corina Posted August 27, 2006 Report Share Posted August 27, 2006 my husband and i have to make a really difficult decision. we have to decide wheteher we will move to a single story house or stay in our townhouse and make it more comfortable for me. i already have an elevator to be able to go upstairs (paid by our local government as elevators are very expensive and they have a fund for that) but the kitchen has to be adjusted as well as the garden (i love to try do some gardening while seated but the garden is too big for me and my husband is too busy to do this as well), we need to maintain the roof and redecorate our bedroom and the livingroom. this all will cost a lot of money and i'm not feeling very happy here. buying an appartment though is also VERY expensive and we still need to do a lot of extra work (make an extra bedroom as all appartments just have two and we at least need 3), a new kitchen, a bath and some other things. also, we will have much less space, which isn't great for our teenage sons.we now are investigating on how much each opportunity will cost and what will be best for all 4 of us. it is a real difficult decision (especially because there is so much money involved and i can't work). i don't ever feel sorry for myself but this is all because of my illness and i really hate it.do you guys have any ideas??? i would really appreciate that,corina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Tired Posted August 27, 2006 Report Share Posted August 27, 2006 You might have to consider how much longer the children will be home. When we were looking at adding a room to our attic, we changed our minds because my son is 14. He has now decided to live with his dad anyway, so it would have really been a pain if we had gone to the effort and expense of doing the remodel then had no reason to. It sounds like you are comfortable where you are - except for the garden being too much. But, how bad would it be to move?? I know neither of us could handle (physically) making another move. We have 1 1/2 acres.... We have 5 goats - should I mail you one??? They are a big help with the mowing and they are cute besides! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calypso Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Corina,Sounds like you have a difficult decision to make. I guess I wonder how attached you are to your current house. If you are more frustrated by it than comfortable, I wonder if moving would be better. It also makes sense to figure out how much longer you'll need three bedrooms. Can you wait another couple years? How old are your sons?I just wanted to say I am sure you'll make the right decision. I know how hard it is to have financial pressure as well; we live in a house that is very average-priced, yet we can barely afford it because my husband and I picked journalism as a profession, and it does not pay well! Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Hi Corina,I would try to would it off a bit like the other said and see how many years I still need more rooms. When the time comes you might be able to save one move and go into a smaller house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corina Posted August 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 amy, our house is a townhouse with a lot of space for the kids inside (which is difficult for me at the same time), but i'm not really happy in this neighborhood. our kids are 15 and (almost) 12 so we thought that if we would stay we would have to stay for at least 10 years to make the adjustments worth the money. also in 10 years our oldest son will probably live on his own, but i'm not sure about the youngest as he wants to study to become a PCP which is at least another 5 years in highschool and 9 years of study. as he can study in a city nearby he'll probably stay home to minimize the costs (can you believe i'm thinking about all that while i'm used to live just day by day!!!!!). the question is: can i wait another 10 years?????? to be honest, i'm afraid not.oh and amy, guess what: our oldest son wants to become a journalist as well. here in the netherlands it's a well paid job. maybe you and your husband should move over??? gayla, although i would LOVE you to mail me a goat, it would be bad for the goat, as we don't have grass anymore!! my husband got the grass out some years ago as it was too much work for him next to his job. i made myself manager of the garden and the boys help me a lot! in fact: i make the plans and they do the work (with my husband of course) corina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Tired Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Well, all those things considered, you might be ahead to go ahead and make the change. When we had to move 1300 miles because of my health (No medical care and no close by relatives or friends) it was very difficult but if we had waited any longer it would have been impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michiganjan Posted August 29, 2006 Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 Hi Corina,If you do decide to move do you have the opportunity to build a new house, so you could then plan it anyway you like it. I love my house, which we built. It is a story and a half. Meaning the main floor on ground level has all the living space including a master bedroom with bath. The upstairs is only over 1/2 the house and all that is up there are two bedrooms and a bath. That way you would have room for your boys now, and later, when they are gone you would have guestroom quarters. Now that my husband is retired and we have no kids at home, I only go upstairs once or twice a month in order to run the water in the bathroom and flush the toilet to keep water in the traps. Once a month the upstairs might get dusted and vacuumed and otherwise it just sits there until someone comes to stay overnight and then I just sent them up there and let them pick a bed.Our small upstairs has its own furnace zone, so we don't even have to heat/cool it except minimally unless someone wants to sleep up there.You are also fortunate that you don't have to move at any given time and can do so when the real estate market is good for selling. I think the biggest clue you gave in your post is that you don't like the neighborhood where you live. You will not be able to solve that problem by remodeling your current home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ariella Posted August 29, 2006 Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 Corina,You mentioned that you aren't happy in your current house. It may be worth giving a lot of thought as to why, it may help you make the decision.good luck!Ariella Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corina Posted August 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 thank you all, for giving your opinions. it really gave me some more to think about. first of all: i am very grateful that we were able to buy THIS house. during the 23 years that we own it, it's value raised a lot, so we do have some money. buying an appartment though is VERY expensive so we would have a high morgage which we don't want (that's because we want the boys to be able to study).building a new house sounds really great jan, as you said, it would give us the opportunity to make it as we want/need. the land here is VERY expensive though and there is not much free space in the area (the netherlands is such a small country!!!) so that isn't a possibility for us.reading all your suggestions and thinking it over i think the best option for all 4 of us is to stay here, make our house as comfortable as we can and stay for about 10 years. we would have the adjustments paid for themselves by then and, when the kids have left our home, we again can think of how and where we want to live. besides making our home more comfortable i would have to redecorate our livingroom. i know i can be happy inside our home and i will try to feel more at home in our neighborhood.thanks for thinking with me,corina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corina Posted August 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 thank you all, for giving your opinions. it really gave me some more to think about. first of all: i am very grateful that we were able to buy THIS house. during the 23 years that we own it, it's value raised a lot, so we do have some money. buying an appartment though is VERY expensive so we would have a high morgage which we don't want (that's because we want the boys to be able to study).building a new house sounds really great jan, as you said, it would give us the opportunity to make it as we want/need. the land here is VERY expensive though and there is not much free space in the area (the netherlands is such a small country!!!) so that isn't a possibility for us.reading all your suggestions and thinking it over i think the best option for all 4 of us is to stay here, make our house as comfortable as we can and stay for about 10 years. we would have the adjustments paid for themselves by then and, when the kids have left our home, we again can think of how and where we want to live. besides making our home more comfortable i would have to redecorate our livingroom. i know i can be happy inside our home and i will try to feel more at home in our neighborhood.thanks for thinking with me,corina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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