2007/04/06
Moving
We rent. I think we always will. It's a philosophy of ours. We can spend 25 or 30 years paying a mortgage and, in the process, end up paying twice what the house is actually worth, only to sell it later for less... or we can spend a couple hundred dollars less every month and not have to deal with property taxes or repairs, and we can pick up and move whenever the heck we feel like doing so.
It's because we're renters that we managed to get from Alberta to Vancouver Island as easily as we did. We didn't have a house to sell, we didn't have to find something "perfect" in BC to replace it with, and we didn't have to time everything perfectly. We just rented a van and went for it, letting the chips fall where they may.
There are a couple of down sides to renting that I can think of. Landlords can change their minds and give you the boot (which has happened to us twice), and some people assume that, because druggie crack-users are generally renters, all renters must be po' folk. To those people, I say "I own little, but I owe even less. I'm in debt to the tune of about $1000. How's your mortgage?" About the only thing that might make us consider buying a house is if we won the lottery and could just hand over the cash. But even so, we'd be more likely to spend the money on more important things than "stuff" and travel instead.
The reason I'm talking about the rental life is that Patti, our landlady and a wonderful woman, has finally finished her reeducation and has met someone, and they both want to move back into this house to settle down together. She told us this in December, and gave us "as much time as you need" to find a place we liked. That was bleemin' awesome of her, because in a town with only 3000 people the number of houses that go up for rent is... small. What's opened up around here has, indeed, been rented by druggie crack-users. You can tell by the torn up carpets and the holes in the walls and floors.
It's taken us this long, but we finally found a clean, cared for place that suited us for a price that wouldn't break the bank. It's only 12 years old, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a garage, a little yard that I might not hate mowing too much, and a nice little deck, all in a quiet little cul-de-sac and, literally, a stone's throw from the lake. For the first time, ever I think, we're not dreading a move. Patti's giving us two weeks, rent-free, in May to get our stuff out and clean the old place up. And I think we'll be able to get the keys to the new place in mid-April. Having an entire month in which to move makes it pretty easy, all things considered.
We don't generally accumulate a lot of cruft, but there's some chunking out we'll have to do. For one thing, the new place is smaller than what we're in right now, and for another it's about time we replaced some of the furniture that's been abused by growing kids over the years. Now that our youngest is 13, we're finally at the point where it makes sense to have some new and undamaged stuff again. To that end, we've decided to replace two beds, three dressers, all the living room furniture, the kitchen furniture, and other, smaller, odds and ends. We'll also be getting some real desks instead of the tables we've been propping our computers on. Sadly, we can't afford to do it all at once and will have to haul some of the old junk over, but I suspect we should have what we want by the end of the year.
What with Jaq's non-smoking, her improved weight and health issues, her job (which she still likes), my new training, our dual income (we waited until the kids were older for that), and the fact that our rent is going to go up only $50 instead of the $300 we feared, things this year have actually improved enough that it makes Hell Year 2006 worth it.
I'll try to get some pictures. Not for you. You don't care. A house is a house. No, for me. If I post 'em here, maybe it'll be neat to see them ten years later so I can reminisce. That's what I do as I age. Reminisce.
It's because we're renters that we managed to get from Alberta to Vancouver Island as easily as we did. We didn't have a house to sell, we didn't have to find something "perfect" in BC to replace it with, and we didn't have to time everything perfectly. We just rented a van and went for it, letting the chips fall where they may.
There are a couple of down sides to renting that I can think of. Landlords can change their minds and give you the boot (which has happened to us twice), and some people assume that, because druggie crack-users are generally renters, all renters must be po' folk. To those people, I say "I own little, but I owe even less. I'm in debt to the tune of about $1000. How's your mortgage?" About the only thing that might make us consider buying a house is if we won the lottery and could just hand over the cash. But even so, we'd be more likely to spend the money on more important things than "stuff" and travel instead.
The reason I'm talking about the rental life is that Patti, our landlady and a wonderful woman, has finally finished her reeducation and has met someone, and they both want to move back into this house to settle down together. She told us this in December, and gave us "as much time as you need" to find a place we liked. That was bleemin' awesome of her, because in a town with only 3000 people the number of houses that go up for rent is... small. What's opened up around here has, indeed, been rented by druggie crack-users. You can tell by the torn up carpets and the holes in the walls and floors.
It's taken us this long, but we finally found a clean, cared for place that suited us for a price that wouldn't break the bank. It's only 12 years old, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a garage, a little yard that I might not hate mowing too much, and a nice little deck, all in a quiet little cul-de-sac and, literally, a stone's throw from the lake. For the first time, ever I think, we're not dreading a move. Patti's giving us two weeks, rent-free, in May to get our stuff out and clean the old place up. And I think we'll be able to get the keys to the new place in mid-April. Having an entire month in which to move makes it pretty easy, all things considered.
We don't generally accumulate a lot of cruft, but there's some chunking out we'll have to do. For one thing, the new place is smaller than what we're in right now, and for another it's about time we replaced some of the furniture that's been abused by growing kids over the years. Now that our youngest is 13, we're finally at the point where it makes sense to have some new and undamaged stuff again. To that end, we've decided to replace two beds, three dressers, all the living room furniture, the kitchen furniture, and other, smaller, odds and ends. We'll also be getting some real desks instead of the tables we've been propping our computers on. Sadly, we can't afford to do it all at once and will have to haul some of the old junk over, but I suspect we should have what we want by the end of the year.
What with Jaq's non-smoking, her improved weight and health issues, her job (which she still likes), my new training, our dual income (we waited until the kids were older for that), and the fact that our rent is going to go up only $50 instead of the $300 we feared, things this year have actually improved enough that it makes Hell Year 2006 worth it.
I'll try to get some pictures. Not for you. You don't care. A house is a house. No, for me. If I post 'em here, maybe it'll be neat to see them ten years later so I can reminisce. That's what I do as I age. Reminisce.
What would Jesus really do? - CNN.com
Kirby pointed to this CNN commentary:What would Jesus really do?
"When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant caring about only two issues, abortion and homosexuality?"
After reading the article, I couldn't control my fingers and had to fire off the following comment:
"I'm not a Christian, but I couldn't agree more. Despite the fact that we know we shouldn't, people generalise. We base our opinions of a group on the most visible or vocal members of that group. When we non-Christians think of Christians, we often think of precisely the ones you've named. It's difficult not to reach the conclusion that you're ALL a bunch of judgmental loudmouths rather than the gentle and giving souls I've come to know over the last few years.
Your spokespeople do you a disservice."
"When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant caring about only two issues, abortion and homosexuality?"
After reading the article, I couldn't control my fingers and had to fire off the following comment:
"I'm not a Christian, but I couldn't agree more. Despite the fact that we know we shouldn't, people generalise. We base our opinions of a group on the most visible or vocal members of that group. When we non-Christians think of Christians, we often think of precisely the ones you've named. It's difficult not to reach the conclusion that you're ALL a bunch of judgmental loudmouths rather than the gentle and giving souls I've come to know over the last few years.
Your spokespeople do you a disservice."
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