I'm very happy Cliff and I have this beautiful place above the Missouri River. I'm thrilled that he has his shop, and that I have a place to milk my cow.
The dwellings we have here, though, don't impress me. Even if we had two mansions here they wouldn't impress me, because I'm not the kind of person who cares much about houses.
A house, in many ways, is an albatross around one's neck.
So I'm living in a well-used mobile home and happy as a clam. We have the old two-story house where Cliff's sister is staying for now. She's done a lot of much-needed cosmetic surgery on the inside of the house.
See, Cliff and I are not fixer-uppers. We tend to let a house fall down around our heads. We both hate remodeling and home do-it-yourself projects with a passion. As for hiring it done, when we look at what it would cost, we tend to shrug the whole project off and go out and buy tractors or cows with that money.
That's why, if the time comes when we need to leave this place behind, we won't be purchasing another home.
It took Cliff awhile to convince me that renting is the way for old folks to go, but he got the job done.
If you're renting and something goes wrong, the landlord fixes it.
If you're renting a home, there's no real estate tax, no homeowner's insurance. Those two, added together, come to $2,700 annually for us. If we were just one county closer to Kansas City, I doubt if we could afford to live on this place. My sister lives in a very well-kept but modest home in Kansas City, North, built in the sixties; she pays four times the taxes we do. I don't know how she manages on a fixed income. Don't get me wrong, she doesn't complain. The only reason I know how much she pays in taxes is because I asked her.
So if the day comes we have to move to town, it will be a sad day. But I'll be smiling through my tears, because the upkeep, taxes, and insurance will be somebody else's problem.
When it comes to fixin up our place, Pete and I always have trouble gettin' around to it. We had a stack of them once. But I think some drunks used them for coasters and they disintegrated. ;o)
ReplyDeleteLOL @ Barbara's comment. This is just the reason I own a house and John owns a house. We don't agree.
ReplyDeleteYou & I are a lot alike! I do not like the thoughts of remodeling.....so I DON'T! I can't stand the thoughts of everything being out of it's place. LOL
ReplyDeleteGuess this place will stay as it is until we are forced to go to the old folks home.
ReplyDeleteWell, we are like ya'll and not fixer uppers to much extent. I keep thinking that one day we'll end up doing the same thing. George would not agree. But, I just wonder if we'll be able to take care of things and afford to keep a house when we retire, unless we can really work on retirement funding in a big way. I try to just focus on us being together. We let way too much insignificant stuff get in our heads. Hope ya'll are having a good week.
ReplyDeleteI hate chaos which is why I can't get into the fixing up of anything. It's messy!
ReplyDeletebeen renting for the past 4-1/2 years and pretty much loving it! It is fun to own a home, but we are like you, the three houses we owned, we didn't do much if anything with them to keep them "spruced up". Come January, we'll be in a unique position living in one of hubby's parents' houses that he will eventually inherit. Paid for so all we have to do is the upkeep, taxes and insurance. I'm hoping it will be a good thing.....
ReplyDeletebetty
I'm with you 150%. I've been a renter most of my life until becoming a homeowner twice with hubby. I hate owning a home and would much rather rent but I do enjoy the stability a bit. The taxes and the insurance are just way too high as are the improvement projects we'd like to do that we don't have time or money to do. I sure would like to go back to renting most days. I could walk away in a heart beat and be a renter by next week and throw a huge sigh of relief.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad was the one who sold me on the importance of OWNING over RENTING. He blathered on about home equity and it being an investment in my future. One day, I could sell my home at a profit and use those funds to downsize to a nice retirement condo in a warmer climate where I could add the profit to what ever I was earnestly saving towards my retirement (also strongly stressed). Nice dream. But then the bottom fell out of the real estate market. Our cute little house here has plummeted in value in the last couple years. The taxes dropped $100 a year this year (that was a shock) but they are still VERY high. While I love the idea of Home Depot and love to watch those do-it-yourself home improvement shows...we are NOT fixers. If we ever move, we would be forced to replace the carpets just to sell the place, but I wouldn't do much else. I'd replace the carpet NOW if it wasn't such a hassle. Too much stuff to move around. Plus my boys are still spilling on a daily basis. May as well wait until they are older and less clumsy. The idea of renting has it's appeal. But then I'd have to take down all my art work and move stuff so they could put on a fresh coat of paint every few years. My walls are still the original "builder's white" for a reason. We don't paint either. LOL But on the other side of the argument, don't forget about Renters Insurance. You could still be victims of a robbery or fire. Unless you don't have anything of real value. I cringe when I think of replacing all this STUFF. Praying we never have a fire here. Then again, it might be sorta freeing to have to start fresh.
ReplyDeleteI am not going to bore you with stories about this house, but I just love your line....."we buy tractors and cows instead." That gave me a good chuckle.
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