B+C+B+C+B+C: The housing sitch

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The housing sitch

We are landlords xtimesx two. Cedar and Provo.
We did not plan on this happening, and we're not especially enjoying it.
At the time(s), buying instead of renting seemed like a good idea. And since we had the 20% down saved, we thought - good investment, lower mortgage payments than renting costs, interest tax deductible, personally satisfying, etc...
Now I'm thinking... pain in the rear.

We hired a property management company for our Cedar place, and they think it's a good idea to spend all our rental income on overpriced unnecessary repairs. If they weren't doing that, then our rental situation would be golden - we got our place rented out the day we left, to an ideal individual, with a payment that lets us break even. So I had a very unpleasant confrontational conversation with them recently. I strongly dislike those kind of conversations, but I'm not one to back down from them. Brian's the passive, maybe passive-aggressive type... I am not. So after calling them out (the prop management co), things should be ok there. But man.... I hope the market improves and we can sell the sucker. Soon.

Backyard in P-town. Good memories there. Wish we could move back!

Provo.... our renter there is moving. I guess. Someday. We had our 30-days-notice like 2 months ago. She's buying a home and I guess it's taking longer than expected. So I'm now taking down the ads I put up, because it's driving me nuts to be talking to potential renters and not give them the availability date.
The whole thing gives me total anxiety, cuz I'm just worried about finding new renters and having a lapse in between where we're paying our rent here plus the mortgage there. We'd love to sell this house too, but unfortunately the darn neighbors just did a short sale, so our place will likely appraise for less. And I don't know the first thing about how to sell a house. I only know how to buy them and regret it later.
But maybe we'll just keep these houses forever. Maybe our kids or their cousins will want to go to BYU or SUU, and we can let them use our homes.
So the burning question that hurts my head to think about too long.... what do we do NOW? Keep renting? I hate renting. I feel like it's throwing away money. Buy another small townhouse? Right. So then Brian's job will take us somewhere else and we can have three houses to rent out. That would be FUN. But maybe his job will keep us in this area for the next 5 years. Then we should definitely BUY something.... and the sooner the better. A crystal ball? Anyone? PLEASE!

2 comments:

Michelle {Fun On a Dime} said...: Oi! What kind of repairs hare they trying to do? At our place I think the owner denies a lot of "fixes", but it is nothing major.; April 21, 2011 at 8:05 PM
Megan Smith said...: I'm late coming to this party, but I just have to say that I'd really hate that too. I'm no good at confrontational conversations, I agonize over them for days it seems like. Be happy that atleast your homes aren't in CA where you could have lost 1/2 of their value down the toilet.; April 26, 2011 at 3:05 PM

Quotes I want to remember

"The Lord knows our bearing capacity, both as to coping and to comprehending, and He will not give us more to bear than we can manage at the moment, though to us it may seem otherwise. Just as no temptations will come to us from which we cannot escape or which we cannot bear, we will not be given more trials than we can sustain."
- Neal A. Maxwell

"It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters. We become enamored with men's theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother's influence."
-Ezra Taft Benson

“Perhaps there has never been a time when we had greater need to pray and to teach our family members to pray. Prayer is a defense against temptation. It is through earnest and heartfelt prayer that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey we call mortality.”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made. And bear your testimony! Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own.
-Jeffrey R. Holland

"We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith."
-Neil L. Andersen

"Certainly there are times when getting the family together to read the scriptures does not stack up as a spiritual experience worthy of a journal entry. But we must not be deterred. There are special times when the spirit of a son or daughter is just right and the power of these great scriptures goes down into their heart like fire. As we honor our Heavenly Father in our homes, He will honor our efforts."
-Neil L. Andersen

President Hinckley admonished both men and women to be nurturers. He said, ‘How much more beautiful would be the society in which we live if every father . . . and . . . mother regarded [their] children . . . as gifts from the God of heaven . . . and brought them up with true affection in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord.’ ”
-Susan W. Tanner

"Children are like trees. When they are young, their lives can be shaped and directed, usually with ever so little effort. Said the writer of Proverbs, 'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it' (22:6). That training finds its roots in the home. There will be little of help from other sources. Do not depend on government to help in this darkening situation. Barbara Bush, wife of former U.S. president George Bush, spoke wisely: 'Your success as a family, our success as society, depends not on what happens at the White House, but on what happens inside your house.' "
-Gordon B. Hinckley

“I give counsel to husbands and wives. Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion.”
-Henry B. Eyring

“Reverent behavior is not a natural tendency for most children. It is a quality that is taught by parents and leaders through example and training. But remember, if reverence is rooted in love, so is the teaching of it. Harshness in our training begets resentment, not reverence.”
-Margaret S. Lifferth

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."
- M. Russell Ballard

“As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure. Are our examples worthy of emulation? Do we live in such a way that a son or a daughter may say, ‘I want to follow my dad,’ or ‘I want to be like my mother’?”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Security for our families comes from learning self-control, avoiding the excesses of this world, and being temperate in all things.”
-Kent D. Watson

Sunday, April 17, 2011

The housing sitch

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