The housing quandry continues. Rent? Buy? Buy & Rent? Build? The choices seem endless. And that's before we even have to get into financial or location considerations. I am most definitely not looking forward to that at all. Sure it's easy to talk about fixed rate mortgages, points, rolling closing costs into the mortgage, and little or no downpayment loans, but I think when it comes down to it, it's not going to be quite so simple.

In the past year, we've run the gamut from renting (which we are doing right now), to buying a place of our own, to considering having a house built, to buying up & renting properties (mostly Jen's ideas). Each comes with its own set of pros and cons as we all know. It's enough to drive someone completely insane thinking about all the different possibilities. Just don't ask me to compute the number of combinations or permutations. Dammit Jim, I'm a hydrologist, not a statistician.

As I probably mentioned in one of my previous journal entries, there was a house we found in our little town last year that we totally loved. And had we been more on the up and up (and less hesitant about the whole matter), we probably should have jumped at the opportunity to buy it. But the Nagging Doubts and What Ifs and Why We Can'ts all gang tackled us and we missed out.

Then for some time, Jen started reading up on building homes, specifically homes built from alternative construction methods (rammed earth, concrete, hay bales, etc). Combine that with a Natural House approach and Not So Big House Theory and you get exactly the kind of house we want. One that is structurally sound, hypoallergenic, makes use of "dead" space, energy efficient, and very environmentally friendly. Our ideal house would have lots of windows, insulated concrete walls, a "safe" room from natural disasters, be made with natural products and no chemicals, self-sufficient to power itself without city power, uses recycled water, and very aesthetically pleasing. So for several months, this was our dream.

Then we faced the difficulty of finding a builder that would want to build something to these specifications, and also finding land. However, we thought the time wasn't quite right although we still want to do something like that. Next up: Jen started looking into rental properties and the possiblity of buying properties & renting them out as an investment. Especially since our good friends next door were moving and would sell their house to us at a great price if we were interested.

Throw another wrench into the equation: the lady who runs the goat farm that Ariel goes & helps at owns 17 acres of land. Her & Jen have gotten along so wonderfully that she proposed selling us some of her land for us to build on. Now that would solve the problem of finding land. So that prompted us thinking whether or not it would be possible to build again. Not necessarily our dream house (size-wise), but it would at least have the characteristics that I mentioned. I dare say that we did find a designer that designs & builds concrete homes here in this state, so they could be a big resource if we choose to go this route.

The more that we thought about it, the more we thought what a good idea that would be. And that got me thinking along other lines. In society in the U.S., we have changed significantly from a primarily bartering society to a society where we're expected to be independent as a family and rely on ourselves to get things done for ourselves. If we want something, we need to expend our own time and energy to earn money to pay for the goods and services that we want.

However, wouldn't it be better for us to share our skills and abilities with others? For example, have 10 families go in and buy a 30-acre piece of land. Each family could build their own house on their 1-2 acre lot, whereas the rest of the land would be shared as a collective whole. Geez, sounds like I'm talking about the Borg from Star Trek here. Given the number of people in this collective, these people all have different skills and abilities to offer each other. Instead of taking the car to the mechanic to be fixed, there would be a resident auto expert to do the repairs. Intead of paying outrageous fees for computer repair, there would be an on-site computer guru. People could work together to grow their own food and trade skills and services with each other. No longer would you have to pay for babysitting, you would just take turns. Each family is there to help out the others. It seems like that would be a more efficient way to make the best use of our talents and resources. I'm not sure if I'm being an idealist here, but it sounds good in theory.

I keep hearing of my contemporaries buying expensive houses (at least houses more than we can afford). Sometimes, that makes me envious, wondering how they can do it. Granted, most of them are either single, or dual-income families with or without kids. So right off the bat, they are making twice as much as we are as a household, and thus can afford housing twice that we can. But then I just need to remember that in life, there will always be someone whose station is above you, and someone who is below you, just be thankful for what you do have. That's fine and good but I still get jealous & envious at times. Seems like everyone but me has a bigger, nicer house, a newer, nicer car, etc. But on the same boat, we're the "other people" to someone else.

I think we're definitely going to consider Jen's friend's proposal - any other takers? Instead of trying to get through life on our own, we should surround ourselves with our family & friends who have the same goals & lifestyle we do - and then help each other out as best we can. After all, life is more fun when you have other people to share it with.