Who'd have thunk.

Look Tiff! I'm blogging - two days in a row! The lunacy!

Today's topic of choice is Real Estate.

Oh yes - I'm now going to talk about Real Estate.

Never mind the light hearted anecdotes I have so lovingly compiled in the past. Oh no. Now I'm going to talk about the exciting wide-world of housing!

Apparently my work (that doesn't necessarily exist) has distilled all humorous story-telling out of me. Damn you non-existent slave drivers!

Ok, so, you can't live in the Bay Area and not be aware of the fact that there is a bubble that is going to BURST.

Any day.

Yep. Any day now.

Yesiree.

The news is all over it at all times. Not a day goes by that I haven't noticed a headline that either uses the word "bubble" or "housing market" or "interest rates". In fact, I could probably pop on to Yahoo News right now and dig up some recent article on the state of the real estate market...

What the HELL? Coca Cola will be discontinuing their Vanilla Coke line?

WHAT?!

WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?

...and that is SO not what I meant to blog about.

Ok, so - the real estate market.

So you've got your news, and then you've got your friends. So I have one friend who is this real estate buff and has been playing with it as a hobby for probably over 10 years now. She has some investment property, loves to watch the Bay Area market, and is more recently interested in trading in her cute little 3 bedroom tiny bungalow in Willow Glen for something a bit more roomy. All the while she gives me all kinds of advise and commentary on the market. And then there's another friend - the lovely Tiff - who blogs on occasion about her Real Estate woes and tribulations.

And then you've got me and my Husband.

You know - the ones with the weird living situation. I'd recap but I'm lazy - so just go read this entry if you really care. Brevity is not my strong point, but I ASSURE you there is an explanation SOMEWHERE in that particular blog entry.

I think.

Often times I wonder what will the next chapter for us be like in the whole living situation realm. As much as I LOVE the confusing lifestyle. And WEE FUN I love maintaining more than one household. I'm thinking a consolidation is definitely in order. And soon.

And my poor husband. I'm a woman - what can I say? I like to dream...think about the possibilities. Talk about them OUT LOUD. I think I drive him nuts.

So my latest dream is that we might actually stay in the Bay Area. Which in it's own way is INSANE. I mean, a little research and I quickly learned that we would not be able to find a free standing house for less than $500,000. And you know, as much as the whole idea of living in a place that looks just like an apartment is great and all, except if you OWN it. Hello? Owning an apartment? Owning a cookie-cutter mini-house where you share the walls with strangers and to add insult you are expected to pay HOA fees so they can paint YOUR HOUSE whatever color they want? "They" being the mini-government that you have just now volunteered to live under because lord knows that having a Federal and State Government isn't enough - no, gosh darn it, you need a Community Government to harass you too.

And they call these fancy things "Condos" or "Townhouses". My ass.

Ha.

They all just look like apartments.

But I'm a realistic woman. I know that if our jobs keep us here in the Bay Area (which they are looking more and more like they will) (if I had a job that is) (and if I did I wouldn't blog about it here) (you think I'm crazy?) we will have to find SOME place that we can call home. And throwing our money away to the rental-pit of despair is SO not an option in my book. Furthermore I refuse to allow either one of us to commute more than 45 minutes each - and even that is undesirable. We've done the weekend commute long enough - I'm tired, it gets old (after, like, day 2), and it's just not realistic.

So we'll find ourselves a nice little 3 bedroom (grumble) "townhouse" with a one car garage and call it home. Because it will be ours - and we'll be happy we have anything at all.

So you might imagine my surprise when I stumbled across quite the little gem of information.

There is LAND available. Yes! LAND!

Dirt - with nothing on it!

HERE - in the Bay Area!

And no - not, like, in Gilroy (and yes, there are some that consider that the "Bay Area").

In Redwood City no less! Emerald Hills! In the East San Jose Hills!

It's an ANOMALY!

I haven't figured it out yet. But I have my suspicions. See below for those. Oh yes, I'll get into those. This blog is not NEARLY long enough yet to be one of mine.

I mean - 1/4 of an acre in the Emerald Hills for $300k? Kidding right? Sick, cruel, mean, sadistic kind of ha-ha humor?

But it exists!

And there are no seminars involved - no crazy investment scams that I know of.

Just land. Complete with electric to the property line, sewage and water, and an MLS listing number!

MY GOD IT'S INSANE.

Oh MAN - and for those of you who know us you'd know that we are SO ALL OVER building our own house from the ground up. With a little help from a few professionals of course.

Seriously!

We ARE crazy folk you know - we built and hung our bed from the ceiling as some of you may recall.

So apparently there's hope.

It may mean we'll be living out of a free standing garage and an RV on some dirt in the Emerald Hills. But hey! It'll be ours, the commute won't suck, and we will officially be property owners in the Bay Area.

So my suspicions.

I'm thinking that people are just not into the whole *buying a totally empty lot and building everything from the ground up themselves* kind of thing. I mean, it's a TON of work. You've got to get architects in there. If you care about the trees you should probably get an arborist-guy in to poke around. Then there's trenching for electricity, water, sewer, fiber optics down from the street. Getting permits, hiring contractors, getting manicures, pedicures, making your hair appointments.

Part time job at the very least.

And then you basically are waiting for about a year before it's livable.

Maybe we are crazy.

But I can use a hammer! I'm handy!

Totally nuts.

We are totally and completely nutty-nutty.

And you guys all get to watch!

Either that or I'll get bored with this idea in, like, a month and move on to some other hair brained idea.

But you can keep watching!

Fun!

I have more thoughts on Real Estate and all it's glory but I'll save that for another day.

And if you're familiar with my blog you're probably thinking that you'll check back in maybe 2 weeks and then MAYBE I'll have written again.

But, I don't know. I mean - I wrote yesterday, and now today.

My GOD - I may be making a habit here.