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I’m scheduled to close on my first home this Friday. I’m really happy to finally own my own home, but I’m not as excited (or nervous) about it as the average buyer because I work in the industry. Ho-hum. Happens everyday. You might find it odd that, as an attorney that focuses almost entirely on real estate law nowadays, has never owned a home. I can explain it with one simple fact about me:

I’ve been a party to a month-to-month lease for the last 8-1/2 years.

You see, I love to game the system when it comes to my commute. My best commute was from 1997-1998, when I was in law school. I lived in Presidential Towers, and my commute consisted of walking to the other side of the intersection of Madison and Clinton to the Citibank Building (now known as Accenture Tower apparently). When I moved to McLean in 2013, it was because I was working in Tysons Corner, which was about 1-1/2 miles from where I lived. When I took a job in Rockville, MD two years later, McLean represented the closest place to live that was still in Virginia. I wasn’t going back to Maryland.

Because I don’t change things up frequently, I stayed in both of those jobs far longer than I should have, which in turn meant I stayed where I was in McLean. However, intellectually-speaking, I knew I was at each of these places too long, so I wanted to stay flexible so that I could relocate on a dime. I’ve been working for my current employer since April 1, 2020, and am only now comfortable doubling down and buying a house based on where I’m working. Of course, buying a house is harder than finding an apartment, so I’m not right down the street, but my commute has been cut down to about 1/3 of what it is currently. That’s pretty good considering I was facing a seller’s market. (Stone Ridge is rated A+ for livability.)

But the point is this: It’s in my nature to always keep my options open but never actually exercise them.

Yeah, I’m weird.

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