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!
