Sunday, May 3, 2009

Question...



We live in a beautiful 1950's home that has been almost completely renovated, and is in a gorgeous old neighborhood with tons of character. Currently, we're redoing all three of our bathrooms, our house is a complete wreck, my allergies are going bananas, and my clothes/shoes (which had to be re-located due to the remodeling) are in 18 different locations in the house, making getting dressed in the morning a nightmare.

Newlywed Husband wants to sell the house, and move to a newer, more undeveloped area of the Dallas metroplex where he thinks we can get more house for our money (which is probably true, I'm not arguing with that fact).

I'm not so in on this plan - the reason I moved here 6 years ago was to live in DALLAS proper, not a suburb of Dallas. Call me silly, but seeing Dallas, TX on my return address labels makes me all kinds of happy. Plus, I'm a bit of a suburb-a-phobe - the idea of living in a neighborhood where every house looks like a cookie-cutter clone of the house next to it, and every family drives matching black Tahoe's, has 2.5 kids, a yellow lab, and a massive case of 'Keeping up with the Jones' makes me kind of nauseous.


{Pros}

  • We could probably make a little money selling our house now, just of because where it's located.

  • Renting for a year while we decide where to build/buy in the area that we're considering would be great for saving up lots of money.

  • I'd live closer to some of my girlfriends.

  • We would have a pool, or lot big enough to add a pool.

  • The school districts are incredible, for when little Newlywed babies come along.

{Cons}

  • I love our current house. A lot.

  • Moving to the area we are considering would put us more than 30 minutes from Northpark Mall, which as you know, is my mothership.

  • Suburbia makes me crazy.

  • Newlywed Husband's commute would almost double.

  • Our current neighborhood has a charm that is impossible to duplicate.

  • We would be pretty far from the culture of Dallas, Highland Park, SMU, American Airlines Center, Javier's...

Girls, am I totally off base here?


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6 comments:

Children of the 90s said...

Haha, that comment about Northpark Mall being the mothership made me laugh out loud. I live just across the highway from Northpark and it's kind of becoming a problem. I don't think I could handle 30 minutes away!

I don't think you're off base at all. Dallas suburbs are really nice but can be sort of generic. They are good for families with kids, though.

Anonymous said...

I live in suburbia and yes, all the houses look the same. Unfortuntaley I can blame my father for that- he built them. And, yes all the families have the same dog- there are golden retreivers roaming all over. Then there's our poor little outcast doberman. Poor pup :(

yours truly... said...

This is tough! I'm a sucker for houses like yours with charm and character opposed to the generic suburbia!

All hail Northpark!! LOL! What would we do without it?????

The Shabby Princess said...

I think Dallas has great suburbs, and I have several great friends who live there, but, honestly, for me, I'm a commute snob and I only drive 12 minutes to work. I used to commute over an hour every day and I really don't want to do that ever again in my life. Maybe when we have kids and their older, we'll move, but, I'm with you--there is so much around in Dallas and having that Dallas culture is so fun. Plus, you cannot beat being minutes away from NP. I'm only a few streets from it--so sometimes I stop on my way home!

zoe said...

I totally understand your dilemma! It's tough... we have some of the same issues. I think once you get older, you have all the time in the world to move to the suburbs...I'd say while you can, stay in the more fun areas! But who am I to talk.. I left NYC 4 years ago for the california suburbs...hmmm.

Heather said...

I'm new to your blog (which is great!)...but, could you wait until you have kids to opt for the burbs? I used to live in NYC (fun!), and moved to Westchester (30-40 mins from Manhattan) a year and a half ago. I like the calm...and have a one year old, but if I was married w/o a baby the city would be more fun, there are just only so many trips you can make to Target....