ideal home cont'd

ok so i lost my train of thought on the last post and since it is late again sea will probably interrupt this one as well...so i'm ok just sort of free associating whatever comes to mind on this idea...i was listing what i love about our current home...don't think i got to the part about it being very centrally located (7 minutes to coronado, 10 minutes to the beach, walking distance to downtown--if you want some exercise--but very close walking distance to little italy and balboa park) and of course "coastal" which is both the cool factor and also the weather is so mild year round we rarely use air conditioning or heat...back to the "cool" factor...that is one of the things we love about the inside of this home and what we were originally looking for in craftsman/spanish style homes around the park...turns out these need a lot of work (new roof, foundation, plumbing, etc.) and are a lot smaller...1000 or so square feet with usually only a 1 car garage...that idea leads me to my very favorite neighborhood if we could afford it: ocean beach. it is a hippie community on the water...eclectic, activists, generally open-minded artsy people, community oriented but of course the homes we could come even close to affording are tiny and often don't even have a garage which at this point is essential for us with all the baby stuff we've acquired...and very small yards which i've already pointed out is a huge priority...so that leads in to my second favorite community: point loma; again we cannot afford this area. i was hoping we could find something in the pocket area between those with a view of downtown and those with a view of the other side (ob, la jolla, etc) but again these will be smaller and still out of our price range...i'm interested in this area partly because it is so close to the beach, and walking distance to cool things, but also because i really want to get sea in to a school that i heard about that focuses on social and emotional development (i think she will be fine with academics and socialization so this is important to me)...will have to look up the name but i think it is a feeder school for high tech high? manuel of course loves our neighborhood school which was walking distance from home...great test scores which doesn't mean a lot to me but i would be open to trying this the first year (kindergarten?) while getting on wait lists for charter schools i'm interested in...

these free associations were getting a little off track or tying in to too many things so i'll try to regroup to what i'm looking for in a home we are going to buy...i already said a yard was essential. so let me clarify. ideally this yard would have a pool, an outdoor dining/entertaining patio or eating area, a place for a garden, enough grass to run and play in (maybe even put in play equipment)...but i will accept a minimum of a 6000 sq ft lot and forgo the pool...turns out manuel is really in to a home with a view and often this means the home will be perched on the side of a hill with most of the yard sloping down in un-usable space or we would be worried about landslides or the slab/foundation having problems. i would rather have less view and more yard myself. we've gotten really spoiled with the view of the bay we have now...

i keep hearing whimpering sounds...not sure if they are sea in the back bedroom or story in his sleep...i'm going to go check to be sure everyone is alright...story is sleeping soundly which means it is probably sea and she will be coming back to the bedroom soon so i'll try not to get distracted...

ok, so this ideal home must have a decent size yard, 3 bedrooms, a garage, hardwood floors (can be under the carpet) and an ok or safe neighborhood...on that note, i don't want to be too close to el cajon or university which is starting to rule out north park...most of the homes we have been looking at recently are in this new area i still love south park but most of the homes in the size/etc. requirements we have would be out of our price range. i must quickly do one more aside to mention this is where i go for my mommy and me yoga class and i love the little deli and coffee shop and artsy feel of this community to...minus the beach but still nice...so manuel told me he is now liking the suburbs better...he likes something about the homogeneity of the new area and doesn't mind that it is mainly "white"...he likes the safety of the community and in some ways feels like he is being rebellious or "cool" by not having to be in a cool neighborhood? i'm paraphrasing and poorly at that but it is interesting that originally we were both set on either north or south park. then we included normal heights and eventually moved further east to talmadge...that lead to college area and eventually we started looking in this new area although we haven't explored that area as much...we are also interested in rolando park but i don't know a lot about that area either...we have also considered bay park and loma portal area...we tried clairemont but i didn't really like the homes that well and there weren't as many homes with hardwood floors...remember this is a deal breaker for me...eventually we even looked at UTC but again there weren't many hardwood floors and most homes were out of our price range...can't beat that coastal air and the location, though...that part is still hard for me if we end up east of the 15...we were going to consider san carlos but honestly i want to be closer to downtown...i like being near a freeway for quick access to other playgroups or activities and don't want to be too far of a drive for people to come over to our house. i was somewhat interested in la mesa...especially near downtown so we could still have a walking community and there are a lot of craftsman type homes there but i think that will too far east...too hot, too long of a commute, etc.

ok so there are many things i could list that i'm looking for. not sure if i mentioned we put an offer on a home in the new area, got countered, made a counter offer and then they accepted a higher offer and we "lost" the home. i'm still in a bit of denial because we have been looking for a home for almost 3 years and this home was nearly perfect for our needs...in the 90th percentile...in fact my only complaints were there wasn't enough light (could be fixed by putting in larger windows and skylights), it didn't face east or west (not that big of a deal), and it wasn't walking distance to a cool community...but it was walking distance to a cool little "whole foods" type market, the school manuel was excited about, and just across the freeway from many of the things i would want to walk to...so some of the things we lost in this home (i might mention we are waiting to be sure the escrow goes through since we are hopeful we might still get this home...idealistic and unrealistic i know...) that would be hard to replace in another:

great yard...an art studio/playhouse with lots of windows and skylights, a koi pond, an entertainment area with an outdoor fireplace, a screen enclosed back porch we would use as the children's play area, hardwood floors under the carpet (in great condition), original yellow tile in the main bathroom, unusual tile in the master bath, great curb appeal (the house is really cute from the front which has not been true of many other homes we have liked)...a two car garage, lots of storage, no neighbors in the back...

some other things this home didn't have that i would like: a more open floor plan between the kitchen and dining room, french doors from the master bedroom to the yard (we could add this in the future if we had the money), the "cool" factor of spanish/craftsman homes which includes like honeycomb tile or archs or built ins, etc. like our current apartment, a larger yard...this home had a huge lot but a lot of it was on a canyon..although this was still usable land for planting fruit trees, for example....

i keep losing my train of thought...so many factors go in to an "ideal" home...i'm tired, so i guess i'll have to have a third posting on this topic...in the meantime, what factors do you include (or did you include in your current home)? what would you change or add? thanks for your comments...