Home Owner

Posted by Martin R on September 13, 2008
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For the past ten years, I’ve lived with my family in rented apartments in a 1970s housing estate that covers the erstwhile infields of the poor tenant farm of Fisksätra. Yesterday, my wife and I signed a contract to buy a 114 sqm house on one of the surrounding hills, Båthöjden, “Boat Hill”!

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We need another bedroom for our 10-y-o, and we calculate that it won’t be all that much more expensive to pay a mortgage on the house than it would be to rent a four-roomer instead of our current three-roomer. The main proponents of buying a house have been my dad and my wife. My conditions were that I wouldn’t take on a monthly cost that would force me to abandon research and get a normal job, and I can’t be bothered to do any significant work on the structural upkeep of a house, nor to tend a garden. And our new house fits the bill: all in good condition, only a few small flower beds in its fenced courtyard. The lawns to one side are communal and cared for with money from the collective.

We’ll be moving no later than mid-December. Chances are I’ll return in my blogging to the subject of home-ownership over the following months.

In other news, I am very proud to announce that at least one of Aard’s regulars is a Booker-prize winner. Whuzzup, Keri!

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Comments

  1. #1 arby
    September 13, 2008

    Congratulations, and good luck. Post a pic (or a sat image) of the Rundkvist Mansion if you have the time or inclination. rb

  2. #2 Martin R
    September 13, 2008

    You got it.

  3. #3 arby
    September 13, 2008

    Oh man, that’s a beautiful location, congratulations again. rb

  4. #4 Martin R
    September 13, 2008

    Thanks! I grew up just three km to the east of Fisksätra, right by the same arm of the Baltic. Apart from two years in Connecticut and two in student housing by the sea on the outskirts of Stockholm proper, I’ve lived my entire life in the area.

  5. #5 Mikael
    September 14, 2008

    Congrats, Martin! You set a good precedent with your conditions, if my family ends up in the same situation in a couple of years’ time :-) .

  6. #6 Christina
    September 14, 2008

    Congratulations to you both!

  7. #7 Keri Hulme
    September 14, 2008

    Now, if only ANZ apartment/housing blocks would make their areas so green…
    I built my house (I mean, hammer & shovel & concrete by mainly me) from the ground up
    in the mid-1970s through to now (still not finished!) Then, the flat were a gorse wasteland.
    Now, there is very healthy regrowth from a lot native flora (human but also bird planted).
    Google Okarito and check out the Okarito Community Association site: disclaimer: I have nothing to do with tourism, and I apologise in advance for offering a site that has quite a bit of touristy stuff.

    And, Martin? Brillant site!

  8. #8 Thinker
    September 14, 2008

    Congratulations! (Although there is a saying that a homeowner’s life has two good days: the one he moves in and the one he moves out…)

    In my teens, I lived for a while on Båthöjden. It was on Skotvägen (less than 200 meters from your new digs), and we moved in when they hadn’t even started building your place. The houses are really nice – you can think of them as an “apartment on the ground”. I’m sure you’ll enjoy living there!

  9. #9 kai
    September 14, 2008

    I will expect nothing less than being requested to help with the move. :-) Congrats!

  10. #10 Lars L
    September 14, 2008

    Unfortunately I will be out of town in mid-December. And it has nothing to do with our vast book collection. Absolutely not…

  11. #11 Lars L
    September 14, 2008

    http://kartor.eniro.se/query?&what=map_adr&mop=aq&searchInMap=2&mapstate=2;18.255351;59.288335;o;18.254015;59.288758;18.256608;59.287937;881;593&mapcomp=;;;B%E5th%F6jden;;;13344;SALTSJ%D6BADEN;;;;;18.255350760411158;59.28833480116149;0;0;;NACKA;maps_place.51670.21;0&geo_area=B%E5th%F6jden,%20NACKA&stq=0&pis=0

  12. #12 Marcus
    September 15, 2008

    Congrats! So soon you will be a resident of Fisksätra Beverly Hills.

  13. #13 Bee
    September 15, 2008

    Congratulations, and I hope you enjoy being a homeowner. Looks like a nice spot.

    We bought our home twelve years ago, cost us less than renting even then (in my part of the world), and certainly now. I’d hate to go back to renting; dealing with unpredictable landlords, unable to make simple decisions like what colour to paint the walls, no garden to call one’s own, restrictions on what pets, if any, one can have, and always facing the fact that one might have to move for any number of reasons beyond personal control.

    Now, get back to blogging about archaeology! You have months to pack!

  14. #14 Martin R
    September 15, 2008

    Thanks everybody!

    But note that the area is known as a low-budget way to get a house sorting under the posh Saltsjöbaden zip code. Anyway, it’s five minutes’ walk from the Baltic Sea and greater Stockholm’s largest forest. As is all of Fisksätra.