For the past several years in our dotage, we have had two homes. For many Americans, what was a delight has become a dilemma since the crash in investments and the rise in unemployment. So far, we are holding in.
Our main home is in a Washington suburb, where we settled 40 years ago when the American College of Radiology sent me to open a government relations office. When the houses were built, our neighborhood was at the edge of the suburban sprawl. The sprawl stretches another 20 miles now. The houses are still in good shape; the area is still pleasant. Some of our neighbors have been there as long as we have. Houses that sold new in the late 1960s for $50,000 now sell for $700,000 and more. Our mortgage at $200 a month was paid off a decade ago.
We bought our first of three sailboats in 1976 and kept it in a marina on the Chesapeake Bay at Annapolis, Maryland, about an hour from our home. When Diana began to nudge about acquiring a second home, I responded that the boat was our second home. Because it had a galley (kitchen), head (toilet), and bunks (beds), it qualified as a home, and we could deduct the interest on our boat loan. I was not very persuasive. After our two kids matured and left home, she lost her enthusiasm for weekends on the water.
The notion of a second place on land lingered. After 9/11, when one of the planes captured by terrorists crashed into the Pentagon and a second also was headed for Washington, many of our neighbors began to talk about the need for somewhere we could evacuate if Washington were the target of another terrorist assault.
A winter apartment in Florida would not work. Nor would a summer cottage in Michigan or Vermont. Anyone who has ever tried to drive in Washington traffic knows that it is slow on a good day, slower in rain, almost paralyzed with a hint of snow, and blocked by a two-car crash. So our prospective place had to be within reach of one tank of gas, with alternate routes in the event of a traffic jam on the main road.
We began looking around. I wanted a place on water, so I could keep our boat close at hand.
Get Radiology Tree app to read full this article<
Get Radiology Tree app to read full this article<
Get Radiology Tree app to read full this article<
Get Radiology Tree app to read full this article<