Thoughts on homes

I bought the best little Victorian cottage in Indianapolis when I was 26.  I did so much to personalize the house.  I painted, installed hardwood floors, went to countless estate sales and thrift stores to decorate it just the way I wanted it.  I love that house, but I was never happy in Indianapolis.  It’s great for a lot of people but it never felt like home to me.  When I was laid off from a job in 2009, I took the opportunity to move to the Bay Area, a place that felt right for me and where I’d been dreaming of living for a long time. 

At first, renting out the house was super easy! I already had 2 roommates so they just got a third to fill my room.  I had a friend manage the rental for me; basically, he collected rent and did minor repairs when needed.  Eventually those tenants parted ways and I got a new group of tenants who were high maintenance and my friend stopped managing for me.  In hindsight, I should have gotten another manager, but I thought I could handle it myself.  In this time, the house needed many major repairs and I had trouble collecting rent from one of the tenants.  When they decided to move out I decided it was time to sell the house.

As you can imagine, without collecting any rental income my budget has been super tight.  Paying a mortgage and rent is NOT easy.  To top it off, the house needed a lot of work to get it market ready.  Now I have an interested buyer, but the inspection report was 11 pages long (!!!) and the buyer requested even more repairs.  As you can imagine, I am so broke right now.  It’s stressful!  I look forward to our closing in the very near future and wiping my hands of this house.  Despite loving being inside of it, the house represents a lot of negative feelings and is my last tie to Indianapolis.

What’s funny is I’ve said many times that I never want to own another house again but to be honest I really miss the freedom that comes with owning your own space.  I love my apartment- it is in an excellent location, a new remodel, and cheaper than most of my friends pay for rent.  The amount of space is fine for me and Eric and the pets.  But there are so many decor changes I’d like to make and living in an apartment instead of a house wears on me.  Sadly, I just don’t think Eric and I will ever be able to afford an acceptable home in Oakland that does not require an insane commute (have I mentioned how much I hate commuting?!).  We’ve been talking a lot about moving to Pittsburgh eventually, where we could buy an affordable house with lots of room, find jobs just as good as the ones we have here, and HAVE EXTRA MONEY.

So, what to do in the meantime?  There are a lot of little things I would like to do to our apartment to make it feel more homey.  As soon as my house sells and my budget no longer includes a mortgage, I think I will start making those changes.  First step: houseplants and getting a number of prints framed!