Lusting after Real-estate

Lately I’ve been lusting after Real-estate… it’s very odd, because I am in no way ready to settle down. The idea of picking a place and staying there for all eternity (or until the next real-estate venture comes along) is pretty much terrifying, and yet my senses always perk up when I pass a for-sale sign. My favorite thing to do while I'm running is to pass by houses and think "yes, I could totally live there."

I’ve always been the type of person who wants to have my cake and eat it too. Really what I want is all the benefits of having my own house, with all the perks of a short-term lease. I understand at the age of twenty-five that there is nothing permanent about my life right now. I love having options, and knowing that I could pick up and move at a moment’s notice is rather refreshing. If something more affordable comes along, I have options, should I get into graduate school, I have options, should a new job opportunity across the country present itself, I have options. I, in no way, shape, or form, want to be tied down with home-ownership… and yet, all I want right now is a place of my own.

I am very much torn between putting down solid roots, and staying light on my feet. I love the idea of planting a garden, getting some chickens, painting the walls…and yet I also love the flexibility of renting. Knowing that if my shower breaks it is someone else’s responsibility is pretty amazing.But, it is so disheartening to thinking that I am spending $650 a month on rent, and it is $650 dollars I will never see again. It’s not going towards anything, it’s not paying off anything, I’m not investing, but spending spending spending. When I start to think about the fact that I spend almost $8,000 a year on rent, my heart starts to sink. Because what do I have to show at the end of that year? Yes, I am paying to keep a roof over my head, and its great not having to live out of my car, but when I think about all the money that I could be putting into savings, or towards a house payment, it is almost enough to make me move back in with my parents. Almost.

In the long run, $650 a month for my independence, my own space, my own privacy is a pretty good deal. I know that I could get a roommate and start saving… but I’m not quite ready for that yet. I like knowing that if there is a mess in the kitchen, it’s one that I made, and I love having the bathroom to myself. So I try not to think about what I could be doing with $8,000 extra income a year (buy a bull dog, build up my savings account, go to Europe, pay off my credit card )

I look at my friends who are home-owners, and I totally realize that I’m not there yet. I’m not in the corporate world or on the family track. I don’t need a two-car garage, and an office, and a guest bathroom. I don’t need to accumulate any more belongings, and I certainly don’t’ need any more space. But wanting, wanting is a whole different story. I want to landscape, I want to plant, I want to paint, I want my money to go towards something, towards a future.

Of course generally speaking, I am living paycheck to paycheck, but overall I think I’m doing ok for a person my age. I don’t have any student loans, my car is paid for, and I don’t really have any debt to speak of (minus the fact that I’m still paying off my trip to Boston, and I owe my parents $475.) I have a savings account, and an IRA, I can pay my bills, and manage to save a little money every month. It still makes me cringe to think that almost a quarter of what I bring home in a year goes towards renting a place.

In general, I’m trying to become less attached to material things. I’m trying not to value possessions, and overall I know that it is not “things” that make me happy. But there is something to be said for the tangibility of an investment. I once heard that the dumbest thing a college graduate can do is buy furniture because it ties you down. Certainly a house ties you down a little bit more than a couch and a bookshelf… but at least with a house you are investing in your future.

I am several years away from that sort of investment… so I am trying to appease my desire for real-estate by taking a few house-sitting jobs. I figure if I can’t actually afford to make a down-payment, at least I can live in a fantasy-world for a few weeks and play house without having to worry about a mortgage.