Selling the condo in this market wasn't a disaster, but took many months too long. All in all, things worked out ok - due to my renovation/combination, the fiscal side was fine. But dealing with devious, lying, inconsiderate, and incompetent real estate brokers was terrible.
We were looking to buy a place and basically just move in; had a place picked out and were in negotiations. But again, dealing with that seller's attorney made us continue to lose our faith in our fellow man.
So, now we're renting a house in Towaco, NJ (no decent Wikipedia page!). The house is quite nice, quiet street, one-level, big deck, nice yard. Can't tell you how nice it is to park a car in the attached garage, as opposed to looping around Upper West Side streets looking for parking. And we're able to just open the sliding doors and let Liam and Caroline crawl outside.
So now, we're all closed on our condo sale and off on a house search. Kristen's mom is coming over to watch the kids for a couple hours - she's only 10 minutes away, and that's the main benefit to moving out of the city.
Of course, we're both sad we moved. I moved to New York in 1991 - 18 years ago!!!!! Longest I've lived in any one spot. Luckily we both moved to the city when it was in full recovery from the dreadful '60s and '70s (a real economic disaster). We had great jobs, close friends, and the infinite and ever-changing variety of restaurants, clubs, theater, street-life, subways, and construction that make up that greatest of cities.
Not to worry though, if we really need a quick fix of good Chinese food, say, we're just 30 minutes away.
Posted by netrc at September 19, 2009 09:36 AM