Housing Quandries
I want to move out of my present place. Commutes to work and my social life are just too long. I believe I'd be happier closer to both. I also believe that I'd be happier owning rather than renting, but I'm not sure that the place (both the location and the unit) that is right for me now will be right for me 5 years from now. I'm also not sure I can afford to buy where I want to be.
I need to decide right now whether I'm going to renew my present lease for 6 months while I buy or rent for another year in another neighborhood. The advantage of renting is that I get to try living in another neighborhood and if I pick the wrong one I can move again. I'll also be out of my present place sooner. The advantage to buying is the sense of settling in. That I can hang pictures on the walls that will be there for years. I won't hesitate to make things the way I want them to be because I know I'll be there for a while. I'm going back and forth on which of those benefits matters more right now. Delayed or immediate gratification? Flexibility or settling down? The affordability question is more cut and dried, but I don't know if I have time to figure that out before I need to give notice to my landlord.
On a more amusing note, my downstairs neighbor has proved himself a selfish ass once and for all. For reference, this is Rickie, the one who's been loud since I moved in and obnoxious about letting me park in the driveway which my landlord says I have the right in which to park. As you all know, it snowed a lot in Boston this weekend. He didn't shovel his driveway. He works nights, so he went off to work Friday night, and just pulled out. The neighbor on the otherside of the driveway that's shared between our 2 houses shoveled his part of the driveway, and the sidewalk across both halves. When Rickie returned, he didn't shovel his part of the driveway, he just parked across the driveway in the part our neighbor shoveled out! But wait, it gets better. Last night, he parked on the street in the parking spot that Megan and John, other residents of the building had dug out. The drifts were about 4 feet deep from the snow plows, so digging out a parking space takes a couple of hours. They'd saved the spot with a laundry basket. Rickie moved the basket and parked in it! Plus, he woke me up at 5:30 this morning. So not only is he not letting anyone else park in the driveway, taking responsibility for cleaning it out so he can use it, he's also depriving others of the parking spot that they labored to clear out. The gall astounds me.
The passive aggressive part of me really wants to report him for not registering his car in MA (after 2 years, he still has SC plates). This would not make him any less selfish or get him to shovel his damn driveway, but watching him have to pay back taxes would be a pleasure. Ah, temptation.
I need to decide right now whether I'm going to renew my present lease for 6 months while I buy or rent for another year in another neighborhood. The advantage of renting is that I get to try living in another neighborhood and if I pick the wrong one I can move again. I'll also be out of my present place sooner. The advantage to buying is the sense of settling in. That I can hang pictures on the walls that will be there for years. I won't hesitate to make things the way I want them to be because I know I'll be there for a while. I'm going back and forth on which of those benefits matters more right now. Delayed or immediate gratification? Flexibility or settling down? The affordability question is more cut and dried, but I don't know if I have time to figure that out before I need to give notice to my landlord.
On a more amusing note, my downstairs neighbor has proved himself a selfish ass once and for all. For reference, this is Rickie, the one who's been loud since I moved in and obnoxious about letting me park in the driveway which my landlord says I have the right in which to park. As you all know, it snowed a lot in Boston this weekend. He didn't shovel his driveway. He works nights, so he went off to work Friday night, and just pulled out. The neighbor on the otherside of the driveway that's shared between our 2 houses shoveled his part of the driveway, and the sidewalk across both halves. When Rickie returned, he didn't shovel his part of the driveway, he just parked across the driveway in the part our neighbor shoveled out! But wait, it gets better. Last night, he parked on the street in the parking spot that Megan and John, other residents of the building had dug out. The drifts were about 4 feet deep from the snow plows, so digging out a parking space takes a couple of hours. They'd saved the spot with a laundry basket. Rickie moved the basket and parked in it! Plus, he woke me up at 5:30 this morning. So not only is he not letting anyone else park in the driveway, taking responsibility for cleaning it out so he can use it, he's also depriving others of the parking spot that they labored to clear out. The gall astounds me.
The passive aggressive part of me really wants to report him for not registering his car in MA (after 2 years, he still has SC plates). This would not make him any less selfish or get him to shovel his damn driveway, but watching him have to pay back taxes would be a pleasure. Ah, temptation.