Okay, so HERE’S the dealy-o.
The house we’re currently leasing (and living in) is falling apart. The master shower has a foul odor every time you take a shower, and we’ve realized it’s because the dang thing is LEAKING into the garage and the sheet rock is probably molded and nasty. The foundation has MAJORLY shifted in the past 6 months, and there are huge cracks everywhere. The tile is even starting to warp. And to top it all off, we now have FOUR doors in the house that are so crooked, we can barely open or shut them (one being the BATHROOM door and one being the FRONT door). Not so great.
Aren’t you so glad we didn’t talk the owner into selling to us 2 months ago? Wow.
So here’s what we’re thinking: when we signed this 12-month lease last November (due to the fact that no short-term leases were currently available ANYWHERE, thank you very much, Ike), we never agreed to live in a barely functional, stinking house where the front door barely locks. I mean, that’s a safety hazard, right? Not to mention having a bathroom door that shuts can lead to some potentially embarrassing situations. Our manager has told us that they’ll have to do LOTS of work on the foundation, which means we’d practically be living in a construction zone for who knows how long.
So we thought we’d have a chat with our manager and the landlord (who is flying in from Australia next week—seriously, who rents out a lower-middle-class house from half-way around the world, anyway). Maybe, considering the circumstances, they’d be willing to let us break our lease a little early WITHOUT paying a penalty. Just maybe. And that of course means….
WE CAN BUY A HOUSE! OF OUR OWN! WHERE I CAN PAINT THE WALLS SNOT GREEN IF I WANT TO!! (I won’t, but it’s the principal of the thing). We actually jumped the gun a bit and looked at a few houses today. Nothing serious…it was really just for fun.
So cross your fingers for us. I sure would love to buy a house now instead of waiting until September.
8 comments:
ooohhh! Good luck! Fingers are crossed that you get your snot green walls sister!
Ahh – then all of those issues become your expensive issues (as a homeowner)!
Not trying to rain on your parade - promise. It’s just that I literally just priced the A/C I’m gonna have to replace this summer in my home. Homeownership is still totally worth it! Congrats!!! (And don’t forget to leave room in your budget for the CONSTANT surprise maintenance issues.)
Figure out how much you can afford and then go even cheaper. You will be glad that you did. It can be frustrating and expensive to own a house but so worth it in that it is yours and while you are responsible for all the fixing of random things that break, you get the joy of doing whatever you want with it and to it.
Don't worry, Cheree. We're not first time home-buyers. We know all about making repairs yourself--and what an expensive, annoying pain it is. That's why we'd rather buy a house we already like, instead of spending the time, money and energy on a "fixer-upper". That's what we did last time, and the result was that most of the repairs didn't get finished until we were selling the house. What can I say? We're procrastinators. Plus, we found the costs to be pretty comparable to just buying a house we like in the first place (thinking in terms of opportunity cost)
Good luck with the hunt, hopefully you can move out before your lease is up. Also, if you haven't owned your house in 3 yrs, then you qualify for stimulus money. Just to point you in the right direction, our neighborhood is very affordable (haha)!
Very good. :-) I'm sure Sarah would have lots to say about fixer-uppers too!! :-)
Have a fun search!!!
That's crazy that your landlord lives in Australia.
I hope he gives you good news!
Yay! How exciting that you are getting to your goal so much sooner than you thought. I'd love to watch your kids so you can go house-hunting... Or, I'd even go along with you and the kids any day you wanted to go while Steven is at work. :)
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