Open House Picks: Six Months Later

Muffett–I hear you about vitriol. It is a shame that all of this too often gets reduced to the dollar value of the house and nothing more. We are all guilty sometimes of putting our own agenda ahead of everything else but this site is better when there are competing ideas and agendas, expressed civilly (something you always managed to do). So stick around will you?

BTW–baby is doing great, older kid is doing well, with some freak outs as to be expected. House is likely declining in value as we speak but we are loving living in it.

That was a really nice post, Miss Muffet.

Truly.

And you are correct about all.

As heated as the conversation gets at times, we all have a different style of commenting and your opinions are no more or less valid than mine.

I can say though that I think Brooklyn will breathe a huge sigh of relief when you do finally purchase that house.

😉

And THAT I can’t wait to hear about in more detail when the time comes.

Good luck to you and your family.

“perhaps I’ll continue posting when we finally do buy our house”

Sounds good. Talk to you in 2026. But I kid! Miss Muffett, you’ve been truly gracious in the face of lots of criticism and I sincerely hope you don’t leave.

‘Maybe now she’ll spend more time working, make even MORE money and finally be able to afford that house she’s been looking for.’

I think she’ll spend more time updating her spreedsheet of every house for sale in prime brooklyn, color coding and cross referencing it with price analysis, history of sale, pros and cons, etc. etc. etc.

Thanks Wasder, but what clicked just now with 11217 was the time I’ve been spending on this site. It’s an addiction because the purchase of a home is so intricately woven into my family life – where we raise our kids, how much time we have to enjoy them (vs. working to pay our mortgage), what kind of community/schools we have around us, the aesthetics of our everyday lives etc. But really, I *do* have tons of other stuff to do between my demanding job and being with my family. Sitting here and engaging in sometimes hostile dialogue with a bunch of anonymous posters just suddenly hit me a huge waste of time – no offense since I know how fun it can be at times.

I do feel I’ve gotten to know some of you, and Wasder, I must confess, you are one of my favorite, perhaps in part since your situation sounds similar to mine as a parent of 2 small kids (congrats again, hope the newest one is doing great! and her big sister is adjusting well). But all the vitriol is puzzling to me since I’ve never been nasty and honestly, I don’t need it. I think also, my initial addiction was in part, I admit, out of frustration that prices were so high for so long and a house was out of reach for my family. But now, I truly feel a lot calmer about the whole thing, since I really do see the market moving in my favor – so why do I need to keep blasting that fact? I don’t. The deniers can keep on denying – I honestly don’t care anymore, since I do think they are wrong and I am confident we will at last be able to buy our house.

I do think this site is a great resource for lots of things, though, so perhaps I’ll continue posting when we finally do buy our house, since I bet I’ll have lots of info to share and/or ask about. And, granted this is an addiction, so maybe I’ll fall off the wagon and post here and there before that. But I really think it would be better for my family, my job, my well-being to lay off and spend time doing other things. So for now, I’ll just lay low, reading things for sure, and maybe occasionally posting, but obviously, my views on the market are clear now, so to all who can’t stand my repetition, you won’t have to hear it anymore.

I sincerely mean it when I say good luck to all – I know that, despite our differences, we share a love of this great city, this great borough, and especially, the communities that have such lovely homes and the great New Yorkers who live in them (renters and owners alike). And I know that we all share an obsession with home because it goes to the core of what we all are in so many ways. I truly hope that 2009, for whatever economic woes it continues to bring, also is a time when we can be inspired by our new president, to put aside our differences and focus on what unites us, and all work together to keep Brooklyn a great place to live.