I've been workin' like a dog lately. We've been in our house for almost three years, so it's re-fi time, which means an appraisal is looming. A bit o' history here: November 2004, T and I were naïve renters, looking to buy our first house. Our credit wasn't great, so we ended up with a crappy loan in which we'd pay predominantly interest-only at a low rate for the first three years, and then get stuck with an adjustable rate starting in December 2007. This generally means that one's mortgage payments will likely skyrocket; many people in similar situations have ended up losing their homes (you've probably heard about all the foreclosures on the news). Naturally I feared we'd be among them, but apparently we've managed to improve our credit scores enough to qualify for a fixed-rate loan with no ARM bullshit… we'll be paying more than we were before (I think we can afford it, fingers and toes crossed), but at least we won't be out on the street. Hence the looming appraisal, and hence me workin' like a dog trying to get the place looking as good as possible in order to maximize the perceived value.
The thing is… I'm a renter by nature. I don't enjoy cleaning the gutters, or trimming the trees, or laying new bark dust, or whacking the fucking weeds, or cleaning the garage, or any of the hundreds of other chores that owning a home entails. Some people get off on such tasks (the OCD freak across the street, for example, who actually measures the length of his grass with a ruler), but I don't. It's just not my thing. I worked my ass off as a kid (thanks, Dad), so I'd rather not do it now (I already work a full-time job, fer Chrissakes). *Sigh* I wanna lay in my hammock, have a few beers, watch some DVDs, and enjoy myself. I wanna come home FROM work, not come home TO work.
So is it all worth it? I dunno. I suppose if nothing else the new loan will buy us some time to figure it all out. With the new loan, the house will cost us HALF our total income each month. Wouldn't it make more sense to sell the house and RENT a house for a lot less? Three of our four kids will be out of high school in a few years, so we won't need such a big place. We could rent a big house for a few years (for way less than we're paying now), then buy a smaller house later. Not being broke all the time would be nice. Not lying awake at night stressing about money would be nice. Taking a fucking trip once in a while would be nice. Makes perfect sense to me. Teresa…. Well, she has other ideas. Don't get me wrong… I love our house. But in all honestly, I don't love it as much as I did three years ago. Three years of stress has really worn on me. Believe me, I have aged a LOT in the last three years.
Plus the market sucks right now. I'm not convinced we could even sell the house, at least not for the price we'd want (we'd need to pay off the mortgage completely, plus have some left over for hookers and tequila, ha ha). The stress continues. Being a responsible adult sucks. I think about my apartment at
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