Monday, October 21, 2013

Take 30 - House Hunting in San Jose - Part 2 Dream Home

Take 30 - House Hunting in San Jose - Part 2 Dream Home

In my last installment, I explained how our hearts had been broken by being outbid on an Eichler house. We were totally heartbroken but as the fog of heartache lifted,we looked at our wish list. We had this wish list we had put together. A column of "must have", a column of "would be nice" and finally a column of "icing on the cake".

 Well after going down the list, it turns out the Eichler had very few of the items on that list. First, it was in the wrong neighbourhood.  It's located in our present neighbourhood which we do not like. It had very little storage space. It would have meant a lot of compromise. We would have had to change our furniture too. Living in an Eichler means embracing the lifestyle and our furniture would have been all wrong. There was no garage. There was no pool.  The kitchen was small. The noise would have been the same as what we are presently complaining about. There was no space for a microwave. The washer/dryer were mini stacked appliances. And a few more items that were not on our wish list. That would have been settling and we had promised ourselves that we would not settle at any cost and this, just to get out of our present dwelling to buy a house. 

Another thing we didn't want was having to compete to buy a house. Price wars are commonplace here in Silicon Valley and it will only get worse due to tech companies that are hiring by the thousands. So, we went back to our list and moved our search a few miles away from the heart of Silicon Valley. Only 6 miles made the difference. Still in San Jose but in Blossom Valley instead of Rose Garden or Willow Glen. We gave up on living in a cool neighbourhood and high walkability for a dormitory area but within a very short drive from many shopping malls, restaurants and cinemas. What we also got in return is everything on our wish list and more, including a pool. Even things we had not thought of. In other words, more bang for our buck. Much more. The house we found is move-in ready and we did not have to promise our first born in order to afford it either. The neighbourhood is also very nice with mature trees and houses about 40-50 years old.

So the lesson we learned here is, know your priorities and try to stick to them. What really matters in your search. The cool area, we can drive to. A house with all we ever want is more important. Now, on to packing and moving. :--)