I had every intention of getting up before 7 this morning to take a long ride, but I got sucked into a book and didn't realize what time it was until my bladder nearly burst at 1 a.m. Even then I thought if I scrambled to bed, I would get enough sleep to not be a danger to myself or anyone else; the ride was intended to timed with the funeral across the country of someone I never met personally, but admired greatly. She was an avid trike rider, wonderfully supportive of brand new riders, offered gentle advice when asked, and was just an all around awesome person. While I don't have pegs to put down in her honor, nor a way to put a helmet on the passenger seat facing backwards*, I would have known the intent of the ride, and that's all that mattered.
I went to bed...and was wide awake. Sleepy, but my brain would not shut down. It was picking through options; we learned yesterday that this house is a lot closer to foreclosure than we thought, and even though CA law is on our side in the matter of a sale--the lease goes with the house--we're going to wind up moving. Chances are the house won't sell with tenants insisting on staying, and if we refuse to move...well, sooner or later there will be a notice on our door stating we have 15-30 days to vacate. We don't want to be those people...the people who are so enraged about their own rights that we'd be willing to torpedo someone else.
There are all the technicals--technically we don't have to allow the house to be shown without 24 hours notice; technically we can demand that notice be in writing; technically we don't have to clean the house before anyone sees it; technically we can be real assholes and let each and every potential buyer walking through think that we have no intention of going anywhere until the lease runs out. Technically, we can be so mean and demanding, we can be such major jerks, that a sale won't be possible.
We're just not Those People. We don't want to ruin someone else (even though technically she made the really bad decision to buy at the height of the market, to then rent out the house for half the mortgage payment, and to sign a 2 year lease--where did she think the other half of her mortgage payment was going to come from? She didn't let us know a long time ago just how badly she was struggling [though we suspected] and if we'd know it might not feel like SUDDENLY we have to move) but we also don't want to be doormats. In the same sales situation it's not uncommon for renters to be given monetary compensation for their inconveniences of the house being kept clean and the parade of total strangers streaming through. I doubt the landlord has anything with which to compensate us for our time and effort.
She'd have a much better chance of selling this house if we weren't in it. Yet...why would she give up the rent? It doesn't cover her mortgage, but it's better than nothing. Houses are sitting on the market for a long time right now; she probably understands that a sale is a long shot and it's going to foreclose anyway, so why not keep even a little income? We've considered making the offer that if she'll give up back our deposit, we'll move. But why would she bother?
If we don't get the deposit up front, we'll never see it again.
A year from now, when our lease is supposed to end, we'd be in a much better position to buy a house. We were counting on another 6-12 months. But..what if? The Spouse Thingy is eligible for a VA loan. No down payment required. Closing costs can be written into the offer. The only thing holding us back is past stupidities (do not, do not, DO NOT ever pay things like tuition and books, dental work, or medical bills with credit cards. Never pay cash for those things and then live off the cards. It will bite you in the ass later. Figure out another way. What seems like an investment in your future ((tuition)) takes far too long to pay off when paid for with a CC, and then other things pop up. Other things always pop up.)
Do we take a hit on our credit score by even applying for a loan, or suck it up and move into another rental...and then move again in a year?
Maybe start buying lottery tickets in a frenzy and hope? The odds seem about the same.
Yeah, my brain nearly fried itself, and just when I was about to fall asleep in spite of it, my stomach growled and I was awake all over again. I wandered downstairs to shut my stomach up, annoyed the kitties, and finally drifted off around 3:45. I didn't set my alarm so that I could get up and ride; I'm might not have a tons of smarts but I'm not stupid.
Shuddup.
It's supposed to hit 103o today. I think I'm staying in where I have running a/c...
*It's a biking custom; if you see a bike with the passenger pegs down, and a helmet on the passenger seat facing backwards, the rider is likely on a memorial ride for a fallen fellow biker.
No comments:
Post a Comment