We Bought A House And Our Lives (Naturally) Changed

Mostly for the better.

When we decided to buy a house, we were so focused on the process that I didn’t spend much time thinking about what sort of post-move changes to expect. I was obsessed with Redfin (I still like to look at it sometimes) and did a lot of research about different neighborhoods — nearest taco place and nearest bus line were my primary concerns. The real estate market here in the Portland area is intense and sometimes it looked like we’d never find anything semi-decent that we could afford. But, then, we found it. It’s not technically in Portland (but it’s very close in!) and it’s a really old house, but also charming. The last factor in making it affordable? It is really — I mean, really — close to a train track.

The train doesn’t seem to run on any particular schedule. It’s a freight train, so maybe it only goes somewhere when it has a full load to carry. I keep thinking I should do some research about its potential schedule or, perhaps, document its passing in a train log. Then, I could solve a murder mystery or something by explaining that on Tuesdays the train actually goes by at 4:30 not 4:15 — -completely ruining a suspect’s alibi. The house lends itself to this kind of romantic imagining. It’s on the end of a dead end street, surrounded by trees and at night it can get downright spooky.

The house is bigger than our apartment was. Having more space was one of the changes that I actually anticipated and was looking forward to. The other night we had five people cooking together in our kitchen — completely unheard of in our previous apartment. When my husband wakes up super early for no reason, he can go make noise far, far away from me. The unanticipated downside is that I’m constantly losing things. I keep reassuring myself that this is just part of the moving process — we haven’t found logical places for everything yet — but I wonder if maybe I’m just not capable of keeping track of my possessions in a larger space. I’ve never lived in a house with two floors before and every morning I find myself running up and down the stairs in search of my hairbrush or my water glass.

Although the house is bigger, the community is smaller. They have wacky community events (we’re definitely going to the upcoming umbrella parade!) and we talk about joining the neighborhood association, which for some reason I can’t imagine us ever doing in Portland. We’re already striving to be regulars at our local diner where breakfast only costs $9 but the coffee is basically undrinkable. Things are already changing here — -we’ve got several antique stores that mostly sell old Pez dispensers and a steak place that also has Chinese food and karaoke, but we also have a new craft beer bottle shop and a fancy/hippie “apothecary.” Though we are new to the area, we already feel bittersweet about these changes.

The new neighborhood also means a new commute. I work downtown and it now takes me 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes to get there, but I get to take the light rail instead of the bus. This may wear off at some point, but for the time being, I get really excited about taking the light rail. We don’t get stuck in traffic! We go over the special only public transit, bikes and pedestrians bridge! Did I mention the part about not getting stuck in traffic?

The commute to visit friends is a bit harder — -we’re a one car household and we’ve had to start coordinating our plans more carefully. Before, I could just meet a friend at one of the inexpensive bars/restaurants/coffee shops within walking distance of our apartment. Now, convincing someone to drive for 20 minutes to meet me at a mediocre establishment is a tougher sell.

Another obvious change that I hadn’t really thought through: owning a home means we have no landlord to call when things break. (I know, you’re right: I should’ve seen this coming.) We have to use Google or call my dad or just try to figure it out. We can make our own decorating choices, but that stuff is time-consuming, too. It takes hours and hours to transform our horrible brown-green bedroom to a lovely light yellow one, but the satisfaction is visceral once we’re done. It’s empowering to see the result of your efforts made so tangible.

We knew our expenses would go up after buying our house and we were mostly successful in budgeting accordingly. There’ve been a few unexpected costs — we planned for the water bill, but the sewage bill is actually the bigger expense. (Who knew?) We’ve also had to get better at sifting out the “fake bills” from the ones we actually have to pay. We received a scary looking “second notice” from a company trying to sell us mortgage insurance, which we happen to already have. We were also caught off guard by what seemed to be a property tax bill, but was just a notice of how much our property taxes would cost. We actually pay these taxes through our monthly mortgage payment, which is convenient but also confusing.

In addition to the expected costs, unpredictable costs could arise at any point. This house was built in 1905 when they made foundations from wood and dirt. We anxiously joke about the movie Money Pit, but since we’ve always been savers our daily money habits haven’t changed that much. The biggest shift is convincing ourselves that it is actually OK to spend money on the house. That’s what we’ve been saving for, right? After years of watching the savings account balance slowly creep up, it is a shock to see it diminish in big chunks. My philosophy used to be “don’t spend money” and now I have to do the work to decide when it’s worth spending.

I fantasize about living in this house for our whole lives. I picture having friends over for BBQs and hosting our families for holidays. We’ll preserve our traditions and build some new ones. Maybe we’ll even pay off the mortgage someday! Of course, life so often gets in the way of these kinds of dreams. So for now, I’ll just work on acclimating to this new environment. The train woke me up the first few nights, but now I sleep right through it.

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