February 28, 2008

It Could Have Been Us…

A little over a year ago, I moved back to the green pastures of Marin from the concrete jungle of Manhattan.  After spending a handful of years if the city that never sleeps, I couldn’t wait to come back to glory of the bay.  Better yet, my years away was worth the sacrifice.  My husband and I were coming home in a much better financial position than when we had left 4+ years prior.  Back then, amidst the rising prices, we never dreamed, let alone think or talk about the idea of being a homeowner in the bay area.  It was clearly impossible given where we both were at in our lives and careers. 

Fast foward to our homecoming.  We returned with a ticket to join the homeowner country club.  What a concept!  We went to every single open house you can imagine in Marin.  And like everywhere in the bay, we saw price reductions here and there… and got excited that our homecoming couldn’t have been timed perfectly. 

So, why am I writing all this?  Late last month, I saw a listing hit of a house we had looked at same time last year.  At the time, the roughly $799,000 ask didn’t seem so bad.  Heck, it was a price we could afford and since most Marin homes were in the million dollar mark - it seemed like a reasonable deal.  It wasn’t a million bucks and something we could afford, so naturally we were thrilled.  We liked it - but didn’t love it.  In retrospect, this was a good thing.  This Corte Madera house today is now asking $525,000 - a short sale by the most recent buyers who got in at $760,000. 

The grand message is that this could have been us.  I see how warped my own perception of value became from rising home prices, million dollar price tags and most importantly, the seduction, temptation and lure of finally being a bay area homeowner.  We wanted so much to be in the club that we may have done the same thing as the current owners.  After all, it was something within our range and relative to other homes out there, the asking price seemed sensible.  It was just a year or so before, folks were willing to pay for anything they could get their hands on.  And maybe we still had a bit of the madness.  We didn’t want to miss the bus again.

We still aren’t homeowners yet in the bay due to a variety of reasons, but I know my weakness is a longing desire to having a place to call my own and really settle in.  In my search for my Marin home, I’m an easy prey and need to check this emotional draw at the door… or I may just turn into another statistic.