Why this sudden change of tune, you might be wondering? (and I don't blame you at all since I've been blathering on about buying a house for months and months)
To be honest, it's something hubby and I have gone back and forth about privately, but ultimately decided pro-house primarily for financial reasons (paying mortgage for 7yrs vs. paying rent for 7yrs). For us, the decision between buying a house vs. renting is equivalent to the choice between two lifestyles:
HOUSE-OWNING LIFE: lots of storage for lots of crap, extra rooms that we keep closed for guests/special use but still have to clean, yard with space for doggers and a garden, but must be mowed every week spring/summer. Responsible for all things that break, time-wise and money-wise. Good for having friends over, hosting parties, housing visiting relatives, but weekends would be spent cleaning, gardening, repairing/fixing. Struggling to find time to fit in bike rides, horse commitments, trips. Maintaining constant attention to budget limits, having to be VERY careful with food buying, eating out and drinking, even trips to visit family because of gas costs. But we also can grow our own foods, maybe even have chickens and a bee hive! Can compost, collect rainwater, lead a more ecologically conscious lifestyle with our choices in home and possible renovations (if we could afford to do renovations!!). Workshop space for arts and crafts, building and repairing things. Put things like piano lessons, vacations, major renovations, bike stuff, etc. on back burner b/c cannot afford AND don't have the time. (by the way, I mentioned renovations b/c all we could afford would be fixer-uppers)
RENTING LIFE: limited storage, especially for bikes. Poor offerings for accommodations for guest/family. Tiny kitchen that I can't let loose my culinary ninja skillz in. Beer brewing is going to be tricky :-). Small space gets messy extra fast, but also cleans up extra fast. Dogs have no space to run in, always have to make sure to get home to let them out to pee. Possibility of obnoxious neighbors, although so far we have fabulous neighbors. Landlord dictates stuff, rent could go up!! But for now, very cheap. Very easy to maintain, tons of extra time, as well as cash, to explore things. More time for mt biking, backpacking, cross country skiing at Mt. Lake resort, piano lessons, more horsey activities, yoga, music shows, etc. But have to pay for things like car work that we could otherwise do ourselves b/c we don't have space/tool in storage. No workshop space for crafts, building things, etc. Less responsibilities to distract me from school, and less for hubby to shoulder during those times I'm super busy. Not having to scrape by money-wise; can afford occasional nice dinners, better food (i.e. current lifestyle). Can put more money into savings and retirement, even with eating out! Can still shop for fresh farm veggies at the farmer's market, maybe join a local CSA to support local living/eating.
The punchline is that owning a home would make us much more tied to the property in both good and bad ways, but we would be, by financial necessity, home-bodies. On the contrary, rental life makes spending large amounts of time in the apt pretty boring (I know, I've been stuck home sick the last three days) and thus we are encouraged to do more outside, away from the apt and perhaps more with other people.
For the last five years, we've been homebodies. Even though we were renting the house in Crozet, we lived pretty far out and were responsible for it in almost every way on a daily basis (but we didn't have to replace appliances when they died, like the furnace and water heater!). It was such a freaking high-maintenace place too.....it felt like we spent every single weekend cleaning, beating back weeds and mowing, maintaing vehicles, bikes and tools, maintaing the garden....yes, we did go to Mint Springs park a decent bit, but we barely did any backpacking and almost no trips (I just had to ask hubby and we can only come up with two trips that weren't visiting-family related). While we did have some wonderful get-togethers and a rocking wedding in Crozet, we rarely could do the spur-of-the-moment things b/c of the location, but also b/c we were so strapped for time with all the work of maintaining. While part of the problem was related to living out in the country, I know that lifestyle was especially isolating for my introverted hubby. (I, on the other hand, had a tendency to lure people out to Crozet with promises of free food :-) We were both relieved to be leaving that place b/c of all the cleaning!!
That having been our living situation for so long, we're both pretty curious about what the rental-lifestyle in town will suit us. While we both might be homebodies by introverted-nature, there's something to be said about pushing yourself beyond the usual comfort zone, making sure to stay engaged with the world around you and exploring new things. Doing those things takes time, effort and in some cases money, things we wouldn't be able to spare if we owned a home.
The biggest factor might be the time factor. After all, I'm in graduate school, in a freakin' dual degree program! That's the whole reason we're here at all! That HAS to be my primary focus.
So for now, we're staying put. And it ain't so bad....this is what is right down the road from us:
Oh, and by the way, I start classes tomorrow. Yikes!!
PS - I apologize for the less than beautifully written posts lately. Today's excuse is the head cold and too much over-thinking all of what I detailed above.
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