Pleasantville

Did you see the movie Pleasantville about an idyllic 1950's American town? The town in this film is like the set of Ozzie and Harriet, or Leave it to Beaver. Cute, quaint, homelike. Well, I stumbled across a development in my hometown that I am calling Pleasantville, and Mr. Wizard and I may be buying a home there.

Apparently, there are these developments across the country, and they are called Traditional Neighborhood Developments, or TNDs. They are walking communities with amenities designed so that you can walk to the market, the pub or church. Pleasantville, the TND that is beckoning to me, also has lagoons and lakes and an organic farm. A little slice of Americana. The 1940s style cafe even serves Fried Bologna Sandwiches. (If you have not eaten one of those, you obviously did not grow up in 1950s America.)

I am entranced by this whole concept. There are some old communities here that are similar, but after coughing my way through looking at 5 to 9 properties a day in my post-flu haze, I discovered something. The houses are old. Even if the foundation does not have horizontal cracks, it is sure to need a new sewer stack, electric service panel, and the porch will certainly need to be torn off and rebuilt. Our good friend got to spend last summer repairing the foundation and jacking up his Century home. I showed this friend one of the disasters I was considering for our home and he looked me in the eye and said, "Condo, Jen. Think Condo" I don't think I am ready for Condo, but he is right. We probably don't need a disaster house right now. It would be wrong, wouldn't it, to move back to the US from a tropical island in order to immediately deal with foundation cracks, etc?

Of course, our new foundation may crack, but at least I then have the option of harrassing the builder before I harrass Mr. Wizard.

Everything in these older (but cute and quaint) communities are a lifetime of work. I grew up in Webster Groves, one of the cute and quaint (C and Q) Meccas of St Louis. Mary Engelbreit lives there, the Queen of C and Q. The houses there are waay overpriced for the money pit experience they offer. So, when I saw this brand new C and Q community, which is offering a free night of Blues in it's amphitheater next month, I was amazed to find myself drawn to new construction. It never occurred to me to even look at new homes, since most new construction was sadly lacking the quaint and cute factor when I lived here before.

Could it be? Old house charm with the ease of new construction? Wake me up, I'm dreaming. And to think that I nearly bought an old house with a falling down garage the Wiz would have to tear down or extensively rebuild. (Actually, I would buy him a falling down garage in a heartbeat, it was the kitchen that nixed that deal).

So, progress is being made. I may not be homeless much longer.

leavingdominica: yep, still glad to be here and not there.