Remember that crapnugget of a day in March when the gas truck dropped off a $500 bill and the landlord came over and raised our rent $150 a month? I didn't mention it in my blog, but he also told us at that time that it would "work out well" for him if we moved out at the end of the season. He said he wanted to get in and do some remodeling. We figured it was for the best anyway. It was better to be forced to move on and face change than to get too comfortable and stay in a place where we're not completely happy.
I made it no secret how much I hated living here last winter so our plan was to save up money during the summer and move downstate in the fall to be near my family. We would use the savings to pre-pay a 6-month lease for an apartment while we looked for jobs. If we found some, great, we'd live happily ever after. If we didn't find decent jobs we'd move back up here in May. It's always been our intention to end up downstate eventually because I do want my parents to be close to their first grandchild, but I also really really did not want to be here for another cold, dreary, lonely, boring, poor miserable winter.
When I told my dad our plan he said it would be better to use our savings to buy a house rather than waste it on an apartment. Houses down there are super cheap right now. We thought we could pool our money together and get a "fixer-upper" and use it as an investment in the future. And, even though we had 5 months to do this, by the time we found a fixer-upper we liked we realized it needed to be fixed up before we moved in and we didn't have the time or the money to do the repairs that quickly.
That's when my dad found a house in immaculate condition that came fully furnished. It was like going to an estate sale and buying the entire estate for one low price. It has everything! All appliances, furniture, curtains, lamps, even the dishes in the cupboards! It's going to be like our very own episode of Storage Wars lol. The catch - it's not in the best neighborhood. The bright side - it's move-in ready! And my dad says the place is so spotless we could eat off the floor. Not that we would or anything...
So now we have a new plan. He's going to let us live there while he does some minor remodeling. We will continue to build our savings and keep looking for a cheap fixer-upper in a nicer neighborhood that we can make our own.
I guess I need to change the name of my blog since I won't be in Northern Michigan anymore. At least not for the winter. The first thought that came to mind was "Talkin Bout The Ghetto," but it's really not that bad. It's not a place where wealthy people live but it's mostly families who live by the you-leave-me-alone-I-leave-you-alone motto. And it's certainly better for us to save up money for a house than to throw our money away on another rental. People sometimes have to make sacrifices to get where they want. It's taking us a long time, but we'll eventually have our white-picket-fence life in the suburbs.
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