The house we like

A friend in the Netherlands emailed me recently to ask if the Ukrainian and I were taking advantage of the falling house prices in the U.S. and bought a house here in San Francisco.

Nooooo….we are not buying a house here. Even with the falling house prices and my proclivity to purchasing overpriced shoes, we are nowhere near the economic strata necessary to purchase one.

In October, however, we did come upon this wonderful little house with amazing views in the Glen Park neighborhood. The asking price at the time? $929,000. We thought “Wow, what a deal. You can actually buy a house for under $1,000,000 in San Francisco. Of course, the mortgage payments would work out to be about $7k a month. We can’t afford that.

Curiously, this morning, I checked to see if the house is still available. It is!! All for the low, low price of only $849,000. Here it is!

http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/35-Sussex-St-94131/home/1760569

(*I joke. I really don’t think that $849k is a low price for a house. And we still can’t afford it.)

(Rereading the listing, I think it *is* in the process of being sold. It’s in escrow right now.)

Green Card Update and other matters

Yesterday, we came home to a letter from the INS (USCIS), inviting us once again to come into their office for an interview for the Ukrainian’s green card on October 16. We are trying not to get too excited — given what happened last time (they changed our address to Brooklyn and canceled our interview). But maybe, hopefully…all will turn out well.

Also, in updates:  The Ukrainian received the raise he was lobbying for (you may have gathered that from the last post). This means he can quit the library job — which he did. I am hoping this means we will have more time to spend together, but I’m not so sure if it will work out that way. The extra time in his life will — rightfully — probably go towards his job and his studies.

Post-wedding denouement:  Definitely continues. Probably not helped by the fact that we get to spend so little time together. And my job involves spending 8+ hours alone in my cubicle. And the economy…the economy prevents me from engaging in fabulous retail therapy — like those $1200 Purple Patent leather Christian Louboutin boots I drool over? Nope. I can’t even entertain the thought. Sadly, there is no replacement in the <$200 category either.

Future children:  Yes, to clarify from the last post, we are having more concrete conversations about when to start trying for a family. Optimistic hopes puts at us beginning our efforts (should be fun!) in mid-December. That would allow us both to spend more time at the gym, dentist, etc. getting our bodies to prenatal perfection! (Is that even possible in our 30s?). The problem is that if we are successful, we wouldn’t be able to travel to Kiev in the Spring for our Russian Orthodox wedding. So…wedding or baby…baby or wedding…