<p>I am afraid.  Very afraid.  We are about to enter the Boston real estate market.</p>

<p>After years of renting shitty houses and hoping for a stabilization in prices that we never tought would come, we are about to do it because I&#39;m tired of living in someone&#39;s neglected cash cow.  I&#39;m tired of cheap landlords.  And the time appears to finally be right to become first-time homeowners. </p>

<p>We&#39;ve ignored our friends who for years told us that house prices in Boston would never decline.  &quot;it&#39;s now or you&#39;ll be priced out forever!&quot;  We knew that was a self-delusional lie.  Everything comes down eventually.  And boy, are prices ever coming down.  It&#39;s amazing, almost overnight it&#39;s a completely different market.  And the houses somehow seem less shitty.  </p>

<p>As our friends who are homeowners (um, that&#39;s everybody we know) talked of renovations and additions, we asked ourselves if we were doing the right thing by renting.  Apparently we were.  We actually look like geniuses now.  So now I think that I&#39;ve got to get over this fear of commitment and call a realtor.  Now that housing is slowly becoming more realistic I&#39;m starting to daydream of owning my own house.  The thrill of the search and finally finding the home where I will raise my children and maybe become less reluctant about housewifery (he he).  I will garden, paint and unleash my inner Martha on an undiscovered gem.  Or not.  But it will be ours to neglect if we so choose.      </p>

<p>Yes, we are starting to look for a home.  You know, like adults.  It&#39;s scary.  Wish us luck.</p>
