If you want to live here.....learn the shimmy!

We all love HGTV for quick mindless TV. I love it just as much as the next guy but the restraint I must have while watching 30 somethings snub a home because of it's lack of granite just KILLS me. There was a show on for a while where this Realtor was like the Dr. Phil of the industry. He really "told it like it was". I sometimes have to channel my inner Dr. Phil as well.

Those house hunting shows are a pretty accurate depiction of many buyers out there. I hear things like "I definitely need more than 3 bedrooms b/c I'm getting married". Really? Because I know a lot of families who are actually already married AND have children and only have 3 bedrooms. OMG How are they surviving? I have also heard people say "well we would have to get all new appliances" EVEN THOUGH the appliances in question are brand new and have never been used, they are just white. OMG NOT WHITE!!!!! A very common issue that a buyer looking around here would have - "How is our king size bed going to fit?". Good question. It's not. You are going to shove it in a room, climb over your husband or shimmy in the 5 in gap between the wall and the bed just to get into bed every night. Just like you are going to shove clothes into old small closets. Just like you are going to be falling over each other in small tight kitchens. BUT here's what you get in exchange!!

FABULOUS neighbors!

Walks to school or coffee or libraries!

Festivals, farmer's market, concerts!

Awesome schools!

Awesome people!

Do I worry that sometimes people forget there is more to a house than the physical elements of that house? Totally!!! I always try to remind everyone that your mortgage payment can really be broken up into percentages. 50% for the actual home. 20% for the fact that your kids can go play with the neighbor kids. 10% for the fact that when you run out of milk, your kids can run next door to borrow some. 15% for our schools. 5% for the train....

And every month I remind myself that YES, I have to shimmy into my bed as it's squeezed into a small space BUT when i wake up and someone is sick, I can get neighbors to drive to school and chances are, they'll bring me a coffee just to be kind!! I will take the shimmy every day~!