House for sale, with studio - in NJ. i must be crazy.

oh boy. i'm trembling as i type this. for a quick prep, here is my studio build diary http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8205 here's my situation. . . i have a wife and 2 sons. my oldest (4) has down syndrome. he doesn't (and may not for many years) understand danger. we live on a busy state highway (the house is residentially and commercially zoned). a couple weeks ago Caleb (our son) ran down the driveway when my wife wasn't looking, and went directly into the middle of the street, on the yellow lines. cars from both ways went screeching to a stop. God didn't want Caleb yet, because none of the cars hit him, or anything else for that matter. my wife is still a wreck, as am i. long story short, we're looking to move. still in our area, but in a development and on a back road. not immediately. but within a year or two. sooner if God works it that way. i'm going to build a new studio in the new house as well. so the place we move needs to be right for all our needs. as you can see, the timing needs to be right for all involved. i know this is a weird thing to post here, but i just spent about $20K building this studio, and i'd hate for some nail salon to come in and rip it all out. minor description: split level, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, big living room, nice kitchen, playroom, basement, small 2 car garage, and a SICK STUDIO!!!! it was appraised around $425K a year or two ago, not sure exactly where its at nowadays. hopefully a bit more than that. this is not expensive for around here. . . to all you outta staters. we're in the beginning stages of this transition, so i'm willing to talk about things with whoever. i welcome any questions/comments.

sorry to hear about this, but i'd advertise it with a "home theater" (control room) and "wine cellar" (vox booth) and "professional office" (live room). since a project studio isn't likely to be as appealing to a larger market... of course put it in the real estate ad that it can be used as a project studio to ensure you cover those people as well :wink:

Dynamike - You're not alone. My 4 year year old boy runs into the street anytime he sees someone, anyone, a bunny, - anything on the other side. And we live in a very residential development. But this only seems to attract speeders. Don't panic, danger is everywhere, everywhere... 3 houses from me, (in my Mr's Rogers neighborhood development) a man murdered his wife and stuck her body in a 45 gallon bin in the garage next to his roll-away - one month ago. We were all stunned... So again, danger, accidents, murder, they're all over the place. That incident with your son could happen on any street that allows cars on it. My son almost got run over by some young girl on her cell phone last Halloween - and it ROCKED me for a while. It's unthinkable to imagine... Hang in there dude. Don't panic. But inthe end, your family comes first and you have to do what you feel is best. You can always build another studio, you did it already, you have the know-how. Best of luck my friend, - Brad

Dynamike - How's things going dude? I hope all is well for you and your family.

Moving seems a little radical. Would it be economically feasible to install a perimeter fence, including a driveway gate with lock? Moving sucks, and there's no guarantee a new home/neighborhood is the answer. No doubt it too will have it's own set of challenges/obstacles.

yeah, i agree. . . danger is everywhere. tell that to my wife though, haha. we just wanna be in a development. apparently Caleb's "escaping" comes with his down syndrome. we know a few downs kids that are in there mid-teens and still run away. by that age they understand not to run in the road, but they still keep goin. i'm takin it slow, i'm gonna stay as long as i can, use the studio as much as i can, then if/when we do move, i'll know what i did right and wrong, what i wish i had, and what i could do without. we'll probably do a fence for the meantime. but that'll only buy us a few years until he figures out how to open the latch, or get a ladder or whatever else. actually, the singer of my band mentioned he may be ready to buy in a year or two. that would work out perfect. i told him i'll leave my gear as-is till the next studio would be finished. he could use it, and i could still go over there for paying sessions and what-not. i don't know. all still up in the air. we're just prayin and trustin God is in control. our(my wifes) attitude is lot more calm about the whole situation now. anyway, gotta post some new pics soon, cuz i'm just about done and ready to get my gear in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with the earlier post... if you decided to sell the house just place a nice plasma screen in the studio and you will have a nice home theather... vocal booth can be the licquors/wine room and the tracking room maybe you can place a snooker table there and turn it into a kind of leisure zone Good luck to you and your family.