Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

on the market

Rob and I have started the tentative, slightly terrifying process of looking for our own little piece of the American Dream: a one- or two-bedroom condo somewhere in our neighborhood in Arlington. Certainly, the prospect of owning our own place is exciting. But as we look at more prospective places and start to work out the financial details, things get a lot more sobering.

On Saturday, we toured four units. One, a two-bedroom with cathedral ceilings, we absolutely adored. (Except for the brand-new washer-dryer hiding behind a screen in the living room. That was a little weird. Otherwise, though…) But while a two-bedroom condo would be ideal, we’d have to go out of our current neighborhood to find something affordable and somewhat nice. We ended up deciding against pursuing a two-bedroom for now; better to buy a one-bedroom now and then “upgrade” to a two-bedroom in a few years if we really need the space.

A one-bedroom unit in the same complex had been painstakingly renovated, with a beautiful kitchen and an awesome European-style washer/dryer (the two functions are combined into a single unit) cleverly built into a cabinet in the living room. Downsides: price and a lack of storage space.

We really liked the complex, though; it reminded me a lot of my old place in Del Ray. We’ll be back tonight to look at a few other units.

We previewed another condo in a high-rise down the street from our current apartment. We’d been really excited to see it, because the price was right, the photos with the listing revealed a HUGE, well-appointed kitchen and, based on the floorplan, it was about the same size as our apartment. And the unit itself didn’t disappoint. But the building’s interior was a crushing disappointment, dark and unimpressive, with an absurdly long walk from the elevator to the unit. (The building is very wide, with the elevator on only one end, rather than in the middle or on both ends.)

We also checked out a unit in Colonial Village. The unit itself elicited only a “meh” reaction from us, but since the location is good and the units tend to vary widely within this particular community, we’re going to continue looking at other listings here.

The challenge of finding a good place aside, then there’s the financial reality of all this. Real estate prices out here carry quite the sticker shock anyway, compared to just about anywhere else in the country. But it really doesn’t hit home just how expensive it is until you start trying to figure out how you’re going to pay for it. We were hitting our Excel budget spreadsheet and the mortgage calculators with increasing frenzy this weekend, tweaking numbers and proposing various ways to cut back so we can afford this venture and still be able to put a little money aside for emergencies. We’re getting some help from Rob’s family, for which I’m incredibly grateful; otherwise, there’s no way we’d be able to do this right now. And by last night, we finally had a tentative plan, which made me feel a lot better.