Things I'm looking forward to about a new house

This whole house buying thing brings up all sorts of mixed feelings in me. I always thought this would be the sort of thing I'd be doing with someone. So throughout the whole process, it feels like my singleness is being cast in my face. I know that seems crazy - it's a business transaction - but that's it. So I'm trying to combat these down feelings by thinking and talking about all the things I'll like about living in this particular house. The house I'm currently living in is not a good space. It's too far from most of my friends to drop in in a neighborly fashion and its too small to entertain. It's in a part of town where I can't really walk to work because of traffic patterns and it's close enough that I feel lame driving in.

Anyway... the new house will certainly be a better space. And here's my list of things I'm looking forward to:
1) a yard for my dog - although the fence needs fixing
2) on two bus routes and in an area where I can walk or bus or bike to work
3) because I'll have a yard, I can walk home and then not feel guilty for NOT walking my dog
4) a garbage disposal
5) a dishwasher
6) a reasonable sized kitchen/dining room
7) a space that will allow me to have people over for dinner or backyard barbecues
8) in a neighborhood where I know lots of people
9) a permanentish space which means I'll be looking for art work and furniture instead of saving all my money all the time to buy a permanent-ish space.

Things I think I'll like in the end but will require work that I won't like in the meantime
1) a room that once repainted will make a wonderful guest room/office
2) a room that once I have appropriate furniture will make a good reading room/office
3) a yard that will be fun to enjoy, but I need to hire someone to do yard work and buy lawn furniture.
4) potentially nice shrubbery/garden space if I can set up something low maintainence

Good News

• My house inspection went well. Sometime around mid-March I should be a home owner for the first time.
  
• A paper submitted to a conference in Europe was accepted, following much concern about the low rate of acceptance at the conference. Now I can start planning a trip to the EU in August. And I can list it as 'accepted' on my vita.
  
• My third year review will be a month later than I thought it would be. Maybe enough time for one more submission.
  
• A student decided that he didn't have time to do a thesis with me, saving me the conversation which would have been quite unpleasant.
• A student who owed me work from last semester turned things in without prompting (!)
  
• Things are falling into place for a big name Librarian to visit campus. Everyone who I've asked to cancel or move something to accommodate his visit has been happy to do so. Class room space is magically available without any fuss. Fantastic.
  
• The Nurnberg EisBar Baby was deemed well enough to get a name.
  

House Update

I have an accepted offer. (Although last year I had two deals fall apart at the point of inspection). Here's hoping this house is as good as it looks.

Life Hunting

So one of my projects for this spring is house hunting. On the surface this would seem simple. I know the space needs I have right now (bedroom, office, guest room, enough space/an adequate layout in the main living areas that I can have up to 12 people over comfortably, a well laid out kitchen, a covered garage, and a fenced yard). The last two are negotiable. The rest aren'tI understand what I want in a house aside from space (old, charming, fun details, non-conventional, neighborhood-y feel, gas kitchen & heat). Simple, right?

Unfortunately house hunting is not so simple. It's such a big purchase that it causes me to project forward 5-10 years about what I see as the future for my life. Assuming I get tenure (3 years off), there's the question of do I stay here or move? And assuming I stay here, there's the question of how will I be using space in 5 years: Will it still just be me living in the house? Will I be married (and if so will I sell the house and buy a new one?)? Will I have a child? Can the house support having a child without me having to move? If I don't have a child, how will I make good use of the space that I have - Will I rent the basement out to others? Will I provide a place for people in transition (e.g. a postdoc moving mid year or a visiting scholar)? Do I really want other people who aren't related to me living in my house? How will others perceive the house - as pretentiously large since they don't know what I am contemplating? (Do I care what others think?)

And ultimately being that invested in what a house says about my future can lead to great disappointment if the deals fall through. Because instead of feeling like you're walking away from what is really a business deal it feels like walking away from a dream.