Some Background

A little more background on us, and what this blog is all about. We're a late 30s / early 40s couple living in Silicon Valley. Working in the high-tech industry for the past 15 years. We rent a nice size house, in a very safe and clean neighborhood. It's hard to complain too much. We've got jobs. We're healthy. The Bay area is great.

Still. We're not content. Renting means living in someone else's idea of a house. There's only so much you can change. Being in Silicon Valley means being very close to your neighbors. Thus learning the names of the neighbor's kids and dog because you hear him screaming at them all summer long. Buying anything means $500k for a very small fixer-upper.

Sure we could have probably gotten a loan for a $900k house. Lots of acquantences urged us to get into the housing market. "Interest only loan is the way to go", some of them said. "All that interest you're paying is actually saving you money as a tax deduction", seems counterintuitive. Now some of those people are looking at bailing on their property. In some cases actually encouraged to break that legally binding contract, never mind the moral responsibility, they signed up for called a mortgage. Nothing to show for it other than wrecked credit. No place to live. Even if we could have dodged that bullet, we're not willing to be so leveraged that we can't go out to eat occasionally, or be forced to max a credit card if/when a major home repair presents itself.

The million dollar question (no pun intended), is can we find somewhere we would like to live, has affordable land, isn't too far from the valley should we need to drive in, and will be receptive to modern housing? We may have Ligne Roset taste, but realistically need to live on an IKEA or maybe DWR budget. If for no other reason that we become slaves to the house and end up resenting it. Like many people who put every penny in their house. Only to discover it demands more in repairs and upgrades they did not plan for. And traps them there, because there's nothing left for vacations or entertainment.

Thanks to books (Prefab Modern), magazines and conferences (Dwell), and hip lodging (W Hotel) we've gotten by living the modern lifestyle vicariously. We've been researching, and hoping. Planning and plotting for years. Sometimes sad or desperate to escape. We even contemplated trying to convert a boarded up movie theater we ran across to living quarters. Great home theater! Unfortunately the lack of parking (none) and ranking as the gang murder capital of California quickly put that to rest.

But the time finally seems right for us to give our own house a go. The stock market is doing a little better. Interest rates are pretty darn low. We've got good credit and a reasonable down payment in the bank. Telecommuting for work is becoming more and more acceptable, widening our potential area to look.