We've had two cold wet days in a row here and the temperature inside the apartment has dropped from an aircon assisted 24c to a rather chilly this morning 20c. Thank god it's going to be back into the 30s this weekend as the though of turning on the heating is something that's just TOO wintery to contemplate.
The house in the picture is one that's in Ann Arbor and (I think) would be lovely for Judith. According to the information I have here it was built in 1919, is 1248 sq feet and has a taxable value of $133,200 (about 65,000 of your UK pounds or 98.750 Euros)... why I have this information I'm not at all sure but I thought that as I seem to have turned into statto this morning I may as well go the whole hog.
Judith moves to Michigan in less than a week. Actually she moves in 5 days which is a scary thought as the days between now and then are packed and she's not. I have no doubt that we'll be packing and shipping books as we move forward and that she'll be looking to me to fill a suitcase full of 'home' with every visit. That will get easier once we find a house down there.
Ann Arbor is a buyers market at the moment. With major industry (think auto and pharma) pulling out of the area there are too many houses for sale and too few people moving toward the area. Of course the town is immune to the local economy to a degree as 1 in 2 people there are linked to the University (and therefore to out of state taxes) but what this means is that the rental market is extremely healthy (35,000 students all looking for a place to live for a year) whilst the buying market is weaker than a flu ridden Mr Bean.
So do we buy? Well no. Prices are falling. Houses aren't selling. And we don't want to be locked in to a place that we end up having to rent out just to cover the bills. So we join the rental charge and pay too much (by MI standards, not by NY standards) for somewhere like the above.
Ain't life complicated?
1 comment:
chilly? 20C?
i'd have thought that was balmy in redcar
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