The Part Where We Move To Westchester

It's been almost four years since we bought this apartment  in Inwood and I absolutely love it.  It's like living in a little town that's still in Manhattan.  It's right near a great park with playgrounds, Broadway is like a little main street, there are a ton of kids and the people are really nice.  It's still on the subway, but it's easy to access the big box stores of the suburbs.  I wake up with Charlie on Saturday mornings, go outside, get a coffee, go to the farmer's market and take a walk through the park.  I love it and I don't think I'll ever be as happy living anywhere else. 

Naturally, it's time to leave.  I blame myself, really.  Back in November, our neighbor in 1C next door had an open house for her apartment.  I jokingly said to Nilda that we should check it out to see if we should combine the two apartments. Nilda took this joke waaaaay too far and the next thing I knew we were talking to an architect and a designer about how to combine them.  I never thought it was a real possibility until I talked to my mom.  She told me how I may not realize it now, but we would soon outgrow 1B and this was a one time opportunity to grow the apartment we love into a place where we could stay.  It was in an area that we love near Stella/Abuela and she said I should really consider it.  She was absolutely right.  So I guess really, it's Mom's fault.  

The abridged version is that we made an offer and it was accepted and 1BC was going to be glorious. It was going to be a sprawling 3 bedroom, two bath complex with plenty of space for Charlie, a dining area, a butler's pantry with a stand alone freezer for a shit load of BJ's purchases and - my dream - a study.  1BC was going to be awesome. 

Then, the appraisal for the combined apartment came back $40,000 below what we needed it to be.  That means we would have to come up with an additional $40,000 that the appraiser said was not worth it.  Reluctant to dip into our vast resources of pirate booty, 1BC was over.  We bought a new mattress as therapy and moved on with our lives. 

The problem was that we had convinced ourselves that our current apartment was not big enough for us anymore, at least not in the long term.  Nilda and Charlie run out of places to go on a cold winter day and we can't do anything in the kitchen after he goes to sleep because it's right next to his room.  We lost the guest bedroom, pantry and (single tear) office that I suddenly felt I needed.  

We, therefore, including me, have decided to look for a house in Westchester.  It would give us outdoor space, private laundry, a separate freezer, space to store a shitload of wine, a kegerator, a driveway for the two cars we'll need, a room for Stella, space for another kid if that happens, and no neighbors banging because Charlie drops his milk bottle at 8:00 am on a Saturday morning.  I was against it at first, not wanting to leave Inwood, but the market seems to be turning and it makes sense to buy a house now, rather than wait a few years when prices might go up.  We put our apartment on the market a few days ago and are seeing a bunch of houses (the market seems to be heating up now, since people tend to move in the spring, so their kids can be at new schools in the fall).  We're looking primarily in New Rochelle and Yonkers, making it a short commute to the city.  Plus, it's not like we go downtown much anymore and we spend most of our weekends in Westchester as it is.  

This is where things are now.  Best case scenario, we find a great house and we're barbecuing by the end of the summer.  Worst case scenario, we're still living in temporary housing in August and we can't find a place to live.  It's like jumping off a cliff and hoping you find a safe landing before you hit the ground.  It'd be nice to give Charlie space to run around, because God knows he needs it.