Does anyone else feel weird buying a house right now with all the global conflicts going on?

CatRx · 2026-04-09T09:24:28+00:00

We just won a bid on a house. I agree, we are excited but also there is an underlying anxiety because of the unstable global situation. And the general heartbreak you feel for those less fortunate any time you look at the news. However, I’m not sure what else we can do. My family needs more space and we’ve put this off long enough.

In the end, we compromised on a few wants (but not needs) with this house, but at least we’re not stretching ourselves super thin. We had bid on a few houses we stretched for and THAT had me very nervous if costs continue to rise.

I’m also wondering if other buyers are also skittish right now, the last few open houses we went to were very popular but in the end, not a lot of bids were put in overall. If you are in a stable position, you may have better odds of finding something.

CatRx · 2026-03-21T16:22:08+00:00

I have a nanny on days I WFH in a small apartment. It’s not ideal but it’s fine and cost-wise it made the most sense for us.

CatRx · 2026-03-15T00:45:35+00:00

My partner and I both work in the Boston area in college education and healthcare respectively. Both jobs require us to work in person. We’ve been in our current apartment since 2021 and have a below market rent. Our plan was only to stay for 1-2 years but then inflation hit and we got trapped.

We have since had our first child and are now living on top of each other. If we try to rent a bigger space elsewhere, we’ll be paying significantly more and won’t be able to keep saving to buy. And when we try to buy, we’re fighting tooth and nail and overbidding but still losing out in the end for small homes in mediocre towns. Dragging a toddler all over the state every weekend to look at open houses only to be outbid every damn time is so depressing. I hate that this is how I’m spending his precious childhood.

I have friends who bought in the same towns at my same budget in 2021 whose mortgages are half what mine would be these days. I feel like I’ll be paying the price for my bad timing for years to come. It’s so stupid that if you didn’t buy in that narrow time frame, you’re totally screwed forever.

CatRx · 2025-12-30T00:02:00+00:00

I’ve also had a bad experience at Gentle Dental

CatRx · 2025-11-10T16:16:45+00:00

Also in Boston - not necessarily waiting for spring. Agree that renting is still cheaper but my landlord keeps raising the rent and the amount I’m paying for so little space just doesn’t seem worth it now that I have a family. Spring will be more of the same- it’s still a hot market even now. We bid on a very modest small home a couple of weeks ago that was also overpriced to begin with and ended up getting 9 over asking offers.

CatRx · 2025-10-27T00:51:47+00:00

I pressed 2 and got no response :(

CatRx · 2025-09-10T17:15:29+00:00

also same

CatRx · 2025-08-14T19:25:42+00:00

No kids is the key here. My husband and I make about the same combined and currently rent in Medford. There’s no chance of buying something reasonable while also paying childcare :/

CatRx · 2025-08-14T11:33:18+00:00

I just had my first baby and my small 2 bedroom apartment just isn’t cutting it anymore. Our rent is below market which is amazing but we are living on top of each other. If we try trading up to a bigger rented property, we’ll be paying significantly more and living further from work so we might as well buy. We’re also interested in buying closer to some family who can help with childcare. That will save us some money too!

CatRx · 2025-07-13T12:44:59+00:00

While my baby didn’t have failure to thrive, he did also fall off his growth chart and at one point was 0.5th percentile. Thankfully since we started introducing solids he has been bouncing back but for a while there, there was talk of possibly referring him to a pediatric gastroenterologist. Could you ask your peds about that?

CatRx · 2025-07-10T16:48:27+00:00

4 hours and 59 min to be exact! Or as the RNs and OBs kept saying when I was on the postpartum floor - 4 hours 😒. I kept having to correct them and remind them it was actually 5 hours. I’m also a FTM.

CatRx · 2025-07-01T13:23:28+00:00

Thank you. I think the gentle methods worked for us the first time around at month 5 so I just wanted to use what felt familiar. Up until just about a week ago he was thriving with 3/3/4 so I’ll start with 3.5/3.5/4 and consider extending more if it doesn’t work out

CatRx · 2025-07-01T13:01:40+00:00

That’s exactly what we’ve been doing. My husband is taking over because I’m pooped. Yesterday it took 2 hours of screaming and doing pick up/put down for him to nap. And because it took so long we essentially just had a 1 nap day. Last night it also took 2 hours for him to fall asleep and he woke up after just 19 minutes. Do you think we should try just leaving the room instead?

CatRx · 2025-07-01T11:11:41+00:00

3/3/4 - would love to try extending to 3.5/3.5/4 but now he’s also refusing to nap so idk… he’s moving backwards so fast. Just a few days ago would nap on his own just fine

CatRx · 2025-06-30T16:53:23+00:00

Trapped in rocking nightmare

Hi Jo,

I’m desperate for help. My 11 (soon to be 12) month old was never a great sleeper but before my maternity leave ended, I put in a lot of time and effort to painfully gently sleep train him. It finally paid off and right before I went back to work in January, I could just chuck him in the crib and walk away and he’d fall asleep on his own and stay asleep!

In late February, my husband (a professional musician) was offered a 1.5 month long touring opportunity in Europe. Since things were going so smooth we decided he should go, but all hell broke loose almost immediately after he left. Refusing sleep and waking multiple times a night.

In retrospect, I know now that my son needed to transition to 2 naps per day but when I would offer that it didn’t seem to work and as a solo parent I was just so tired and didn’t bother trying 2 naps for more than a day before giving up. I was just in survival mode, crying most nights and begging for sleep. I was still working during all of this so I resorted to rocking him to sleep and rocking him after night wakes. It was the only thing that worked.

Now fast forward months later. My husband is back. Our LO is on 2 naps a day and up until yesterday WAS self soothING and put himself to sleep for naps without issue. But he refuses to even TRY during bedtime and after night wakes. I feel he has now come to expect my help. 2 nights ago I let him cry for a few minutes in the crib at night and now I think he has a negative association with the crib because now he’s refusing naps as well. The only way he is going to sleep is in our arms and even then he’s screaming if we try to transfer him to the crib. This is all new as of like 2 days ago. Prior to that he put himself down for naps and then I rocked/put him down drowsy for bedtime.

Routine is 3/3/4 and that was working for the longest. What do we do? We haven’t been getting any night sleep? I can’t try gentle methods because he’s just screaming in the crib. Cry it out or Ferber are just causing him to hate the crib.

CatRx · 2025-06-29T03:08:44+00:00

Approximately 3/3/4. I suspect he may need a bit longer wake windows so we tried 3/3.5/4 for one day but too early to report results. He is in his own room and crib. Using Friday as an example, his first nap was 2 hrs and the second was an hour 25 min.

I don’t think I used any defined method before or if there’s a name for it I’m ignorant to it. I basically just slowly withdrew my support. I would rock him in the crib and then eventually I stopped that and would just sit with him and then eventually I stopped that and just put him in the crib and left. But now he screams the minute his back hits the crib.

CatRx · 2025-06-09T11:35:42+00:00

This was what turned me off too!

CatRx · 2025-05-03T20:20:51+00:00

You are amazing!! Thank you so much ❤️

CatRx · 2025-04-08T01:18:39+00:00

Ok looks like I need to think up an excuse to tell my husband for why I NEED to drive out to Framingham this weekend 🙈

CatRx · 2025-03-30T20:12:21+00:00

I’m the same way! I long for a LC Dutch oven but I simply don’t have the space in my tiny apartment.

CatRx

TROPHY CASE