“I want to take an elevator to our next home,” Earl told me yesterday. It’s an ongoing joke between us, but the circumstances of the past week have made us realize how convenient condo living can be.
You don’t have to worry when your sprinkler system is on the fritz. Nor do you mow your own lawn. Or worry about snow removal in the opposite season. You have a property manager who helps when things go wrong. It’s a great way to have a no hassle home that you can leave in the winter if you choose.
We have none of those advantages now. We have a large home, a large yard, a large garage, and a large complement of people who help keep the whole thing going. Without the latter, we would be up the proverbial creek; because Earl and I moved to pastoral St. Joseph from the city where we actually took an elevator to our home. It’s been a learning experience, to say the least.
At the same time, I love our home; so when the cost of maintaining it gets to me I try to remember what I didn’t like about condo living. It’s only fair.
I didn’t like having 340 other neighbors with varying degrees of manners and opinions. I didn’t like paying that association fee for services I couldn’t control myself. I didn’t like the rules about noise or garbage or security or parking. And truthfully I didn’t like the elevator concept as much as Earl seemed to.
I guess both types of homes have their advantages and their drawbacks. But on the face of it, I’m not willing to give up my home on the St. Joseph River just yet.
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