Personal Journal: the strategic default of the house we purchased in 2006

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Housing Irony




     Our first house in Sparks, Nevada is again for sale.  We purchased it in 2003 after moving from Ohio.  We purchased it in the $200's and sold it just as the market was peaking/crashing at the end of 2005 in the $300's.  Now it is for sale in the $100's, seven years later.  We used the money we got from the sale of the house in 2005 as a down for the house we just sold short in 2010.
     Look at that house!  It is pretty nifty! I especially like  the color, mostly because I painted it that color (with the help of some of you reading this). I'll admit that I did not like living in Sparks.  Maybe it was the location, maybe it was just a personally rough patch for me, maybe it was this house, or maybe it was because I wanted to be somewhere else.  
     Every few months I look at the real estate in Sparks to see if 'our house' goes back on the market.  Yesterday, I found it.  It has been for sale for a month.  The man who bought it from us was not kind to us, and it was a terrible experience selling and moving out, but we were glad to go.  Knowing how much he paid us for it, and that it is for sale for now, I feel like it is Karma.  I try that feeling on for about 2 seconds and then take it off.  I should feel sad for him, and that it might be adding to his crabby-ness, and I do feel sad.  I actually feel fortunate.  Seeing this house for sale again, makes me disinterested in owning a home.  A useful way to work through painful stuff is to look at it in a new way.  I've re-capture events and details with a new point of view.  Finding this house for sale, reclaimed my memory for the better.
The kids throw laundry down the stairs, instead of going to bed.
 Look how clever they are!
     I keep thinking that I won't contribute to this blog anymore, because our adventure with the real-estate market is seemingly over.  Though it may be over, I'm still figuring it all out.  Looking at the numbers, and looking back, farther than just our last house, we have lost nothing.  Yes, we have had to say goodbye to much, but lost something?  No!  Not really even money, which is the most superficial part of this whole situation.  I still remember nursing my baby in that house, the tomatoes and roses in the garden, snow in the yard, breakfast with my sister, my boy's first day of kindergarden, and killer desert rainbows!  Aren't we always saying goodbye to something, and adjusting to something new, or shouldn't we be?
     Today I am thankful to be where I am.  If proximity matters, then I am happy here.  If the proximity of my heart matters, then I am even more happy to be where I am.