Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Getting Housed

So a work friend of mine has had her family home on the market since sometime last year. It’s a gorgeous, huge house in an upper middle class, predominantly African-American neighborhood. The friend in question, B, owns her own home and is not interested in moving into the family home. She and her siblings have remodeled it and are trying to sell it for over a million clams. Nobody’s biting. They’re taking it off the market.

She called me Friday to ask if we’d be interested in renting it. It’s vacant, and she and her siblings would like someone living there who would take good care of it. It is much farther from work for me and Dub, but near a really good public school (thus we would save money on school tuition, but pay more in gas*). Her brother is handling the finances so she has no idea how much he would want in rent. Did I mention that while we live in an 864-sqaure-foot bungalow, this is about 3,500 square feet?

Sweet Dub is skeptical. I admit I am a bit too. Some issues:

+ How much will it cost to heat and cool a house that big?
+ Will my mother-in-law assume she can just move in?
+ How much are they going to want in rent?
+ If we live in a million-dollar house, won’t we be spoiled for living in a regular house when we eventually buy?

I don’t know. I guess it can’t hurt to talk to the guy. What do you think?

*Although we did manage to get the “Let’s Refuel America” deal with the $2.99/gallon gas for three years when we bought the new car last month, so it’s not as expensive as it could be.

8 comments:

Cee in SF said...

Good luck! It would be hard going from 3k+ square feet to something smaller (if you did) but it would be yours and it would feel marvelous no matter how big!

Mango Mama said...

Wouldn't hurt to ask--- go for it.

Liz Dwyer said...

Gosh, that's an amazing offer but I can see how it's fraught with complications. I'd definitely be curious about how much they want for rent. Are they having to pay a mortgage now or is it already paid off? If they don't have to make a house note, they could give you a reasonable price. Otherwise, they might just want to charge enough to cover the mortgage, which for a million dollar house is gonna be steep.

Also, are they gonna want to kick you out after a year and then you'd have to find a new place all over again?

Good luck with it though!

Lisa Blah Blah said...

I was hoping to post again with an update, but the whole thing has been tabled for now because my work friend, B, has been out of the office helping her daughter with her newborn. Hopefully when she gets back, I'll get more info and investigate.

Thanks for all your input!

E. said...

Yeah, my first question was the same as los angelista: how stable will this living situation be? If you fall in love with Viva's school and you have to move from this house, will you be able to afford to stay in this neighborhood?

I think the heating/cooling of an air hangar issue is pretty huge, too. And I myself would be worried about living in four times the space I'm used to (and would likely need to readjust to). If you do it, I'd seriously close off half the rooms and pretend they don't exist (and then you don't have to heat and cool them!)

Good luck!

Lisa Blah Blah said...

At this point, I'm inclined to forget about it. There are too many issues (like falling in love with the school &/or the neighborhood, and then not being to afford to live there if we have to move). It was a sweet idea, though!!

Anonymous said...

I think you made the right decision, Lisa. We have a 2500+ sq. ft. house here in Oregon and I can't keep up with it. It takes me 9 hours to clean it from top to bottom. I would like smaller digs but hubbie is a butthead on that issue.

Also, heating and cooling can be spendy even for the most frugal (ie: me/coupon clipper).

Lisa Blah Blah said...

bridget: It takes us a ridiculously long time to clean our tiny little house. I can only imagine how long it would take to clean a house more than twice its size. I feel your pain!

Yeah, and the heating and cooling question - that was Sweet Dub. He is nothing if not practical. Thank goodness he has a good head on his shoulders...