Maybe I worry a little too much and too soon about having a place to live, but that seems like a fair worry to have. The lease we're on doesn't end for over 60 days, but I allowed anxiety and doubt to creep into my life over the last couple of weeks.
It's not a bad thing, per se, but if it hadn't worked out as quickly as it did, I would be an ever-increasing ball of stress.
I've tossed the idea of home ownership out of the window, at least within the next 4-5 years. It doesn't make sense financially, especially now with the luck of which we've stumbled on our newest rental. It's that fairy-tale rental you might hear about from friends bygone, but we're living in it (kind of). There's no property management firm, no terse and strung-out 40-year-old landlord, no shared walls, a beautiful backyard, close to friends and recreation areas, and I don't feel like we're going to be paycheck-to-paycheck income for the owners.
I still feel a little taken advantage of because of the times, and I'll explain the economics of the new place below (since it's a conversation worth having). Still, Crystal & I don't feel taken advantage of by the owners, and that's a huge plus.
Get to the point, man.
You may have read in past blogs about my novel new approach to finding a rental: messaging places priced at the highest end of the spectrum or slightly out of our budget and asking for a lower monthly rate. I was surprised at how well this worked and even pitched it as a story for Cascadia Daily News but was denied (womp womp). In fact, of ~10 places I messaged and asked for a lower rate, 4 did not respond, 2 said no, 3 responded positively, 1 negatively, and we were offered a spot at 1 of these places (not the place we chose to live). One of those who responded positively later recanted on their approval during the touring phase and said they would not drop the price. It's all fine, but a ~30% success rate in as in-demand of a market as we're in is nothing to scoff at. After browsing Zillow and Craigslist for a while and looking for an appropriate rental, I think landlords are a little flummoxed that places stay on the market for more than 14 days on average. I've seen several places on the market for over 20 days, and rental decreases left and right (albeit small, $50 here or there decreases).
I believe it's true that Bellingham will never see a rental or housing market decrease in our lifetime, but we may yet see a more competitive and less desperate market. No matter, I'm hopeful that Crystal and I have found a place we can be comfortable and happy in for many years as we attempt to save for our own spot.
The Spot.
After looking for a couple of weeks and clicking every listing in the Bellingham area on Craigslist and Zillow, I found a listing without photos featuring a 75-word description on Craiglist. Garage. View. Backyard. Water and sewage included. Music to my ears. The spot was a lease takeover and conveniently less than a block away.
We've grown to love this little suburb barely outside of town, a neighborhood called Alabama Hill. It's far enough away from the Interstate and industrial divisions that we don't have to worry about semi-truck and road noise, but close enough that we can bike to city-center in ~15 minutes, get to the dog park in ~15 minutes, groceries within ~10 minutes, and access recreation trails in ~10-minutes. It's a socialism-driven 15-minute community in the truest sense of the word, and I wouldn't have it any other way. There are some negatives, such as family being so far away, but I've always believed that if we're going to be this removed from family, we'd better be in a spot that makes it worth it.
We visited around sunset earlier in the week, and it was one of those spots that I quickly got emotional over. Not visually emotional, but I knew I wanted to live there bad enough that it made my chest hurt thinking about if we didn't get it. The single-car garage could hold Crystal & I's many two-wheeled toys along with a mishmash of other large belongings and included a workbench with an installed vise(!). The upstairs unit has two large, ocean-facing windows overlooking the city. The bedrooms were carpeted, and the stove was induction (f*ck electric coils, seriously). The tenant giving the tour was moving into our current neighbor's place, with whom we already had a good relationship. In prior tours, whenever the owner or manager asked if we had a pet, I would say 'no' (we have an ESA) and leave it at that. I couldn't do that during this tour.
The next few days, I would sit at home halfheartedly scanning other listings, with this spot engrained in my mind. I knew we had a good chance at getting it, with the personal connection we had with the current tenant and the positive word she put in, but since this place had been on the market a couple of weeks, at a reasonable price with great amenities, it was in high demand. I was told we were "in the running" for the spot, but it was not guaranteed.
I emailed the owner, who lives in the ground floor unit with her husband and cares for a small dog. I included a note about our own pet and a nice picture showing what a good girl she was. The owner was hesitant but put me in touch with her best friend. Her best friend dropped by the house, met and chatted with us for 10-15 minutes while the dog was on her best, cutest behavior. Not 30 minutes after the owner's friend left, we received a call from the owner, a sweet, older woman who did things the old-fashioned way. We were offered the spot! A paper check in order, a signature or two to go, and we'll be living on our own, for the first time in my life, and first with Crystal.
Are we paying a bit more per room? Yes. Is it going to be worth it? Hopefully. Not that our roommates over the years have been bad, minus some lightly singed bridges (or entirely burned, if your name rhymes with 'Ass-land').
I did the inflation calculator math, using my parent's mortgage payment as a base. For this spot, a rental, we're paying about 35% more than my parents did for their home (purchased 2004). Our new-to-be place has some perks that increase its value, but it has no land and is still a shared unit we will never own. It's not a bad deal, it's a good spot for us in this phase of life, and I'm not trying to rush anything (other than getting the owner's signature on this dang lease).
Blogs Are Hard
No, not these personal blogs. For these, the words are expelled quickly. You're reading a rough and tumble-cacophony of verbiage from my mind. It's easy being a thought blogger. Words are hard at work, where the end goal is education, and I must learn about a subject and disperse it to an already-educated audience even though I know little to nothing about the industry. Very difficult being a blogger is. I don't envy professional bloggers, even though, in a way, I am one. I don't wish to be one forever unless the subject matter is something I'm genuinely interested in and excited by. What's easier is being a content and copywriter, which I enjoy. It's an anonymous type of writing, published on my behalf by the company I'm writing for so that nothing I type is attached to a name. Sure, you could Google the copywriter or PR person on LinkedIn and make an educated guess about whether they wrote the copy you're looking at, but it's not information that matters.
I'm not trying to say 'woe is me,' as evidently, I have a fairly cushy job (albeit with little to no job security), but a job is a job, and blogs are by far the worst part of it. I'd love to never write an original blog for work again, but at the current trajectory, despite my weekly update of struggles, it seems we're "pushing forward" and throwing a square block into a round hole. It's not quite a 'the beatings will continue until morale improves' situation, but I have almost become embarrassed by the amount of resources the company has put into blogging with little to show for it on my end. There are analogies to my struggles. Squeezing lemonade from a rock. Getting water from a desert. Affording property on a middle-class income in Bellingham.
Sigh. Maybe it'll click someday.
Dipping Toes into Vinyl's
We just got the vinyl machine set up, and it pains me to realize how expensive of a hobby this can become. It's so quick and easy to get through a record, and currently, we have three. I like all three records, but the costs add up quickly when an album can be played in less than an hour and costs $15-40 to procure from the record store.
The best-related purchase to the Audio-Technica vinyl player has been the two bookshelf-size Edifier Speakers we ordered to go with it. These replaced a cheap sound bar, and the difference is stunning. The sound quality is staggeringly better, and the user-friendly remote and functionality take it to the next level. I've been spending my mornings with a couple of radio shows and podcasts, followed by a thoughtless flow of music. The speakers have a way of adding to the room, not replacing it, and we'll feel comfortable keeping soft music flowing through dinner and conversations without it taking away from whatever we're focused on. I'm also considering getting a set of these speakers for my office. Highly recommend.
Anyway, this has been a nice little life update blog. I'll talk to y'all later.
that feeling when you want a rental too much...so true