While buying a house is probably a year or more away for us, the hunt has progressed from virtual (refreshing Zillow.com daily) to actual. This weekend’s neighborhood-scoping felt eerily familiar to looking for a wedding venue. Here’s why.
For the past year, I’ve been gathering information about neighborhoods, seeking answers for many of the same questions I asked when looking for a place to get married. Can we afford it? Is it conveniently located? Is it pretty? Is the food good? (Yes, this is a consideration for houses too–I need yummy restaurants nearby.) There are only two major differences between the last Internet hunt and this one: I’m avoiding The Knot at all costs for this hunt and I’m asking an additional important question–how are the schools? It’s beyond bizarre to think about the education of children that don’t even exist yet, but I went to such a crappy-ass high school, I’m determined to offer my future kids a better experience.
Which is why our in-person search began in some good school districts in Nassau County in Long Island yesterday. And just like when we visited wedding halls that came highly recommended to us, we were disappointed with what we saw yesterday. Sure, it sucked that a lovely, reasonably priced house I spotted online in a school district that sends a bunch of kids to the Ivy League every year was feet away from a run-down industrial area and that an area with a “cute, walkable downtown area” had a highway running through it, but I didn’t feel as hopeless when I had similar revelations during the reception-hall hunt.
Although looking for a wedding venue proved that I can’t have everything I want in my meager price range (and that what’s a priority for me isn’t necessarily for Paul and vice versa), it also taught me that I will find a place I love…eventually Granted, I doubt the circumstances will be exactly the same with a house as they were with our reception hall–we were only able to afford our venue because they were desperate to book the date when it was still open four months before our wedding. Still, I just know we’ll find somewhere great–probably as we’re feeling ready to throw in the towel as we were when our wedding space came through.
Next up: Bergen and Essex counties in New Jersey, despite the fact that Paul wants to remain a New Yorker for life.
How did you find the perfect place to live? Did it remind you of looking for a wedding hall?
More About Growing Up
Accompanying Your Husband to the ER
Losing a Loved One
Everyone I Know Is Ready for a Baby
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