Just exactly when did God die and how'd you get in the will?

[judecorp]

We spent the day doing some preliminary cleaning out of my father's apartment. We started by putting all of his junk mail, magazines, and catalogs into the recycle. Then we went through most of the drawers looking for trash. Then we bagged all of his clothing to be donated. Then we cleaned out the bathroom and the refrigerator. Bleh, what a day. There is still SO MUCH to do. I feel like we will be doing this all summer long.

It's funny, because for the last several years I've obsessed about owning a house and now I own half a house. It's sitting right there just existing and it's half mine. That's so weird. Jennifer and I have talked and talked and talked about this house, and what to do with it, and whether we should move into it.

Pros of moving into it include not having to pay rent anymore, being able to keep an eye on my grandparents, having a lower cost of living, building equity. Cons largely revolve around living in Rhode Island, Woonsocket to be specific. Dear gods but that place is a total shithole. I'm pretty sure it has the worst schools and highest child abuse in the state. And we wouldn't be legally married anymore. And we'd be landlords. (And I don't know jack about being a landlord, except that Jeff Ott would want to kill me.) And it would be kind of weird to live in my dad's apartment. And did I mention that it would be in Woonsocket? (anitsirk, help me out here.)

Theoretically we could still commute to our jobs here but that just seems so silly, since we both get paid crap money and aren't really attached to our jobs. So we'd have to find new jobs, too. And I'd probably need to transfer my license again. I'm getting pretty tired of that.

So there's been a lot of discussion, and a lot to think about, and it's just a huge decision. Blarg. But I had some Del's Lemonade tonight and that certainly shows that Rhode Island can be tasty if nothing else. Yum.

Comments

[anitsirk.livejournal.com]

who owns the other half?

while i would love to recruit more cool people to northern ri, i wouldn't suggest moving to woonsocket.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

who owns the other half?
My brother.

Yeah, Woonsocket is a total pit. If only it was a cooler place!

[anitsirk.livejournal.com]

real estate is still crazy in woonsocket though... sell it! (unless it has an emotional attachment thing)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

It's less about emotional attachment and more about taking care of my grandparents.

keep it

[etherial.livejournal.com]

rent the other half, too.

Re: keep it

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

That still doesn't address the "watch my grandparents" aspect.

[folkyboy.livejournal.com]

maybe just do like you said and try it out for a year and see how it goes...

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I don't remember saying we would try it for a year, and if I did then I totally gave you the wrong impression. I am /SO/ sick of moving, and really don't plan to move again for a long LONG time if I can help it. If we moved down there, we would start trying to have a family and would stay there for at least enough time to get financially stable and make some babies turn into toddlers.

It certainly wouldn't be a one-year thing. I don't want to move every year.

[volumeat11.livejournal.com]

Wow. Being a mortgage guy, if you're seriously thinking about living there, other pros and cons include, but are not (by any means) limited to:
P...you can use the anticipated rental income to help qualify with your debt-to-income ratios
C...depending on how many units there are, your debt-to-income ratio can fluxuate wildly
P...equity indeed
C...being a landlord can indeed be trying, especially if you've never been one before

If you just want to sell it...
P...cash money to buy a place in MA
C...the capital gains can bend you over without a courtesy reach-around or anything

Non-mortgagey though, good for you...I don't know if I could be a big enough person to clean out my dad's stuff...kudos.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

It's a 2-family place, with the other floor already rented and occupied. And I don't really care much for being a landlord (or doing anything businessy) but the income would be nice.

Jen and I have talked at great lengths at our options, including selling the house and using the money to make a BIG downpayment on a house in MA somewhere, which would mean we might be able to actually afford one. But then I start to wonder what will happen to my grandparents when there are no other family members in the area.

[volumeat11.livejournal.com]

whelp...huh. That's a toughie. Is your brother down there? And...it's not like you're going to be moving in...or living far away...right? I mean...yeah, big downpayment indeed...

When you say you own "half," is that like the unit with the tenant occupying the other half, or does your brother own the other half of the unit? Who's the other owner?

LISTEN TO ME AX PERSONAL QUESTIONS! My bad...I'm just curious and concerned and stuff. Feel free to answer zero of this.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

My brother and his wife live in Missouri right now. He is finishing up his dissertation and eventually hoping to get a professor job somewhere... but really, it could be anywhere. He is in town for a bit this summer to help settle the estate but I'm sure he's itching to return home to his wife.

(And yes, he owns the other half, not the tenant. I suppose we're the heirs of the whole shebang.)

[volumeat11.livejournal.com]

Yeah...thought he was "out of town." Forgot the details...my bad.

Wow...well, good luck with your decision..."toughie" indeed...

[biophile6.livejournal.com]

I guess the good thing is that now you have the equity to do something with it, somewhere else? Is it attached psychologically to the family?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Well, in some ways it's kind of attached to the family, but not really psychologically. You see, there were three buildings all in my family right next door to each other: my grandparents' place, my dad's place, and my great uncle's place. My great uncle died a couple of months ago and my grandfather just sold that house. My grandparents really depended on my dad for a lot of stuff, mostly to battle loneliness but also for odd jobs and such.

I'm worried about what will happen to them if they are suddenly living all alone in the Compound, and it's all full of strangers. And I worry about having no one there to watch them, or help them, or be there if they fall or get sick or whatever.

[biophile6.livejournal.com]

mmm those are all legitimate concerns