Three rooms, big windows and doors

"We are moving." Those were my father's words. I was eight and we had been living in a one bedroom apartment for over fifteen years. We all had too many memories associated with the nest we called home. It was hard for me to move because moving involved changes such as making new friends, getting used to new environment. Gosh! the list was endless but I was excited too. Not that two bedroom apartment would change anything much for us. Just that mom and dad would get a bedroom and much needed privacy. Eventually the novelty died and the new apartment became routine something integral part of our daily life and now when we did visit the old apartment we did not feel much of a difference. I guess life's like that we mourn and we move on.

It was then that I decided that I would never get emotionally attached to any one place in my life. For me home was a place people made special and it did not matter where or how it was as long as it was sturdy and happy. My belief system got me through my life for some time then on because soon after high school we moved to Mangalore and then I graduated and moved to Banglaore and for now I am in the US. In the US we moved apartments four times. And everytime we moved I realized how difficult it was to move things and start from the scratch. To mantle and then dismantle. Getting used to new environment was least of the challenges. How I wished I was a kid again and my parents would take care of everything. How priorities change.

The bigger challenge is to decide upon where to move. Being in bay area makes it so much more harder. Places where the apartments are good they tend to be expensive and places where they are not expensive tend to be ghetto's! Worse are the houses. We recently visited an open house. It was a three bedroom townhome. Pretty generous as far as teh sqaure feet is concerned. Around 1400 sqft. But then it was right of the road with a crappy school district. The townhome was listed at $649k. Why was it so expensive. Well lots of reasons make it special at least according to the agent. We were told things such as proximity to shopping complex, work places such as Cisco, and Intel. He went on and on plus the home was supposedly just three years old. And when new people bought them for over $700k. Ridiculous prices according to me.

Contradictory to the economy I saw people flocking to see the homes and were willingly bidding on it. Of course the target crowd consisted of newly wed couple who were eager to invest their money (Seems like the bubble bursted elsewhere and they are leaving in a bubble of their own), or people who wanted to invest. There may be a thousand reasons I will not judge after all, "For each his/her own." Some people seek advice and some think they know it all. Well good for them.

That day I called my mother and told her my experience. She was surprised because when my parents were looking for an apartment in Mumbai their prirority was just an apartment that fit their budget and the money they paid was in cash from their savings. Today the credit market has made people reach out and buy things they think they want no matter what the price. In one way its good. Hoarding is not good for any economy. It only creates unequal distribution of wealth and income. But the point is where does a home become a home. Where does a person in bay area say,"Ok I like it and I will buy it." When does a person say,"I will break this vicious cycle and get myself educated and not buy houses for exhorbitant prices just based on school district."

Question is would doing that change anything. Paying over $600k for a house in not so good school district means that one ends up shelling over $300k per child only in school every year plus another $400k for bachelors and masters who the hell knows? Maybe I will diswon my child by then! People buy houses not based on priorities they treat it as another investment. What a shame. Because I did some math and realized that the same money kept in bank, or invested in good equity or bonds will earn more returns over a period of time. Investment in houses will yield returns only when bought in full cash that too subject to the area where it is located.

Which means one should buy a home because they want something to create memories. To make their children feel at home. To create a kingdom of their own not to invest and then invest again. When I said this to my friend she went,"Then why live here better to go home." Just as irksome that response was I replied," Well India is not cheaper either." I remember my sister struggling to buy a site in India for INR 300,000. She managed to do so in 2000. A neat 1200 sq ft piece of land. Today the same land is worth INR 3.5 million. Unfreaking believable! Inflation at over 15% is not good for any country especially India. I am here because I want to be here. If I wanted to be there I would be there. In any case why is anyone here. We all are here for some reason. Once here we do not get to judge. We only get to respectfully disagree. Anyways That's not the topic of discussion and I have better things to use my brains for. Maybe if she were working she would know how much her husband pays for the million dollar house she lives in. The last time I saw him he had lost 20 pounds and some hair.

When you drive 30 miles to work and slog 12 hours every day you wonder how easy it is to judge anyone? Of course that is not the topic of discussion.The point at the end of the day is that priorities have changed from one generation to another. There was time when people bought houses because it had three bed rooms (much needed when you have children), big windows and doors (for brightness and sunshine). And now people buy for some other reasons. Reasons such as investment, school district, closer to work, lake, reasons that hardly make sense. Reasons that are a luxury and not necessity. Result houses with jacked up prices. But people buy and someday so will I for my own reasons and more and I will at the end join the club of all the home owners who bought and sought a home, a dream, a cash cow for goodness or worse.