“Yes, I’m Still Renting”

It’s been almost 6 years. The last house that I owned was a ranch, sitting on a little over an acre.  I had walked through over 50 houses, within 10 months, trying to find something that was decent, that I could afford.  What I eventually bought was what I call the “best of the worst”. 

This house was 1,400 sqft, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, built in 1966, and hadn’t been updated since it was built.  Single pane windows, paneling, no air conditioning, and insulation in the walls that was the thickness of the Sunday newspaper (for those of you who remember that).  It was all that I could afford at the time.

I stripped this house down to the studs and began rebuilding it, from the inside out.  I spent every day, after work, working on some part of this house.  I really didn’t mind doing the work because the house now belonged to me, oh, and the bank, and the tax commissioner (forget to pay one of those folks and you’ll see in a hurry who really owns your house).  But I digress.  For 7 years I worked on this house and yard every day. I put in the sweat equity as a labor of love.  It was all mine...kinda.

I had spent every day and every dollar that I had, getting this house up to a reasonable living condition.  After 7 years, I got transferred and needed to sell the house.  I was fortunate in that the improvements that I made to the house made it extremely desirable and it sold in less than 24 hours, after the initial meeting with the listing agent.  There were still small projects to complete, but the buyers were more than willing to handle those.

Now I had the chance to start over fresh, in a new location.  I immediately found an apartment that was close to work, food, and shopping.  No more projects, repairs, or appliances to buy.  And that’s where I’ve stayed.

Now, after work, I’m free to do whatever I want.  If something breaks, I just call maintenance.  And because of that, I have been able to save and invest considerably more of my take-home pay and eliminate any financial stress that I could possibly encounter.  I am now financially free.  And that’s a beautiful thing.

When you think about owning a home, you have to consider the cost of maintenance, repairs, replacements, upgrades, upkeep, finding contractors who will show up, along with having all of the tools and equipment necessary to support all of the things that you need to do around the house.  That can get quite costly.

Depending on what stage of life you are in, having that freedom may be worth more than a tax write-off.  Paying rent is not a bad thing, especially if it helps reduce your financial burden, provides you with an opportunity to aggressively save and invest, and gives you the free time to enjoy family, friends, and all of the things you love to do.  Owning a house is a huge responsibility.  So, for now, I choose to rent.  Will I own a house in the future?  Who knows.  But if I do, I’ll know what to expect and I’ll be better prepared to do so.