Location, location, location

My wife and I put our house on the market two weeks ago. No bites yet, but we're not sweating it. In the meantime, we have been perusing the listings of homes for sale, trying to find the one that we want to buy and move into... that is, once our home is sold.

The biggest problem with Sacramento is that the difference between a wonderful neighborhood and a dumpy one can literally be the distance of one street. There is often no clear-cut "good" side of town and "bad" side of town. You can have a dumpy area, and then right smack dab in the middle of it will be this island of prosperity and a desirable neighborhood to go with it - if you're a local, think Pocket area (nice) right next door to Meadowview (horrible). I don't know if this is unique to a "diverse" city like Sacramento, or if every city sees this issue, but in an environment like that, it is not easy finding a house that meets our every desire. It seems that every house we look at in the listings has one positive, but two or three negatives. Examples abound of what we have been up against:

1. Beautiful house with a big lot in a dumpy neighborhood or on a busy street (lots of these)
2. Great neighborhood, but a dumpy house on a tiny lot (big price tag anyway)
3. Great neighborhood, beautiful house, but a tiny lot (again, big price tag)
4. Great house, great neighborhood, great price, tiny lot, in the suburbs, terrible commute
5. Great neighborhood, beautiful house, big lot, but the public schools stink (lots of these too)

Number 5 stymies me the most. We have toured the most beautiful neighborhoods with the most gorgeous homes, only to look at the public schools that are zoned for that area and find that they are terrible. My first thought is always, how can the people who live in this area let that happen? What I'm sure has occurred is that the rich people with the nice homes in that area have put their kids in private school, and it's the people in the apartment complexes and rentals a few streets over who are sending their kids to the public schools.

My wife and I know that it will be just a matter of time before we find the house that is just right for us and our kids. We just hope that when we find it, our current house will at least be almost out of escrow! In today's market, who knows when that will happen.

Good Day to You, Sir