It's not really good-bye, just Until we Meet Again kind of a parting. We had our house on the market since February, but because of the insane amount of foreclosures right now it has really screwed up our plans. We decided to take it off the market and rent it out. The new plan is to hold on to it for a few more years and hope the market goes up and we can try to sell again further down the road.
Lucky for us, we have actually been home owners of a rental property for 10 years now. So we know the ropes, the good, the bad and the ugly of renting out. Our first property was Theo and my first house we bought together. It was the house we brought Tobie home to when he was an infant. But when Tobie turned 2 months, Theo who was fresh out of Coast Guard boot camp decided to go Active Duty instead of Reserve as was the initial plan.
It was heartbreaking to have to leave that house, purely for sentimental reasons. We panicked that we couldn't get anyone to buy, since it was a manufactured house on his Dad's land that someone would have to move themselves. But finding our first renters in a family member we thought that our mortgage bill was secure. That was the beginning of a long line of really terrible renters. The house turned into a thorn in our side, having to evict several tenants for non-payment, making repairs, and covering the smell and stains from smoking inside the house (even though it was clearly stated in the contract NO SMOKING PERMITTED!). But it has also been a blessing in disguise by providing us extra income allowing me to stay at home with our 5 kids and not have to worry about working outside the home.
Hopefully this time around we will have enough knowledge and judgement under our belts to get some good reliable tenants and this experience will also be a blessing in disguise.
2 comments:
Where are you going?
We're getting transferred to Atlantic City, NJ. We are super excited about it, even though that means leaving this house behind and all my family. But we are ready for the move.
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