A Taste of the Insane Art of Home Buying
As research for future residence possibilities, I began to search for homes in the Los Angeles area online. Little did I know that searching for a home in a place you cannot conveniently visit is one of the most ridiculous and painstaking tasks that one will ever perform.
Without a firm grasp on the subdivision of the city into towns and communities, it's nearly impossible to narrow down your search, except to avoid areas you are certain are not what you're looking for. In an effort to avoid alienating anyone who might happen to be from one of those areas that frequents this blog (highly unlikely - but why take chances?), I'll avoid stating which areas I seek to avoid. However, I have no idea if that makes other areas any better.
Perhaps the biggest problem I have with the search is that when I narrowly define what I'm looking for (and to avoid ridicule from friends and family, I'll not state what my preferences are in a home) in a residence and specifically define a town or community, I get almost no returns. Or alternatively, if I use the same specifications and put "Los Angeles" as the general "city," I get 1,000 returns ... none of which are anywhere near what my specifications were.
As I've come to understand it in my limited experiences, home buying is an unscientific art where you search randomly for a place you might possibly want to inhabit for a certain period of time (one year to the rest of your life, perhaps). However, that doesn't mean that I can't expect that when technology offers the possibility of [more] easily finding the type of environment I'm looking for, that I shouldn't expect it to do just that. While I can expect to be disappointed that one house has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, but only a driveway and not a garage (just examples, not specifically what I'm seeking), I think it's perfectly acceptable for me to be completely pissed when a specific search for a 2+ bedroom, 1.5+ bathroom single-family home returns a condo with 2 bedrooms, 1 bath in a "unit" (which is not what I expect when I seek a single-family "home").
I want a stand-alone house, with grass and a driveway. I want at least two bedrooms, and I would prefer two bathrooms. I want a newer house in a nice community, where, if we eventually choose to have kids, I wouldn't mind them growing up. I want to be near young people, but not in the middle of a campus. I want a basement, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and a second floor. To be perfectly succinct, what I'm seeking is a "taste of home."
I hate urban life. I hate not having a car. I hate the bleakness of the Northeast. I hate the attitude of New York. I hate being in an apartment, and more importantly I despise the enclosed confines of our one-bedroom unit.
All-in-all, I feel like a caged animal seeking to be released into the wilds.
It's a daydream. A fantasy. Something I won't have for ... well, for a while.
But I want it nonetheless.
Without a firm grasp on the subdivision of the city into towns and communities, it's nearly impossible to narrow down your search, except to avoid areas you are certain are not what you're looking for. In an effort to avoid alienating anyone who might happen to be from one of those areas that frequents this blog (highly unlikely - but why take chances?), I'll avoid stating which areas I seek to avoid. However, I have no idea if that makes other areas any better.
Perhaps the biggest problem I have with the search is that when I narrowly define what I'm looking for (and to avoid ridicule from friends and family, I'll not state what my preferences are in a home) in a residence and specifically define a town or community, I get almost no returns. Or alternatively, if I use the same specifications and put "Los Angeles" as the general "city," I get 1,000 returns ... none of which are anywhere near what my specifications were.
As I've come to understand it in my limited experiences, home buying is an unscientific art where you search randomly for a place you might possibly want to inhabit for a certain period of time (one year to the rest of your life, perhaps). However, that doesn't mean that I can't expect that when technology offers the possibility of [more] easily finding the type of environment I'm looking for, that I shouldn't expect it to do just that. While I can expect to be disappointed that one house has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, but only a driveway and not a garage (just examples, not specifically what I'm seeking), I think it's perfectly acceptable for me to be completely pissed when a specific search for a 2+ bedroom, 1.5+ bathroom single-family home returns a condo with 2 bedrooms, 1 bath in a "unit" (which is not what I expect when I seek a single-family "home").
I want a stand-alone house, with grass and a driveway. I want at least two bedrooms, and I would prefer two bathrooms. I want a newer house in a nice community, where, if we eventually choose to have kids, I wouldn't mind them growing up. I want to be near young people, but not in the middle of a campus. I want a basement, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and a second floor. To be perfectly succinct, what I'm seeking is a "taste of home."
I hate urban life. I hate not having a car. I hate the bleakness of the Northeast. I hate the attitude of New York. I hate being in an apartment, and more importantly I despise the enclosed confines of our one-bedroom unit.
All-in-all, I feel like a caged animal seeking to be released into the wilds.
It's a daydream. A fantasy. Something I won't have for ... well, for a while.
But I want it nonetheless.
posted by Dave at 2:46:00 AM
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