Beit Neeman B'Yisrael

So we bought a house a few weeks ago, here in Maale Adumim, just up the street from where we are renting. That said, I am not sure if saying that we “bought” it is grammatically correct – the whole process of buying real estate here is much more dragged out here that in the US.

Here, one starts making payments towards the final sale price pretty soon after signing the contract. From my experience in the US, typically there is a down payment, then a lull, than a really huge check at the end (“settlement”).

Not so here – one basically starts paying 2 rents/mortgages once the contract is signed. So, to say that “we bought” a house may not be correct, but we have signed for it, and it will, at least per the contract, become ours in July.

The house is really nice, I am very excited about it – it is 4.5 bedrooms, nice “salon”, mirpeset (balcony). The master bedroom is new; it has cathedral ceilings, walk-in closet, a lot of space. We are going to have a “garden” as they call it in back, overlooking the Dead Sea. Balls thrown out the back of our house will be gone forever to the wadi (valley) below – there is a “security patch” between the garden and the wadi for police to use, but aside from that, it is a pretty steep drop-off.

The house is a 2-family (“du-mishpachti”) unit, just up the street from the Mitzpe Nevo neighborhood in Maale Adumim. The house is technically in “Klei Shir”. It is in a more mixed neighborhood, vis-à-vis religious observance than where we are renting right now.

All in all, we are very excited to be able to, finally, settle down.