We went out looking at land and houses again last weekend. I’m growing disheartened. Everything is expensive and imperfect.
The best place we saw was 115 sq m for about $680,000. It included a house we’d have to tear down. It was accessed by a private alley (dirt!). To the south was a tall apartment building that shadowed the house for most of the day.
After returning home and slumping in defeat, I made a list of the bad points we keep seeing in all these properties. Tod & I each ranked them, then combined our scores for a final list.
Compromises To Be Accepted
- Far from station: we’re not going to be able to live 5 minutes from the station; it will be more like 10-15.
- Small lot: we will do the best we can within our budget. If we have to sacrifice size to gain a point below, so be it.
- Far from friends: far is a relative term, but we might not be able to be stay within walking distance of anyone.
- Inconvenient train to work: this is most critical for Tod and means we want the Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Mita, Tozai or Hanzomon lines. Yamanote and Chuo/Sobu are also possibilities.
- Neighborhood with no amenities: If the grocery store is far away, or there’s no cleaner nor a decent restaurant, then we will hate it there. I still remember feeling stranded in Himonya.
- Bad light and air: I cannot live happily in the shadow of other buildings. No sun is a no-go.
So now that we know a little better what we can tolerate and what we can’t, we can continue to look for places. Maybe we search a bit further afield. There are cheaper blocks of land in Ikebukuro and Sugamo and other neighborhoods on the edge of the Yamanote line.
Or we just go buy a mansion. (That’s an apartment in Japanese, not a palatial home.)
