Ups and Downs
I watched Wall-E (good and enjoyable) and had a generally nice 4th of July. Then my mood deteriorated over the rest of the weekend. While I'm leaning against continued gaming with small children present, I was expecting people to show up Sunday as I was fairly sure that was agreed upon a couple weeks back. They didn't, and it was simultaneously annoying and relieving. I managed to (after much struggle)get new brake pads on my bike for the first time since it was bought for me over a dozen years ago and get them tweaked to where they seem fully functional, but I haven't really gone for a ride yet.
In the week since, I've had plenty of little highs and lows, too. Some fun RP. Some frustration at work. Some sense of accomplishment. Some progress through a couple enjoyable books, Small Favor and The Name of the Wind. But tonight I've had a fair weight added to my thoughts.
We (those of us on the condo association board) had a little meeting about the status of the condos. Heavy snow took a toll on some of the siding and paneling of the units, and the paint was starting toward needing replacement anyway. I've known we were going to discuss options for a while. And I've known there would be cost involved. But there's a difference between knowing you'll have to pay something to get things fixed, and getting down to the nitty gritty and finding that the cheapest option (which still involves fixed damaged spots and resealing/priming/painting the exterior) is going to run $2000-$3000 per unit (which beats doing nothing and watching thigns deteriorate or scrambling for three times that to go with vinyl siding). It needs to be done, but if I wrote a check for that right now, it would bounce without question. So... I need to set my mind back into conservation mode and start figuring how just how to make that work. In all likelihood it'll be due next month. Whee.
Getting a mortgage and a condo was one of the downright scariest things I've ever done. I probably only did it because I felt I had to. My parents were moving and while I could have rented, I probably would have ended up paying more per month for less of a home - certainly I'd be paying more by now.
Of course, beyond monthly costs, there are additional things. When an appliance dies, it's something I have to deal with. And when there's physical damage, it's got to be repaired (or allowed to worsen). In a group situation, such as with the condo association, we've all got to chip in to fund these projects - at least the external/structural ones. Snow removal apparently tapped what reserves we, as a group, had pretty well. And even then it wasn't a great job of snow removal. And now there's this. The $14,000 dollar insurance check doesn't nearly cover the total costs of fixing the exteriors, so we'll have to make up the difference. Would it be better if I had a house of my own instead of a condo? I don't know. Probably not.
But I don't live alone. I am, technically, a landlord. I don't think of myself as such very often. I try to be friend first. I have to be to have not talked about raising rent in the last five years, in spite of other costs going up for me. I have to be to have waived/forgiven some payments that were missed when my roommate was unemployed. I have to be... for my own sanity? I don't think I could comfortably live so closely with someone who wasn't a friend. And I don't think I would be comfortable with myself if I put the business-ish aspects of being a landlord first.
But there are times when it's hard. In many ways, I want the condo to be ours, but little things now and then bring home the point that it's really only mine. Things like spiking electricity costs only I see, or paying for the assessments for sprinklers or siding repair, or even cleaning. When there's cleaning done about the house, it seems I'm the only one doing it. Perhaps it's odd, but that's exactly what makes me bristle when a topic like 'scheduled cleaning days' comes up - because I feel like I'm the only one who cares enough to do it already, and I hate to be put on a set schedule. And in times like things, the part of me that values logic over friendship wants to make changes to put more of those burdens, small and large, on my roommate's shoulders to ease my own.
Perhaps I'm only rambling at this point, but there's one other big factor for me in homeownership and finance - my pride. If I weighed my sins in truth, that one would be right up there. When I got the place, I took as little help from my parents as I could and mostly it amounted to advice. The down payment was money that I'll admit mostly came from my grandfather, but it was mine. I didn't ask them for a loan then, and it's somewhere at the bottom of the list of my options now, too. Though it may not be blatantly on display most of the time, I am fiercely determined to not have to ask anyone else for gifts of money to get by. In some ways, I think I might be able to honestly say I'd rather die than turn to my parents or someone and ask for money.
So... I don't know. A few weighty thoughts and I suppose I'm just venting again, not really seeking or expecting anything of it. The finances will work out, I'm not really seeing a failure to pay as a possible outcome, I'm just not quite sure how at the moment. And hopefully the work will be done in such as way as to survive upcoming winters. And life will go on.
In the week since, I've had plenty of little highs and lows, too. Some fun RP. Some frustration at work. Some sense of accomplishment. Some progress through a couple enjoyable books, Small Favor and The Name of the Wind. But tonight I've had a fair weight added to my thoughts.
We (those of us on the condo association board) had a little meeting about the status of the condos. Heavy snow took a toll on some of the siding and paneling of the units, and the paint was starting toward needing replacement anyway. I've known we were going to discuss options for a while. And I've known there would be cost involved. But there's a difference between knowing you'll have to pay something to get things fixed, and getting down to the nitty gritty and finding that the cheapest option (which still involves fixed damaged spots and resealing/priming/painting the exterior) is going to run $2000-$3000 per unit (which beats doing nothing and watching thigns deteriorate or scrambling for three times that to go with vinyl siding). It needs to be done, but if I wrote a check for that right now, it would bounce without question. So... I need to set my mind back into conservation mode and start figuring how just how to make that work. In all likelihood it'll be due next month. Whee.
Getting a mortgage and a condo was one of the downright scariest things I've ever done. I probably only did it because I felt I had to. My parents were moving and while I could have rented, I probably would have ended up paying more per month for less of a home - certainly I'd be paying more by now.
Of course, beyond monthly costs, there are additional things. When an appliance dies, it's something I have to deal with. And when there's physical damage, it's got to be repaired (or allowed to worsen). In a group situation, such as with the condo association, we've all got to chip in to fund these projects - at least the external/structural ones. Snow removal apparently tapped what reserves we, as a group, had pretty well. And even then it wasn't a great job of snow removal. And now there's this. The $14,000 dollar insurance check doesn't nearly cover the total costs of fixing the exteriors, so we'll have to make up the difference. Would it be better if I had a house of my own instead of a condo? I don't know. Probably not.
But I don't live alone. I am, technically, a landlord. I don't think of myself as such very often. I try to be friend first. I have to be to have not talked about raising rent in the last five years, in spite of other costs going up for me. I have to be to have waived/forgiven some payments that were missed when my roommate was unemployed. I have to be... for my own sanity? I don't think I could comfortably live so closely with someone who wasn't a friend. And I don't think I would be comfortable with myself if I put the business-ish aspects of being a landlord first.
But there are times when it's hard. In many ways, I want the condo to be ours, but little things now and then bring home the point that it's really only mine. Things like spiking electricity costs only I see, or paying for the assessments for sprinklers or siding repair, or even cleaning. When there's cleaning done about the house, it seems I'm the only one doing it. Perhaps it's odd, but that's exactly what makes me bristle when a topic like 'scheduled cleaning days' comes up - because I feel like I'm the only one who cares enough to do it already, and I hate to be put on a set schedule. And in times like things, the part of me that values logic over friendship wants to make changes to put more of those burdens, small and large, on my roommate's shoulders to ease my own.
Perhaps I'm only rambling at this point, but there's one other big factor for me in homeownership and finance - my pride. If I weighed my sins in truth, that one would be right up there. When I got the place, I took as little help from my parents as I could and mostly it amounted to advice. The down payment was money that I'll admit mostly came from my grandfather, but it was mine. I didn't ask them for a loan then, and it's somewhere at the bottom of the list of my options now, too. Though it may not be blatantly on display most of the time, I am fiercely determined to not have to ask anyone else for gifts of money to get by. In some ways, I think I might be able to honestly say I'd rather die than turn to my parents or someone and ask for money.
So... I don't know. A few weighty thoughts and I suppose I'm just venting again, not really seeking or expecting anything of it. The finances will work out, I'm not really seeing a failure to pay as a possible outcome, I'm just not quite sure how at the moment. And hopefully the work will be done in such as way as to survive upcoming winters. And life will go on.
I don't own the home, however in re: living with roommates If they're really a friend, they'll understand a bit more chipping in on their part for the rising costs of living. In the.. mmm.. six roommates we've had come and go in our apartment only the initial guy we moved in with was accepting of that sort of agreement, if costs increased, so did our 'half' of the rent. The most recent roommate isn't quite as flexible, getting grumpy whenever the idea of rising costs comes into the picture.
ReplyDeleteYes, well... I'm not really trying to lay guilt or anything. And I don't know if "half" would be appropriate anyway when I'm roommate/landlord rather than co-renter. >.>
ReplyDeleteI certainly think it's fair if some of the increased expenses are passed along to the roomie. As a renter for about 13 years, I accepted that landlords had to occasionally raise costs. As a roommate for about 13 years, I understood that I had an obligation to help with both labor and finances. The month that our fuel bill was $300 and electric was over $100 HURT, but the three of us had to pay it. I think if some of your costs - like electric, which I'm sure your roomie uses - go up, then it's fair to either ask the roomie for more money (one time) for that expense, or for an increase in rent. Living in Dgo isn't cheap, I remember, and I'm sure costs have gone up. Your roomie's still getting a much better deal than trying to make it on her own, or trying to find another roomie in a rental where the landlord isn't her friend. You should try to talk to her about it. It's not fair to either of you if you don't - you because you'll carry too much burden and her because she won't be pushed to take responsibility for her obligations...
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