Paradigm Shift

I want a mountain. In my mind's eye, it is picturesque. There's a pond, almost big enough to be called a lake, at the foot of this mountain. A stream, crossed by a little wooden bridge, feeds the lake. There are ducks, too, that call this lake home. Behind the lake is my home. It's a two-story cottage, bright and cheerful, like a Thomas Kinkade painting. It's white with blue trim, a chimney, flowers and herbs, and complete with a white picket fence. Of course, in the back would be a small paddock with a few horses. On weekends, sometimes we take those horses up into the mountain and go camping, or even stay at our rustic little cabin. Down at the house, there are plants and animals and life teems, but there is just enough cultivation that it can't quite be called wild. That sense of civilization fades and dies quickly, though, up in the mountain itself. Up there, the cabin feels just slightly out of place. So much structure does not belong in a place untamed.

For now, though, I am in Utah. We're trying to buy a house. Of course, I'd love to find a 20 acre plot somewhere and set up shop. That obviously won't work at the moment. We need to be close to a city for Ryan's work, and because we want to be together as a family as much as possible. That takes precedence over my mountain. It's not paradise, after all, if my husband can't be there because he's spending all his time commuting.

My second thought was trying to find a 1/4 acre plot somewhere within city limits. I get various responses to this idea. Most people, especially in this area, say, "Whoa! That's a lot of land!" My mother, on the other hand, said, "Well, that's small." I tend to agree with my mother on that score. It is small, but it's better than nothing.

We've looked, and found a couple of options. By and large, though, most things in our price range are either complete dumps or are short sales and would take too long to close. We wouldn't get the tax credit... and $8,000 is a lot of money!

Now comes the real paradigm shift. Yesterday, I considered the option of getting a townhome, rather than our own four walls. As I looked around, I started to get more excited about this option. The houses are nice, which is a big plus. The yards are small, but we would have a little bit to call our own. The biggest plus to the townhome option, though, is the perks. Often they have nice clubhouses, pools, big community lawns, playgrounds... so though we wouldn't have our own land, we would have easy and instant access to land. I've also seen one with a workout room in the clubhouse. How cool would that be? I wouldn't have to get a separate gym membership, or even buy my own exercise bike! I like it.

I know, I know. HOAs are a pain, and it's possible that a townhome won't keep its value like other homes might. At the same time, we're looking at other houses that would require so much money to get them up to par that we'd be lucky to break even in a lot of them.

It's not a perfect option, but I think for right now it's a good option, and that's worth something.