Tomorrow is the first day of the school in California for our kids. Today is thus the very last day of 3 month long vacation, since they were out of school in Virginia on June 5th. Today is also a day with nothing worthy to be written about. So what about a tour around the house?
玄関。入るとすぐリビング・ルーム。このあたりはこういう造りが多いらしい。日本流にいうところの玄関、アメリカ流にいうところのフォイエーのような、”ここが玄関です！”というスペースがないのは何となく落ち着かない気がします。You open front doors to find yourself in the living room. Many houses around here are built this way. I feel a bit uneasy without an enclosed, or at least defined, foyer.
リビング・ルーム。手前右が玄関。Living room. On the right next to the windows are front doors.
リビング・ルームから２階に続く階段。３段右に下がるとダイニング・エリア。Stairs to the upper floor from the living room. On the right going 3 steps down, we have a dining area.
ダイニング・エリア。３段上がリビング・ルーム。マリー・アントワネット覚えてますか？This is a dining area with the living room behind the handrails. Do you see Marie Antoinette?
ダイニグ・エリアの左側がキッチン。手前が普段使っているテーブル。窓の向こうは裏庭。キッチンは前のキッチンに比べると小さいので、収納に苦労しました。On the left to the dining area, we have the kitchen. There is a little breakfast section facing this way. You see the backyard through the windows. The kitchen is much smaller than the one we had in our Virginia home, so I had to struggle with organizing things.
キッチンの手前がファミリー・ルーム。フレンチ・ドアの向こうは裏庭。In front of the kitchen is the family room. You see the backyard through the french doors.
裏庭のうち左側はコンクリート・パティオ。
Half of the backyard is a concrete patio.
Half of the backyard is a concrete patio.
コンクリート・パティオを違うアングルから。左に見えるのがオレンジの木。
Concrete patio from another angle. On the left you see the orange tree we love.
Concrete patio from another angle. On the left you see the orange tree we love.
裏庭の右半分は芝生。この壁の向こうは裏の家のプールで、楽しそうな声が聞こえてきてちょっとうらやましい。The right half of the backyard is a grass area. Behind this wall is a swimming pool that belongs to the house in the back. I guess we need to make friends with them and get invited, ha.
この家、４ベッドルーム＋３バスルーム。1977年に建てられ、ロットは6,000 sqft、家は2,529 sqft。大家さんは、2006年5月に$1,023,000で購入しており、現在の予想市場価格は$940,500（ちょっと前まで$778,000だったんだけど、最近このあたりの不動産は少し上向きらしい）。ちなみに固定資産税の査定は土地が$650,000で、家は$200,000の計$850,000で、税率1.039%を掛けると1年の固定資産税はなんと$10,625。高いなあ。NYタイムズが面白いサイトを作っていて、いろいろなパラメータを入れると、賃貸するほうが得かそれとも家を購入するほうが得かを計算してくれる。ちなみに今の賃貸料の$3,200を入れて計算してみると、もしこれから不動産価格が年に3%上昇すると過程した場合、9年以上住むつもりなら購入したほうが得という結果。価格上昇がこれ以下の場合、あるいは9年以下で引っ越す場合は、ずっと賃貸していたほうがいいということ。買っても高い、借りても高いが、今後どうするか。一つ思ったのは、家具などが入らないと困るので、少なくとも2,500sqは欲しいと思ってこの家を選んだけれど、実際住んで見るともう少し狭くてもなんとかなると思い始めた。1,800sqもあれば十分。野外に楽しみがたくさんあるので、家の中にあれこれなくても寝るとこさえあればオッケーということかしら。今度の家はさらなるダウンサイズに臨んでみようかな。
This house was built in 1977 and has 4 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms. The lot size is 6,000 sq ft and the house has 2,5,29 sq ft. Our landlord purchased this house for $1,023,000 in May, 2006 and the current estimated market value is $940,500 according to zillow.com. It has been $778,000 up to this fall, but the real estate market around this area has picked up a bit, it seems. The tax assessment is $650,000 for the land and $200,000 for the house. The property tax rate is 1.039% to yield the annual property tax of $10,625. NY Times has an interesting web site which calculates whether you will be better off buying a house or renting. I punched in our current rent of $3,200 and other parameters into the site and there it is.. the result is that we would be better off buying under the assumption that the real estate value increases 3% per year and we stay in the house for 9 years or longer. If the real estate value does not increase that much OR we stay in the house shorter than 9 years, we would be better off renting. Either you buy or rent, it is so expensive anyway. I wonder what would be our game plan for the future. One thing I discovered is that we probably do not need 2,500 sq ft. Worried whether we can get all our furniture and other stuff into the new house, we insisted on a house of at least 2,500 sq ft, but now we are pretty sure wen can do well with 1,800 sq ft. You have lots of fun outside, so as long as you have enough space for fundamental activities of life, you would be okay. So we probably challenge further downsizing for the next house, I guess.
