Lately, I have been thinking a lot about where and how to live. When my husband and I first left LA for Ventura, we were shocked by how much further our housing dollar stretched. For less than we were paying in LA we could rent by the beach, with a huge balcony and a million dollar view of the ocean. Fast forward several years and real estate prices and rents have both shot up. Compared to Santa Barbara and LA, the City of Ventura now seems suprisingly unaffordable. The fundamentals have shifted, and the math doesn't really make sense.
So I've been thinking a lot about our options:
- Stay renting where we are
- Move ten minutes outside of town to a more rural area (but increase my commute and necessitate two cars)
- Move to a cheaper, smaller town like Santa Paula
- Buy a 700 Sq Ft home here in Downtown Ventura
I'm seriously considering all of these options. The one that seems most interesting at the moment is the small 700 sq ft house with no parking and second bedroom small enough it can only fit a twin bed.
Hear me out: a small house might actually work for us since it would let us live in a walkable community, which is really important to us. We like being in the downtown area, and a small house means lower expenses, less stuff, and more freedom to live intentionally. It's also a five minute walk to the beach.
It would likely mean giving the dining room table back to my parents (it was my grandmother's) to store in their garage, but truthfully it is a piece of furniture on which we store mail. We eat on our ottomon anyway.
The only reason it really makes sense for us is the location, and the fact that if we are honest withourselves about how we use our home, it could be perfect.
The house continues to be available becuase we may be the only people insane enough to carefully question what we need versus what we want.
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