Frog Blog

my wise old man tells me, "the only difference between 'housing' and 'hosing' is U. get it?"

i'm not sure about the rest of america, but out here in the pacific northwest the housing market has been going through the roof for a couple of years now. and i've had the same conversation/lecture twice in two weeks on why i should have bought a house two years ago, how it's a great investment, how if i buy one now i still won't miss the boat and it's money in the bank and blah blah blah and my eyes are rolling to the back of my head just thinking about it.

in a way, i have an easy out-- i'm in no position financially to buy a house: no job = no house. and i probably won't be in any position for at least a year. i GUESS i want a house at some point in my life, but it's never been high on my priority list. i'm not handy-- i don't even own a roll of duct tape. i've been a renter for years, and i love it. when the faucet is leaking, i make a call and the landlord gets it fixed. when the lease runs out, my month-to-month payments make for an easy getaway. i never have to pay for water/garbage/sewer. nor do i have to mow any lawns, weed or fix clogged gutters. there's a wicked freedom in that. granted, i can't paint my walls or carve my name into any support beams, but who cares.

another reason not to buy now is that there are serious DUMPS on the market right now for 200,000 dollars-- in bad neighborhoods with no trees. or there are nice little condos for 185,000, but they're way out of town. some friends explained to me this weekend how most of their neighbors are nice but they do live next to a crack house and their weirdo neighbor came after them one day with a sledge hammer. and the dump on their block is going for 279,000. jesus-- how many trips to paris could i take on that? these houses are "fixer uppers," which is no good to me. i want to be able to move into a livable house.

everything in life ebbs and flows, i believe. and this housing market will ebb. until then i'll be renting.