Another round of to rent or to own...
Ok so people keep wondering when I will post again…I admit, I have been really bad of late. The problem is that with my recent (well, I guess not so recent anymore) decision to refrain as much as possible from writing about others; it is surprisingly quite difficult to come up with topics to post about. And, honestly, save for a few people, I didn’t really think anyone was really reading my blog anyway.
So…what can I write about…
My husband and I are back to the rent versus own debate. We just found out that our rent will be going up $50 a month. We are already paying quite a lot of money and so we started questioning whether it really was time to take the plunge and buy a house.
We spoke with a real estate agent and I went to see a few houses with that agent. The problems: 1) the houses we want are really expensive – and we see no reason yet to move from the apartment that we love into a house we hate! 2) our agent knows that we aren’t under the gun and will only move if our ‘dream’ home comes on the market – so now he isn’t really doing anything for us. For example, I have tried 3 weeks in a row to set up times to go look at houses and he has never gotten back to us (he commits to looking into appointments but then never calls me back with times). I have also requested information from him about recent sales - and except for the first time, a couple months back now, he has never forwarded to me that information.
I am now really annoyed! I mean, I know we aren’t in a rush to move or anything, but we are serious about being ready to buy if the right house is for sale. And when we do buy, our agent will make a VERY nice profit from the commission. So shouldn't he be giving us more attention?
Why not just get a new agent, you might ask?
For starters, unfortunatley, I am a very non-confrontational person, believe it or not, when it comes to ME (on the other hand, I LOVE defending other people!) So I would find it very difficult to call our agent up and 'fire' him. AND, we can't just go get a new one. We are still getting automatic e-mail listings from this agent. Thus, if we go look at one of the houses about which we get an e-mail, and we decide to buy said house, we owe this agent a commission even if we had gone to see it with another agent.
So why not just talk to your original agent and tell him how you feel, you say?
I am too shy to tell him off / confront him about his lack of attention. Afterall, we aren't in too much of a rush for a house, maybe he should be focusing his attention elsewhere.
What do I do???
Like I said, though, we aren’t in a huge rush to move. Thus, I am thinking, in a way, that it might be a good thing if we don’t stumble across our dream house. If we are planning on having children in the next few years, we only have so many vacation days left as a free-spirited couple. If we own property, we would have to cut back on the extravagance of our vacations.
You see, as a teenager and in my early twenties, unlike many of my friends, I never did the backpacking through Europe/Asia/Australia trips. I couldn’t afford the hostels, let alone the flights, and didn’t want to go into debt to travel. However, instead of jealousy, I just told myself that one day I would be travelling and they’d still be paying off their student loans.
That day has arrived. I am making a salary (albeit not a fantastic one), and I want to be able to travel.
However, being the nervous nilly I am, I would once again be too prudent to spend the money if I owned a house for fear that I might need the money later to fix something in the house (in addition to the fact that I wouldn’t have any free change to spend to begin with)…
Right now, I don’t mind as much to drop some serious coin to go away. I have some savings and I have the vacation time. For example, my husband and I just booked a trip to Toronto, New York and Boston for May. We have a wedding in Niagara-on-the-Lake and decided to tack on NY and Boston for fun. We are very excited!
On the flip side, though, I am DYING to get a puppy or two. This has been the longest stretch that I have lived without a dog (going on three years now). Ever since I was born, my family had at least one dog. My parents refuse to buy another one, so it is up to me. And, while almost everyone living in my building has a dog, I just find it too cruel to keep a dog in such a small space, especially when there is no yard for him/her to play in. So, the sooner we buy a house, the sooner we get a puppy.
Anyway, I will end my rambling here.
(p.s. I apologise if the posting doesn't make sense - I don't have time to 'proof it' today!)
(p.p.s. I promise to write more frequently!)
So…what can I write about…
My husband and I are back to the rent versus own debate. We just found out that our rent will be going up $50 a month. We are already paying quite a lot of money and so we started questioning whether it really was time to take the plunge and buy a house.
We spoke with a real estate agent and I went to see a few houses with that agent. The problems: 1) the houses we want are really expensive – and we see no reason yet to move from the apartment that we love into a house we hate! 2) our agent knows that we aren’t under the gun and will only move if our ‘dream’ home comes on the market – so now he isn’t really doing anything for us. For example, I have tried 3 weeks in a row to set up times to go look at houses and he has never gotten back to us (he commits to looking into appointments but then never calls me back with times). I have also requested information from him about recent sales - and except for the first time, a couple months back now, he has never forwarded to me that information.
I am now really annoyed! I mean, I know we aren’t in a rush to move or anything, but we are serious about being ready to buy if the right house is for sale. And when we do buy, our agent will make a VERY nice profit from the commission. So shouldn't he be giving us more attention?
Why not just get a new agent, you might ask?
For starters, unfortunatley, I am a very non-confrontational person, believe it or not, when it comes to ME (on the other hand, I LOVE defending other people!) So I would find it very difficult to call our agent up and 'fire' him. AND, we can't just go get a new one. We are still getting automatic e-mail listings from this agent. Thus, if we go look at one of the houses about which we get an e-mail, and we decide to buy said house, we owe this agent a commission even if we had gone to see it with another agent.
So why not just talk to your original agent and tell him how you feel, you say?
I am too shy to tell him off / confront him about his lack of attention. Afterall, we aren't in too much of a rush for a house, maybe he should be focusing his attention elsewhere.
What do I do???
Like I said, though, we aren’t in a huge rush to move. Thus, I am thinking, in a way, that it might be a good thing if we don’t stumble across our dream house. If we are planning on having children in the next few years, we only have so many vacation days left as a free-spirited couple. If we own property, we would have to cut back on the extravagance of our vacations.
You see, as a teenager and in my early twenties, unlike many of my friends, I never did the backpacking through Europe/Asia/Australia trips. I couldn’t afford the hostels, let alone the flights, and didn’t want to go into debt to travel. However, instead of jealousy, I just told myself that one day I would be travelling and they’d still be paying off their student loans.
That day has arrived. I am making a salary (albeit not a fantastic one), and I want to be able to travel.
However, being the nervous nilly I am, I would once again be too prudent to spend the money if I owned a house for fear that I might need the money later to fix something in the house (in addition to the fact that I wouldn’t have any free change to spend to begin with)…
Right now, I don’t mind as much to drop some serious coin to go away. I have some savings and I have the vacation time. For example, my husband and I just booked a trip to Toronto, New York and Boston for May. We have a wedding in Niagara-on-the-Lake and decided to tack on NY and Boston for fun. We are very excited!
On the flip side, though, I am DYING to get a puppy or two. This has been the longest stretch that I have lived without a dog (going on three years now). Ever since I was born, my family had at least one dog. My parents refuse to buy another one, so it is up to me. And, while almost everyone living in my building has a dog, I just find it too cruel to keep a dog in such a small space, especially when there is no yard for him/her to play in. So, the sooner we buy a house, the sooner we get a puppy.
Anyway, I will end my rambling here.
(p.s. I apologise if the posting doesn't make sense - I don't have time to 'proof it' today!)
(p.p.s. I promise to write more frequently!)
posted by Icecoldcranberry at Thursday, February 22, 2007
4 Comments:
Housing prices are crazy! But rent prices, as you note, also continue to go up.
That's pretty cool that your apartment allows dogs - that's pretty rare. If there was lots of greenspace around, it may not be too bad.
Housing prices ARE nuts - plus mortgage rates are going up.
My original plan was to sit tight for another year or two until people have to renew their mortgages - people who so MAXED out on their mortgage amounts a few years back when rates were ridiculously low that even then they were forced to eat noname Kraft Dinner every night because they couldn't afford anything more. I figure there might be more than a few foreclosures that I could use to my advantage.
The thing with the puppy is that my husband and I both work relatively long hours. When we buy a house, we will be close enough to my parents that they could come every day to let the dog out for a while. In the apartment, the dog would be stuck in doors for 9 hours at a time, at least.
I'm not sure what floor you are on, but you could always use your balcony as a dog area (e.g. for bathroom breaks and the like)..
I check your blog every day!
I can relate to a late 20s/early 30s young professional like yourself..
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