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judecorpI've doing a lot of thinking about houses. Basically, the big question is, do I want to own one?
The big trend in my life has been to favor apartment living because I am, by nature, a rather transient individual. In my life I've had the opportunity to pack and move with reckless abandon, and I've been privileged to live in a number of cool places (NM, GA, MA, OH) and some not-so-cool ones (ME). I've also been pretty free with relationships as well - when I was in them, there was always an "out" on the horizon, always the need for a safety net in case something didn't work out. Even when I was married, the relationship wasn't stable. I didn't want to make large purchases with him, nor did I want to establish roots. We had a semi-open relationship because I wasn't willing to give certain things up. (Of course, those "things" involved sleeping with women, but still...)
It's hard to deny the practical applications of homeownership, though - from tax deductions to just the wisdom of paying money to something you own rather than something someone else owns. And it would eliminate the idiocy that is "pet rent." And I could paint the walls any old way my little heart desired! These are all exciting things. So for the last month or so, I've been tossing around the idea of houses. It started as I was watching![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
356dreamer set up his new house - choosing colors and schemes and things. It seemed like fun!
Last night when I was on the phone with mysmurfbrother, it just made me crazy about houses all over again. Jennifer and I have been talking futureward about houses and moving and all of that, but now I want a house now! Last night I was like, "I think when my lease runs out, I want to try to see if I can get a house." But then we got into a discussion about it...
She says that she wouldn't feel comfortable moving into a house if it was my house, not ours. So if I bought a house and we weren't living together, she wouldn't want to live with me, because it would be my house. But my lease runs out in July, and hers in October, and that's soon (to me) to be thinking about something so serious as not just living together, but purchasing a home together. I've always felt that since I never want to get married again (and since I can't, legally), house-buying would be my symbol to people that this was a serious commitment, a commitment on paper, a commitment with something to show for it. And while what we have is special and wonderful and seems, right now, to be the kind of thing I want to carry into the distant future, I worry that 2003 is too soon.
So now I'm in this dilemma... do I continue to think about the possibility of buying a place of my own? Do I rent for another year and see where this goes? Do I throw caution to the wind and make things work - if I want them to, why not start now? I was telling her last night that there's little more humbling than profession a life and a commitment with someone in front of hundreds of people, some of whom that are close to you and some that are family acquaintances, and then having to retract that statement, over and over and over, every time you see one of them. Whenever I visit my hometown, it seems like a rehash of my stupid decision in 1999. I sure don't want to do that again.
Sometimes I hate being a Libra. At least I have months and months to process this to death.
The big trend in my life has been to favor apartment living because I am, by nature, a rather transient individual. In my life I've had the opportunity to pack and move with reckless abandon, and I've been privileged to live in a number of cool places (NM, GA, MA, OH) and some not-so-cool ones (ME). I've also been pretty free with relationships as well - when I was in them, there was always an "out" on the horizon, always the need for a safety net in case something didn't work out. Even when I was married, the relationship wasn't stable. I didn't want to make large purchases with him, nor did I want to establish roots. We had a semi-open relationship because I wasn't willing to give certain things up. (Of course, those "things" involved sleeping with women, but still...)
It's hard to deny the practical applications of homeownership, though - from tax deductions to just the wisdom of paying money to something you own rather than something someone else owns. And it would eliminate the idiocy that is "pet rent." And I could paint the walls any old way my little heart desired! These are all exciting things. So for the last month or so, I've been tossing around the idea of houses. It started as I was watching
356dreamer set up his new house - choosing colors and schemes and things. It seemed like fun!Last night when I was on the phone with my
smurfbrother, it just made me crazy about houses all over again. Jennifer and I have been talking futureward about houses and moving and all of that, but now I want a house now! Last night I was like, "I think when my lease runs out, I want to try to see if I can get a house." But then we got into a discussion about it...She says that she wouldn't feel comfortable moving into a house if it was my house, not ours. So if I bought a house and we weren't living together, she wouldn't want to live with me, because it would be my house. But my lease runs out in July, and hers in October, and that's soon (to me) to be thinking about something so serious as not just living together, but purchasing a home together. I've always felt that since I never want to get married again (and since I can't, legally), house-buying would be my symbol to people that this was a serious commitment, a commitment on paper, a commitment with something to show for it. And while what we have is special and wonderful and seems, right now, to be the kind of thing I want to carry into the distant future, I worry that 2003 is too soon.
So now I'm in this dilemma... do I continue to think about the possibility of buying a place of my own? Do I rent for another year and see where this goes? Do I throw caution to the wind and make things work - if I want them to, why not start now? I was telling her last night that there's little more humbling than profession a life and a commitment with someone in front of hundreds of people, some of whom that are close to you and some that are family acquaintances, and then having to retract that statement, over and over and over, every time you see one of them. Whenever I visit my hometown, it seems like a rehash of my stupid decision in 1999. I sure don't want to do that again.
Sometimes I hate being a Libra. At least I have months and months to process this to death.
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Date: 2003-02-16 02:06 pm (UTC)I think only $100-$150 of our payment goes towards the principal each month. We put down about $37k on our house, most of it saved by living extremely frugally and in a relatively cheap apartment... in the down economy and with me losing my job. We've been having a lot more trouble saving now that we have the house. Granted, Jude neither has 2 incomes nor makes anywhere near what Bill does, but houses are money sucks, just because you look around and say "I want to do this, or that" to the house, you need things you didn't need in an apartment, or something breaks that you have to pay to fix.
Unless you plan on living there a long time OR you are buying into a place that's going to increase in value significantly... even with the low interest rates, it's good to wait. When the interest rates go up, the prices of housing will go down (or no one will be able to sell their properties. Why do you think the home values have skyrocketed recently?).
Bill's old house, he lived in 3 years and had a roommate paying him rent. After paying for the new siding (carpenter ants), new carpet (cat/rabbit damage), new furnace (I think it was the furnace... it was $2500 at any rate), new deck (the old one was rotted away), AND selling it FSBO... in Dublin where the property values were skyrocketing... he came away even... selling it for his purchase price plus the $ he put into improvements. Doesn't include any of the payments he made every month, that was like "rent".