Sunday, October 16, 2011

Tough Decisions

 




  I'm not sure if it is just this time of year or what, but it seems I always get the itch to move every fall. I'm not sure if it's the thought of being stuck inside for months or what, but I've been feeling it again. I've talked about my house and how it is very tiny for the five of us. I am constantly trying to rearrange things and reorganize, so we fit better but it's hard.  Plus I have this personal issue, I know it's silly but I rented this place then bought it from my mom. I lived her since I was a freshman in high school and it still just doesn't feel like my house, but my mom's even though we own it now it doesn't feel like my own.
     Around this time last year we had our house on the market, but were unable to sell it, so we eventually took it off because with a baby we just thought it would be too hard and stressful. No one was even looking at it anyways, so all the stress of keeping it clean was for nothing. We have talked about renting our house since I don't think we'll be able to sell it anytime in the near future, but it makes me nervous. I've never been a landlord, so a hundred thoughts run through me head what if they don't pay rent? destroy something? one tenant leaves and we can't find another? The list goes on and on. I guess our debate is do we just try to wait it out and hope the market will get better or just rent it and get something bigger now. I just fear the market won't be getting better any time soon and if we wait a few years we still won't be able to sell it. Unfortunately our house is a townhouse, so an addition is not really a possibility, but I wish it was. We may try to put it back on the market, but I'm not sure we will have any luck since our neighbor with the same house had theirs on the market for two years, and just ended up renting it a couple of months ago. I know we probably won't do anything until at least after the holidays if we end up making a decision at all.
     I don't want a huge house, but it would be nice to have at least one extra bedroom (we have 2 now), one more bathroom (we have 1), and a little more room so we can have people over for birthdays and stuff. With the layout of our house it seems so hard to entertain when it's cold and I have limited their birthday parties to pretty much grandparents and a few others due to lack of space. I know as they get older they will want bigger parties, but we'll have to see how it works out. So we are stuck debating what the best decision is for us. I'd love to hear any input from you guys.If you are a landlord how it's worked out, thoughts if you have moved from a small home to a bigger one, or if you have tried to sell with no luck. Anything would be helpful at this point because we've been having this same debate for over a year now with no real solution. Thanks:)

4 comments:

  1. I sure wish that I could provide you with some wisdom or help. I do want to wish you the best of luck in your search for what's right for your family though. These are definitely difficult choices to make. My family and I struggle with similar issues and it's never easy.
    Sending you good thoughts--

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  2. I really hope the best!!! If you don't take a risk you will never know.. I want to rent my house in the near future.. but take the necessary steps before doing that..and TRUST yourself. It will turn out for the better! :)

    Stopping by to say HI and thanks for joining us on the hop!

    I was already following you VIA GFC so I followed you via Twitter

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  3. hi! stopping by for the blog hop. now following!

    http://livinthemommylife.blogspot.com

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  4. Hi, here on the Alexa Hop!
    Following you on GFC.

    One idea is that instead of selling, you could either house swap with someone else in a similar situation (and/or if you do rent, go thru the house with a vidcam and make a dvd of the condition everything is in, so you can back up any future claim against a deposit),

    and way back when I worked in a religious bookstore, Catholics would swear by this method to sell a house:

    Take a small statue of St. Joseph, and bury it in your yard UPSIDE DOWN (really) and FACING YOUR HOUSE (really - someone's neighbor's house sold instead because the statue was facing that one).

    I swear that this is really what some of the Catholics in Santa Rosa, Calif. were doing. Not intending any disrespect for any Catholics, but this is what they were really doing.

    Who knows, it may work for you?

    Come by and say "Hi" at http://twiceblessedlife.com

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