by Hope
I believe it was last fall or late summer I mentioned that my landlord would like to sell the house we are living in. Not necessarily, that he wants to sell it out from under us, but he has asked me to purchase it on several occasions.
As anyone who has read me here knows, I am no where close to the position to buy a house. But that’s not to say, the idea hasn’t tempted me off and on throughout the years. We’ve now lived in this house for 3 years (come April.) That’s almost the longest we have lived anywhere. In fact, when Princess graduates next year, we will have lived in this house longer then we/I have ever lived in one place. (I had moved 18 times before I graduated from college. And Princess, Gymnast and I have moved 11 times since their dad and I split 13 years ago.)
But as often as I’ve thought it would be nice to own a home. Even considered owning the home we are in now. I realize the still precarious financial position. Know the benefits of renting…no maintenance or major upkeep costs. And more importantly, am well aware that I may not want to stay in this tiny town forever, ie after Princess graduates.
Sink Hole Anyone?
With all that being said, I have another very good reason for not buying this particular house…
It has been raining like crazy the last week or so. Roads around us have been washed out. School was delayed and closed because of flooding and so on. But in our own yard, we now have a raging underground river running.
And the yard fell in…we have known about this hole (as has the landlord) since we moved in. We covered it with these two concrete water drainage things. But they are now falling in…can you say Sink Hole?
No, really I don’t know if this is how sink holes are created. But I do know that digging up the yard, dealing with the drainage issues and so on will be very expensive and way outside of my area of expertise.
I’ve always said that sometimes I need a “frying pan” to the head to learn my lesson sometimes. This time it just took a large hole in the ground. (We actually filmed the hole and you can see the fast moving water inside.)
But this alone makes is really easy to dismiss any wandering thoughts I have about buying this house. So just praying he doesn’t decided to sell for at least the next year and a half. Then we are good!
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
Yep, things like this make me a very happy renter! Just one quick example. Last winter there was a dead deer in the backyard (probably was hit by a car and later died in the yard) and the town wouldn’t remove it because it was on private property. I was every so happy that it was my landlord’s problem and not mine.
For what it’s worth, the sink hole should make it harder to sell the house so that should be on your side. If you are committed to staying for the next 18 months, but don’t care what happens after that, ask your landlord if he would be willing to let you sign an 18 month lease. That will give you peace of mind that your rent won’t be raised during that time and your landlord has a commitment from you that you are staying put (which may also make him not worry about trying to sell the house).
Also, if you have a lease he or the new owners can’t evict you (I’m not a lawyer, so check the Georgia code but that’s generally true), And face it, that place needs so much work as you described in the previous post last year (hole in roof, outdated wiring, rotting exterior wall, no vents in bathrooms, needs new driveway, and now drainage issues) that no one is going to want to move in themselves without extensive renovation.
That doesn’t sound like a good or safe home for anyone to live in.
Will your boyfriend be moving with you anytime soon? Maybe a big decision like moving to a new place, renewing a lease etc would depend on his plans as well – needing a larger space, sharing the rent, etc
Hopefully this year. But we are on the same page with regards to moving, etc. He will essentially be retired when he comes here. And he’s open to whatever I want to do.