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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

sort of sold...

We have accepted an offer on our house, it was listed for 2 1/2 weeks and soon it will no longer be ours.  I am full of emotion right now. 

It's exciting because we decided long ago that we just aren't cut out for house ownership, between the problems with the floors, roof, wear and tear, and regular house things that just need to be fixed we just don't have the money that old houses (or any houses for that matter) require. 

The next emotion is sadness.  The memory of being proud to own our own home, it's the place we've lived the longest together, it's the place we came home to after exciting vacations as a young married couple, and it was the place we brought our baby home to and watched her grow over 2 years. The place has so many memories for me, and always  will, but I think it's done with us. I feel like it will move on to get the facelift it deserves and become home to other families. I also think this is another reason I'm not cut out for ownership. 

I love the idea of dwellings, people take a series of boxes and sometimes oddly shaped walls and turn them into a home. Each one has a different look, a different shape, some are stacked on top of one another, some stand alone, some stand next to twins and triplets who look just like them. What is that thing that takes an empty shell of construction to being an irreplaceable part of your life?   This is the kind of interesting thoughts that come to me as we are thrown into the next phase of the process, finding a rental!

Originally we had agreed on an apartment. My husband is still very much PRO apartment. I was very much PRO apartment 3 weeks ago when we viewed 4 apartments that were in our price range and available for us asap. We passed on those because we were afraid our house would take a long time to sell and we could not afford to pay both rent and mortgage. Little did we know we would be searching the ends of this town, and the next town, looking for a rental in our price range that feels like home.  There is next to nothing. The only option until today was to accept something in a slightly higher price range just because it may be available. However both of those units are contingent on the fact that they have someone in line in front of us. Then I get a call from my Aunt who says there is a house across from her coming up for rent. I should have never gone there,  but of course I was driving by in less than 10 minutes and working on viewing the 3rd room by the time my husband made it out of the car. My demise is that it's old. It's "horizontal bead-board, bead board ceilings, original wood floors" old... my heart was stolen. The great part is that for the most part it's been remodeled. Unlike the old house we've been in, this one feels well insulated, has insulated windows with screens, and central air and heating. It has been incredibly well cared for and updated.  It has a HUGE laundry room, and a porch. Wait, I'm not even emotional yet. This house and it's porch (I'm a sucker for porches) look directly onto the house where all of my childhood memories take place. This house is directly across from my grandma's house. My grandma's house was such a point of pride for her, and my Aunt has certainly carried that on in caring for it. Just the thought that I could sit on the porch of a well cared for old house and have coffee looking onto a place that means so much to me, every morning, is unreal. It makes me really nervous that the lady who owns it has not yet called me back. The current tenants did talk to her about us being interested, and the rent is surely in our original price range. Now all I can do is wait.  

See, one look at nostalgia and I've ruined husband's life and have my heart set on this house that may not even be available. He agreed to it though, which was a tad bit surprising. He rationalized that while it's a house, it's a rental, which means that leaks and roof replacements won't be left up to us. Rental insurance is a lot lower here in the south than homeowners insurance. The updates should also really help with the electric bill.  I'm trying to not get my hopes up however. (Yeah like they aren't already.) There was a very nice apartment in a very nice area that my hopes were already on earlier this afternoon.  I know I have to just let it go and say that we will end up with a home, no matter where it ends up being I'm really just hoping we only have to move once (instead of once into storage and then again into an available place.)

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