I was riding back through some random subdivisions off Brockley Avenue coming back from my ride from Voorheesville. I spend a lot of time studying and observing homes these days, and my phone is constantly suggesting new houses up for sale across the region. Truth is I’m just dissatisfied with all of the options. Don’t get me wrong, there are options out there. Some more expensive then others, but I have investments and cash I could tap, and I could certainly get a mortgage if that’s what I wanted.

But I just find it hard to want to own a home, with all the burdensome nature and commitment of owning a home. I don’t want to give up travel or my future of some day getting out of New York and moving to a deep rural area in an off-grid cabin. I concede I work hard, make good money, and produce good results for my agency — that’s what I was named Director of Data Services — and why I’m so busy sourcing, linking, adding data to system and delivering results. I’m really proud of my job, and it’s fun finding new ways to query and link data, even if it’s in an suburban office building overlooking the old city garbage heap and at times smells like a port-a-john being down the street from the North Albany Sewage Plant and Sludge Incinerator.

I look at so many houses, and they’re all alike. The walls, the vinyl siding and carpeting. Often many are quite dumpy like my apartment. Others are nicer looking but are the same basic materials. And some a really fancy, in the urbane sense of it. Certainly I’ve been over to the houses of politicos, I’ve stayed at some really nice — in that urbane sense — places down in Westchester and Long Island. But they’re all kind of same, and don’t really speak to me. The idea of the fancy mowed lawn, the kitchens full of knicknacks and appliances, the big screen TV, the home internet and gadgets I sometimes see at people’s houses have little appeal to me. And they’re all so large with multiple bedrooms, basements, and places to collect clutter and dust.

Lately, the Midwestern states have noticed I’ve become interested in potentially moving out west. I now regularly get advertising about the benefits of moving to and having a career in Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa. They’re probably is a demand for skilled labor there, and I’m certainly interested in the desire to get away from the high cost of living in New York, along with the gun laws and burn ban. Though some of that has changed now that cannabis is legal in New York but not in as much of Midwest. Things though are changing on that front. I really am interested in more of the shed-to-home or small cabin route, indeed even that 700 square foot house next to my parent’s house seemed a bit too big for me. Plus I would really like to do the simple off-grid set up — I don’t mind an outhouse or a simple shower set up, chopping wood or dealing with limited electric power — I do it a lot at camp. Yet basically none of the houses I’ve looked at are like that. That said, the properties I even marginally liked, aren’t getting much interest by the others who want the big and fancy houses.

Truth is I want simple, not fancy. Old fashioned and reliable. Sustainable and not needing to be tossed every 5 to 10 years. Maybe I should look more into old houses out in the country. Maybe I need to back off my high horse about owning a lot of land as buffer from the neighbors, lest them smell me burning something I shouldn’t be or shooting guns and playing music. Hell, I live in the city now, I’m pretty civilized when I’m home and not in the wilderness. People out in the country have bonfires, they have livestock. And maybe I’m ready to settle down — traveling is fun — but it gets tiresome, especially as there aren’t all that many new places nearby to explore. But what do I know.

I’m just rather worried about my housing situation come the winter, and the continuation of my month-to-month lease. Bar the annoyance of the construction next door and the peering eyes of the new landlord, it’s been fine with the higher rent. But my apartment is so drafty and so beat up at this point, even if I plug leaks and keep the heat down, it’s going to be a tough another winter here, especially if the predictions of extreme cold this winter come true. I do have options, I’m not starved for cash, but I still want to be able to invest in my future and not deplete my assets, and I know any place I’m forced to move to will likely be much more expensive, and may very well require me to drive to work. And it’s still not home, until I buy my own land and either build a house on it or live in the structure it comes with. Hopefully not with carpet and asbestos or vinyl siding, though that’s basically what my rental currently has, so I guess it’s not the end of the world.