A Puzzle for Me
The house hunt simply has to come to an end.You've all heard of post-partum depression. Women get it to varying degrees after delivering a baby.
My sister lived in a small apartment at the time of her first child. She didn't work after the birth and became very depressed sitting in that apartment all day with no one but the baby to talk to.
The wife isn't working right now, and she does not yet have a US drivers license (I don't have an extra car for her anyway). So, she's basically confined to our small flat every day. She's not suffering depression at all, she seems very happy and is not excessively emotional. I think she actually loves spending all the time with the little monkey, she just needs more space, a brighter, cheerier atmosphere, and stability.
We've been planning on moving for a long time now, so we've not decorated or bought new furniture or even unpacked all her things. Our rooms are full of boxes and debris. Everything is crowded and disorganized. It's no way to live.
For some reason, I am able to live in this type if atmosphere for long lengths of time. It's somewhat comforting, being surrounded by your own clutter. Maybe it's because I was born in the year of the dog, ...dogs being happy as clams living in their own filth (at least my dog is).
This type of life is not for her. It's not really fair of me to force this on her, but it's not like we haven't tried to buy a house. The last house I blogged about was officially taken off of the market yesterday. It's no longer for sale, so any hope I had of waiting them out is gone.
Meanwhile, we missed out on some great houses.
Right now the market is fairly dead, but we're still having trouble finding a suitable place to live for a reasonable price. Home prices jumped significantly while we searched, forcing us to raise our budget limitation twice. I simply can't raise it anymore, and the quality of houses that we could afford in June are unaffordable in September.
My parents offered to help us get to a 20% deposit on a house, filling in any shortfall we had. I agreed to this because we were looking for a much cheaper house back then, and their contribution would have been pretty small.
Prices are coming down a bit now that the summer rush is over. But it is still competitive because fewer houses are on the market.
My quandary is this:
The parents offered to further help me purchase a more expensive home. They said they talked it over and determined exactly what they could offer us without touching their retirement money.
It's a very large sum.
My parents never buy anything and never go anywhere. They've gone on one vacation in the last 20 years. They don't buy new clothes or expensive appliances. My mother does buy furniture very often, but she sells what she has at the same time. They are very frugal, and have been all their lives. So, I guess it shouldn't surprise me that they have so much cash available.
I don't want to take it, but the alternative is to sit and wait and hope we get lucky on another house soon. I don't know how long that could take.
I honestly don't know what to do.
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