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Housing update…

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We just got word that our rent will not be increasing this year.  That’s one box checked.  Now we will contact our renters and find out if they will be extending the lease, looking to buy or…gulp…moving out.  At least we got the good news today that our rent will remain the same.  We are entering our third year in this house and the rent has not changed.  I am thankful.

All signs are that our tenants will want to extend another year.  I threw out the idea to Steve that we propose a two year lease on both sides.  Given our debt reduction plan, it would be nice to have a constant on the housing side.  I’m not sure our landlords or our tenants would go for that but it never hurts to ask.  That would get us to credit card debt free without having to think about whether or not the housing cost will increase.

Finally–it is August 16 and things aren’t looking great on the debt reduction for this month.  All minimums are made thankfully but I don’t see as big a dent coming and that is discouraging.  It seems that even with some looking ahead this back to school month is brutal.  In addition to regular school stuff we have registration fees for things like Faith Formation at church and after school programs.  I guess the bright side is we definitely have the money to pay the fees.  Unlike in the past when we would be scrambling to find the money because we had no plan.


11 Comments

    • Reply Claire |

      Oh Tiffany…are you spying on me?! 😉 NO WORD ON THE PROMOTION! BUT…we got word today that the boss and his boss are coming in tomorrow for a lunch meeting. I had been told about 2 weeks ago that this would be the visit to make the decision. I’m frustrated b/c I feel like if there was going to be an announcement the candidates would have been contacted. I’ve run every scenario in my head and at this moment I’m experiencing “fight or flight.” I have legitimate work related reasons to not be in the office tomorrow that I could easily reschedule to be there…but at this moment…I’m in the flight mode. Let’s hope that by tomorrow morning I find the fighter in me! My challenge is I don’t do unspoken communcation. So I want to just blurt out “WHAT is going on?!” Stay tuned though and thanks for asking bc it gave me a reason to share and I already feel better!

  • Reply Claire |

    You have been doing so well; not every month is going to be a grand-slam. Keep up the good work!

  • Reply CanadianKate |

    Not sure about you signing a 2 year lease. (I’m ok with your tenants doing so.)

    The advantages are stability and known expense.

    The disadvantage is that it ties you to this house. While it is perfect for you now, in 12 months a job change or school change might make it less perfect. A slim chance but flexibility in changing one of your greatest expense items may be advantage.

  • Reply mv |

    A 2 year lease is much, much too long. Life is too unpredictable. When I was renting, I DREADED a 1-year lease. I don’t recall if it ended up being a 1-year lease or a 9-months, but then shifted month-to-month. Personally, I liked the flexibility of the month-to-month lease, even though I ended up renting for 3 years at each place, you just don’t know what life will throw at you to make that long of a commitment (of course, now I own, which is an even longer commitment, and sometimes I almost wish I didn’t).

    • Reply Claire |

      Funny mv! We say this all the time! We are just not convinced that if and when we are able to sell Steve’s house that we’d buy another! The pros of a 2 year lease are to avoid the unpredictability you speak of here. It seems more stable to me at this point.

  • Reply Dream Mom |

    Ditto on the 2 year lease. I wouldn’t do it on either side; you never know when things can change and two years is much too long.

    In terms of the debt reduction, it’s most likely always going to be two steps forward and one step back or at least staying in the same place sometimes. That’s why even when things look great on paper that things will be done in x amount of time, the reality is that life and little things that weren’t counted happen. These are the little lessons that you learn along the way and that you’ll remember once you are debt free. It doesn’t take long to spend money, lol. The only thing you can do it to hang in there and to take these numbers this month that you had for school supplies and put them in the budget for next year so that you have a realistic number (or as close as possible) for next time. Paying off debt and saving money take a lot of discipline and when you factor kids in, it just makes everything a little harder.

    Good luck.

    • Reply Claire |

      The appeal of the 2 year lease is to have a “known.” We aren’t a couple with no children. Moving would be a major event and my perspective is that I like knowing that the house can’t be taken out from under us on short notice.

      • Reply Cathy C. |

        I agree with others about not signing a 2 year lease. What’s the major worry here? I think your rental market is very similar to ours as your cost of living/ real estate market is so similar. An increase in rent from one year to the next is most likely not going to exceed $100. At least, it doesn’t here and as landlords, if we have good tenants that pay on time we typically don’t increase the rent or increase it very little. In the big scheme of things, your rent increasing by $50-$100 a month should not send you into fits of panic, especially when you have been able to pay down $3,000+ every month towards your debt.

        It’s not worth it to lock yourselves into a 2 yr and then potentially have to lose your deposit or worse if you have to break the lease early.

        As for a house being taken out from under you with short notice, most likely wouldn’t happen unless your landlords foreclose. We have to fulfill the terms of the lease before we’re able to sell the property, etc. They could list it for sale while you’re in it, but they wouldn’t be able to close until your lease ends or that’s a lawsuit. Just some things to keep in mind.

      • Reply Dream Mom |

        Claire, you don’t have to be a couple without children. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. The more debt you have and the more obligations you have, the less likely you can tolerate a “hit” of any kind. Suppose for a minute, you are 11 months into a 24 month lease and your tenants leave (who knows, one could die and they bail, whatever) and at the same time, you or your spouse lose your job. With a 24 month lease, you have an obligation from month 11-24 to fulfill your lease; many leases have penalties if you leave early. Now then, imagine the same scenario when you are at month 11 of a 12 month lease. You could move back to the home you own, vacate your current lease at the end of it and not be liable for additional fees. The reason for a 12 month lease is the “unexpected” or “unknown” not the “known”. You are looking at it in terms of knowing what your expenses are; instead, try to see it in terms of what could go wrong and whether or not you could cover the losses. Hope that helps.

        • Reply Claire |

          Thanks Dream Mom–I need to write another post on the latest on this front. We got an email from our tenants saying they want to enter into a “lease-to-own” contract on the house. I have research to do but at least we know they don’t want to move out. 🙂

So, what do you think ?