People can finally get into my house, now that the snow has melted a bit. It's getting some decent action in terms of the number of people coming to see it, but people are still bitching about it not having a basement. I wonder where the expectation came from that one needs a basement. I seemed to live without for eight years, and what appears to be a majority of people out here don't have them either (maybe because people live on hills or something).
In any case, I spend a lot of time thinking about having a house. The apartment is adequate, and obviously the only suitable arrangement while owning two houses we still have to pay for, but it's hard to go back to space that isn't really yours (or your bank's). It's mostly issues of not having the appliances you like, or the ability to change the flooring, for example.
It seems like an impossibly long financial road right now, and I think that wears on me. The thing that excited me about moving out here was a chance to start over, and that's exactly what it is in almost every respect. In my ideal world, our houses would be sold by summer and we could start banking cash again. The unfortunate thing is that it'll take at least a year to save enough for a modest down payment, and that's if we were tight-asses about everything (which does not work for me given my desire for travel and likely desire to spoil the lad rotten).
But who knows... maybe the ad market will pick up and I'll have a surprising year from the Web sites. December was uncharacteristically strong (compared to the last few years), so I do have hope. That bit of "padding" could help a great deal. A strong tax refund wouldn't hurt either.
The greatest irony is that I want the housing market to pick up in Cleveland, but stay as soft as possible here until we can get into it. :)
I couldn't live without a basement. A lot of people have assorted hobbies that need a space like that.