Shokufeh is... home

To buy or not to buy

I've never bought a house before, but I imagine that doing so requires a certain leap of faith. Faith in expectations - that the house will be what you think it to be, that your income will continue as is or greater, that nothing catastrophic will come between you and those payments every month, that your neighborhood will continue to be a place that you want to live.... Basically, that life will be as good as, or better than, it has been. And that buying the house will contribute to that goodness. I think even for people with lots more money than me, home buying requires a bit of that faith.

In New Orleans these days, faith is required for everything. The housing market is no exception. Will the neighbors come back? Will this be a viable neighborhood? Will the contractor not rip me off? Will my insurance premiums remain affordable? (Ha!) Will my property tax stay in the realm of reality? Will we, as a city, get our act together? Will the city exist twenty years from now?

This idea of leaping is scary, especially for us cautious sorts. I believe in this city. But I temper that belief with knowledge that not everyone shares this belief, and that we can't do it alone. And these days, the news is filled with stories of people who took that leap of faith and bought a house. And instead of that leap taking them into a cozy home to come to every night, it eventually slammed them face-first into the pavement. I blame the concept of the American Dream. I blame the mortgage companies who tell people they can afford a house beyond their means. I blame the people themselves who didn't look closely enough at their finances. I don't want to blame myself.

But I still haven't figured out where that leap might take me.