It's sort of official...

We are buying a house in Patchogue, NY!

Probably, that is. We have signed a contract and applied for a mortgage, but the bank has to approve the mortgage first. They claim that everything looks great, but of course the banks were making similar claims about the economy in general not long ago. So we shall see within the next couple of weeks.

Some of you may be thinking, why would anyone buy a house right now? Isn't doomsday right around the corner? Well, we're obviously voting no on that idea, but it's more about good timing for us instead of trying to time the market. We were able to negotiate the living daylights out of the price here because of the market, and the interest rates are practically nonexistent. No doubt the prices will continue to fall a bit more, but we think they'll come back long before we want to move again. And if they don't ever come back, we'll just have a nice little subsistence garden in Patchogue for the rest of our lives. Could be worse.

So, some others of you are thinking, wait a sec, I've heard of Patchogue, it's waaaaaay out there on Long Island. What possessed them to flee the city? Fears of the aforementioned doomsday? Again, no. It's impossible to describe how much we've enjoyed living in NYC. And I'll be keeping my job here, so I'll still spend most of my waking hours here in the city. But in short, we felt the benefits of living there outweighed another five years in Queens. Besides, we've never lived in a true village before. Time for a new adventure.

More about the joys of Patchogue in future posts. For now, a bit more about the house.

It's over a hundred years old. Loaded with character, and yes it will need some updates. But the previous owners did a lot with it, they've laid down a pretty good base which we can take further. The paint colors will be changing at some point, outside and in.





























Having long endured the 10.5 square foot kitchen, we are all very excited at the prospect of the new kitchen. It's much larger, with all new appliances, and a great center island for breakfast, homework, etc. We plan to remove the doodads on the cabinets though.





























This property also features what can only be termed the Garage of Dreams -- an old two story, two car garage with an upper level (top photo). Maybe it used to be a barn? This area needs loads of work, but the underlying structure is good.





























The house comes with about half an acre -- plenty of room for landscaping experiments and a sizeable garden. And barbecuing, of course.

We'll be within easy walking distance of the village's Main Street, which is not merely one of these frilly sham downtowns. It's both charming and useful. The train stop is right there too... yes, I'm headed for the long commute. I'm not too worried about it, though. By using a flexible schedule I can still be home for dinner most of the time. And the trains are fast, comfortable, and rarely crowded. Finally, all that reading and sleeping I've been missing will just be a regular part of the day.

So there you have it, for now. Much more info coming soon, and we hope you will be coming soon to check out the new place!