My husband was online recently and he decided to look up the first home we purchased. The tax value was over $400,000 – certainly not any where near what we paid as a newly married couple. It was a small 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch house in Laurel, MD, a suburb of Washington DC – which experienced a bit of a spike in housing cost the last few years.
We purchased the home in 1987 after moving from Stamford, CT, where we certainly could not afford a home at the time, to the Washington DC area. When we decided to buy a home, we became a 1 car family who used the Metro system to commute to work and shared the car on weekends. We ate lots of pasta and hotdogs while we saved for the down payment! To us, it was worth the sacrifice to be able to buy our first home- there was no such thing as 0% down at that time. Potential homeowners needed at least 10% or 20% to avoid paying PMI (private mortgage insurance). We were very excited to move into our first home with a fenced in backyard and one car garage. Living in MD, there is a fair amount of snow, so a garage was a blessing!
When we were moving in, I remember the neighbor visiting and the disappointment of her 3 boys when they learned that we did not have kids they could play with; however that disappointment disappeared one afternoon when my husband and I were practicing catch in the backyard (I was on the co-ed softball team at work). Future practices included 3 boys – who were delighted to join in J
We lived there for almost 8 years and still receive Christmas cards from the neighbors next door, but now the cards include news of weddings and grandchildren from the 3 boys.
Today our game of catch has been replaced by basketball and shooting hoops with our neighbor’s grandson next door. I will admit, basketball is not really my sport- I believe the last time I played basketball was in high school, but the 7 year old next door doesn’t seem to mind – we have a great time! And, he has 2 younger brothers, so we are back where we started, with 3 boys next door, feeding them ice cream sandwiches before dinner when grandma is not watching when they come over the play with my husband’s golden retriever.
Once again, we are blessed to have great neighbors, which is truly one of the best parts of home ownership.
