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I'm just going to keep this big house...for now....

MI map I am a relative newbie to active rain but I have blogged on several occasions about the down market we are experiencing in Michigan. Auto industry woes, exodus of other major employers, the news just keeps hitting us one wave after another. Yet we hang in there, many of us, knowing that Michigan is not going to disappear off the map; our market will shift to the bright side again, this new year we hope.

During this time of price reductions and falling values, I have hesitated to look at my own property. Some of the biggest losses have been in the $300,000 and over price points and we definitely fit in there. (You California people can just look away - that can buy a LOT of house here in Michigan.) I put myself on a search to be on top of what my own home's value is, though we do not intend to sell soon. I am taking my own advice. In this buyer's market, if there is no reason to sell, don't sell! Easy!

Despite our decreasing household size and the temptation to downsize, I was reminded this holiday season why doing so now would be such a bad idea for our family. Yes, we will be just three people living in a ridiculously large home when our second child leaves for college in September. But this holiday season, we have had our oldest child home on and off during the break (apartment in Ann Arbor) to enjoy the family, the food and to entertain friends home from college. We have the big screen TV, the kitchen, and the extra beds her place lacks. bed with duvets One snowy night when a girlfriend slept over, I learned that the room is nicknamed the Siberian tundra or something like that since the heat doesn't exactly reach there. Wasn't it a small-scale adventure? Aren't you both planning on being writers? THERE! Fodder for your first novels! I froze in suburbia under 5 down-filled duvets - good luck with that!

More recently, and the cleanup continues, our second child hosted a "LAN" party. He has explained to me repeatedly what it means (I forget) and of course there are computers involved since every guest arrives carrying a laptop or the overbearing parts of a desktop. Everyone needs their own to be part of this soiree. It is an overnight event that culminates in collapse at about 6AM. This event was boy/girl like others before but the shear volume of laughter, food-seeking, and revelry suggested no one was up to no good. When the bodies grew weary, there were plenty of places to drop, in the media room adjoining the computer room (lower level) and in the family room with overlooking loft on the main level. youth at computers Couches, window seats, hammocks - you name it and we have it. Bedrooms were strictly forbidden but when there is a crowd, there seems to be less of a worry there - no one wants to air their secrets, even to their friends. These are good kids out for a good time.

So for now we hold on with fingers crossed. This property will be home at least until the market turns. It will be home to our kids forever no doubt, the days of their youth, their memories of good times. If all goes well, it will be a home for their children too - over the river and through the woods. OK, I'm stretching now but who knows? The years have a way of slipping on by, just as the last 9 years have. I look forward to selling when we're ready, all of us; we're hoping for a seller's market by then.

Posted by Susan Walters on 01/02/2008 01:24 AM

Comments (6)

michigan, downsizing, property values, family, ann arbor, computers, youth, lan parties, sellers market

This post has been included in Michigan Information Washtenaw County, MI Information Ann Arbor, MI Information

6 Comments on I'm just going to keep this big house...for now....

Susan - I thought about posting something similar recently, but I was afraid my local readers would think I was bragging about are super-sized home. We are also going to just enjoy it for a while. After all, this is a custom home designed just for us. It's on 1.5 acres and is positively HUGE for this area, plus I still haven't landscaped. But, for the same reasons (one in college, one getting ready to leave soon) we are just going to stay put. It just doesn't make sense to downsize during this market. Sure, my house payments are a little painful, but there's nothing like being "the" place for the kids to hang out.

01/02/2008 01:36 AM

by Debbie White (Southeast Alaska Real Estate)

Susan, I think you're smart. As you said, if you don't need to sell right now, don't. Plus you have the added incentive of a wonderfully large home to have all those gatherings with your children and make the memories that will last forever.

01/02/2008 06:30 AM

by Kris Wales-Macomb County MI Real estate (RE/MAX Advantage 1, Inc.)

Susan, I'm living with a dog and two cats in a4-bedroom house in DC. It's going to need some more renovations before I can even think about downsizing, and by then, I think the market will be better. Then I can move to Kansas and retire on my equity!

01/02/2008 07:37 AM

by Patricia Kennedy (Evers & Company)

Same with me Susan. We don't need the "big house" anymore, but not a good time to sell. We have lost about 50K in equity and don't have to move. So we'll stay put until we stabilize again. I've heard of those parties and they sound like fun. Don't they play games?

01/02/2008 07:56 AM

by Missy Caulk Ann Arbor Realtor Ann Arbor Real Estate (Keller Williams Ann Arbor)

Susan, I can relate to how the years slip by. Our plan on our current home was a stay of five years and now we're into year seven. Big houses have their pluses but at some point a change that fits your lifestyle better will be in store.

01/02/2008 08:04 AM

by Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty)

Debbie - Our house is big but it is dwarfed by many others in the Ann Arbor area - from my driveway, up on a hill, I can see the 10,000 square foot home of an auto tycoon; rumor has it there are only two bedrooms!

Kris - As Debbie said, the payments are painful but I remember my brother considering buying up after his two children left for college since they were always returning and bringing their friends. Maybe it is a good thing the market isn't great for sellers right now - takes the decision out of our hands.

Patricia - We have unfinished projects too, and after nine years here, plenty of re-doing becoming apparent. We have four cats and they think they are people, so we really will have 7 of us in September?

Missy - I feel your pain. My SEV has dropped as has my jaw as I watched the Pfizer properties being sold for next to nothing. The kids have a blast at those LAN parties, apparently competing against each other or in teams. All I know is that they used about all the dishes and flatware we had in the house that night. One hungry guy was caught eating cereal from a loaf pan the next morning - his mother showed up to pick him up as he was about to re-fill the trough, as he was calling it. Oh, to have that metabolism again....

Gary - I have many plans for the next house, much smaller with multi-purpose rooms, zoned for heating and cooling, as green as possible to make up for the energy hog we are living in now. All in good time.

01/02/2008 12:28 PM

by Susan Walters (Keller Williams Realty, Ann Arbor, MI)

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