bought our farm house in Upstate NY, 5/2 needed alot of work, lived there for about 2 years, and the business wasn't taking off, and dh's company wanted us back in CA....sold our house, and moved back to CA...been renting this 3/2 for about 4 years now..its ok...can't afford to buy anything in this market. happy renting.

Doesn't the rent cover the cost of the mortgage? That doesn't make sense to me, but we are in such an affordable housing market.

[Beth/TX]

Doesn't the rent cover the cost of the mortgage? That doesn't make sense to me, but we are in such an affordable housing market.

Not in California. Real estate prices are crazy there!

Our friends that we graduated with wound up staying in California when we moved. Both of them worked tho, and were barely able to pay for a house. They wound up buying a 1700 sq ft house for $350,000 (this was 8 yrs ago too). They had 15 mins from entering the house to decide whether or not they wanted to buy it, because the realtor had a whole line of people waiting to see it.

I have a friend that is moving to southern California. She's been looking at housing prices. 1200 sq ft houses start at $450,000 and up, and 2000 sq ft houses start at $700,000. It's incredible!

[Linda/NE]

Linda, except for ministers, I never heard of employers providing housing. That's really cool.

Dh did a lot of farming jobs and when we moved to Kansas he went through a job agency that specialized in ag jobs. They worked with employers who paid salary, rather than hourly wage and provided benefit packages--housing was often included. In Kansas, the employers found the house for us to rent and gave us the money to pay the rent each month. When we moved to Sargent (45 minutes from here) the boss owned the house so there was no rent payment. These farmers/ranchers preferred it this way so the employee was closer to work. The job in Sargent was a Pure Bred Angus feedlot and calving season meant checking cows at 3 AM and being able to go help at a moments notice. One winter we had such a terrible blizzard that even though we lived less than a mile from the boss and sale barn, dh and the other ranch hands had to stay at his house so they could dig out and feed cattle in the morning. I personally would have preferred to live in town, still do actually.

[Linda/NE]

What part of Kansas? We lived in Newton and Leavenworth and I remember loving it (esp. Leavenworth).

We lived just across the NE/ KS border just outside of a little town called Clyde. Clyde is between Belleville and Concordia. I worked at Head Start in Concordia. I really liked that city. Population about 9,000 I think. Belleville was more like where we live now, probably less than 3000. We didn't do much business there except doctors. That's where dd # 1 was born.

When we moved to KS it just seemed so backward. They (Clyde)didn't have ATM's and some people hadn't even heard of them. Method of Licensing vehicles, the lack of tv reception, registering for school, and so many other things were just so foreign to us. Guess I don't do well with change.

[littlesista06]

RCT

about a month after dh and I met I moved into is one bedroom bachelor pad, for about 4 months, then we rented a little 2 bedroom home about 10 minutes from my parents, we lived there for three years. we were married for about a year when we moved to New Jersey, employer paid housing for us too, the office was in the house so it was really a great deal, we lived in a HUGE home 5/3, I called it a funeral home, lived there for a couple years, then moved to a smaller single story ranch, still employer paid around the block from the other house, it was nice 4/2, we had both kids there, I loved that house we were there for about 5 years, moved about 15 minutes away from there, so we are still in NJ and still employer paid 3/2 house split level ranch, I liked that house too, stayed there about a year then dh and I bought our farm house in Upstate NY, 5/2 needed alot of work, lived there for about 2 years, and the business wasn't taking off, and dh's company wanted us back in CA....sold our house, and moved back to CA...been renting this 3/2 for about 4 years now..its ok...can't afford to buy anything in this market. happy renting.

Doesn't the rent cover the cost of the mortgage? That doesn't make sense to me, but we are in such an affordable housing market.

I'm sorry, I'm still amazed she moved in with her boyfriend of 1 month!!

[littlesista06]

My story is pretty short. Lived at home til I moved to FL to start college and live with my sister and her hubby. That was a baaad idea. Mom remarried and stepdad sent me a one way plane ticket up here and offered to put me through school so here I am.

I lived with them til I married dh. I moved into his 2 bed/2.5 bath townhouse (we still have as rental prop.). After we were married 3 yrs. we bought this house, a 3 bed/2.5 bath. We didn't think we'd be here as long as we have (11 yrs. in May) but can't decide where we want to 'go'.

[RCT]

RCT




I'm sorry, I'm still amazed she moved in with her boyfriend of 1 month!!

Its been 18 years today since we met.

And I still love hearing his voice on the phone, and hearing his voice say he's home.

[RCT]

Doesn't the rent cover the cost of the mortgage? That doesn't make sense to me, but we are in such an affordable housing market.

Crazy huh.....our rent is half what our mortgage would be....prices in our neighborhood are around 575,000.00 and climbing....we are happy just renting right now....never know if we will become gypsys again.

[KarlaB]

I'm sorry, I'm still amazed she moved in with her boyfriend of 1 month!!

And still so in love with each other to this day!