The Housing Crisis vs. The Dream

In this corner, we have “The Dream,” the scrappy fighter who has managed to be a constant for over 10 years. “The Dream” is to move the family to  live and work in Montana, eventually starting or running a theatre and making the arts more accessible to Montanans.

And is this corner, we have the “Housing Crisis,” a relative newcomer to the scene who will stop at nothing to squash “The Dream” at every turn.

If you are a follower of this blog, or a person who has known me for more than a week, you know that my Husband and I are moving to Montana.  This has been the plan since we moved FROM Montana to Cleveland in 1997.  We have always intended on moving back, and decided that we would do it before our son was in middle school.  He is now in Third grade and we are stepping up our efforts significantly. (So, if you were wondering if I got that job that I interviewed for back in the spring, the answer would be NO.)

There has been much resume mailing, job application filling, phone interviewing and social networking going on.  I am fairly confident that one or both of us can land a decent job by fall 2011.  But then, there is the big $111,000 gorilla in the room.  And that gorilla is only valued at maybe $80,000.

Don’t get me wrong, I love our house;  but it is a plain colonial, in a struggling school district, in a “diverse” city with high taxes, in a corrupted county in a financially strapped state.  There is no way we will get what we paid for it, and there is only a small chance that we will sell it without owing any money to our friends at Wells Fargo.  It is extremely disheartening, and makes us question if now really is the time to move.  Do we wait for three years and resume the job hunt then?  Will it even matter? Is 11 too late for us to move our son from everything he’s ever known to a totally different environment?  And, if we do wait, do we continue to send him to a private school that we can no longer afford?

We, like most Americans, bought our house with the understanding that it would appreciate in value, not the other way around.  We intended to sell it after 5 years (it has been 6), and use the new money for a down payment on a new house in Big Sky Country.  And, if there was a bit left over, we could FINALLY pay off my Student Loans and/or any accumulated credit card debt!  In the words of Jed Mosley, “No can-dos-ville, baby-doll.” (Yes, I know that this reference is lame.)

So the battle continues.  With every exciting job listing, resume sent or phone interview obtained, “The Dream” comes out swinging. But “The Housing Crisis” holds its own, floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee, offering a reality check every time we dare to dream.