Since my last post i surely have not been out hiking as much as i would have liked. The top 2 reasons being- 1. settlement on my new home ( hence all the paperwork and moving/unpacking stress) as well as 2. the weather here in the north east this time of year. In fact , since December 7th, i have only been on 3 short hikes!! It’s been super cold, and we’ve had a few snow storms as well.
So let me start with the house thing. I settled on my new home on December 10th 2025. This was only a few days after my previous post here. The journey leading up to it was so extremely stressful I could write a book about it. It seemed as if every day there was a new an unexpected obstacle to overcome. Not only in the process, but also mental and emotional hurdles and I had almost zero help with anything. Owning a home never starts with just sitting down at the settlement table. My own journey started many years ago. It required many sacrifices, compromises and determination.And it didn’t end up where I thought it would.
I have posted several times over the years here what my “vision” was. I dreamt of a cabin , deep in the mountains, with many acres of my own to roam and perhaps make my own trails.I have wanted this since i was a young girl. And i truly thought that one day it would happen. But , for many reasons, i had to change my plans.
One of those reasons was the housing crisis and the huge increase in the cost of homes. What someone could purchase even 4 years ago is now out of reach for most. And if you are a single woman, with very little outside help ( home repairs, lifting and moving heavy stuff, financial help) you are truly in a tough spot.
None of the process of selling and buying a home is easy. It never was. This is the 5th home i have owned, so i’ve been through it before. But things have changed drastically since my home purchase in 2007.Even the process in 2020 was more complex. I won’t regurgitate all of that. But I will say this- if you haven’t bought a home in the past 2 years, be forwarned and manage your expectations!!!
For one thing, there is very little out there that is affordable to the average person. Even with 100,000 profit in the bank from my home sale, a credit score over 800, a stable career of over 20 years in Nursing, and an extremely low debt ratio it took months. My high end range was 325,000. And i lost bid after bid after bid. I went from looking at 20 plus acres down to even 1 acre properties.By the end of October, i had to admit that i couldn’t realistically afford my “dream”.
Sure, there are properties in remote areas, some with small homes even. But they would require a 2-3 hour commute to work, being far from hospitals and emergency services ( alone), and most were completely off grid. To make it work for me, i would have also needed another 2-300,000 just for basic electric and internet service. I would have had to have another 50 grand just to pay out for basic living requirements over the time i was completing those things as well.I would have had to hire lots of outside help and pay for that. I considered every alternative- even an Rv would also require a truck to pull it ( which i don’t have) as well as a way to get rid of black and grey water. The permits alone would require many inspections and money.And ,at my age ( 58 in February) and being alone, with no real experience in off grid living, it just wasn’t realistic. I could go on, and i’m sure there will be many thinking i could have done this or that, but let me state(LOUD AND CLEAR)…
“Yes, i thought of that and it wasn’t worth it or doable because_____________-.”
However.. this all ends on a positive note!!! I absolutely love where I ended up. I LOVE my home, the community and location. I have everything i need and want, and can finally exhale as I approach retirement.It is absolutely everything I didn’t even know I wanted, and then some.I’ll get into some of that in future posts. But for now, i will just share a few pics of the new place and say that , without a doubt, it was the best choice:)
Happy Winter:)
Namaste!
Wake up! 