I am getting so frustrated with my house.

MommaTrish

MommaTrish

Well-known member
Our house has been sort of falling apart ever since we bought it. Most of it is just really cosmetic stuff, but we do have 3 big issues that need addressing 1. master bathroom hasn't worked since I had Bella (shower NEVER worked) and will require removing part of the wall to get to pipes and (the scary part to me...) removing one of those bath/wall wrap around covers. 2. the backdoor was installed, very poorly, by the people who were here before us and its not even the right size so it's a huge energy drain and drafty. 3. our fence in our backyard is about to die. we have bungee cords holding part of it up....

And that's not even taking into account a lot of cosmetic stuffs.

We're seriously considering renting a house from one of our family members. It's not any bigger, but it has an actual usable attic, a huge shed, two WORKING bathrooms and a garage, all that is a plus since our main issue is storage. If we do that we want to sale our house to pay off either the credit card, medical bills, or my student loan, or a little of all of them. BUT if we want to do more than just break even what we have left to pay we have to take care of all these repairs first.

It's just all so frustrating.
*big sigh*
 
financial stuff is the worst because it is eating up all your energy for other stuff. hug you from here. the only thing i am always sure of when things happen is, that they will be part of the past someday and won't bother me anymore then.
 
Oh and it's tiny with no storage (our house) it's a little under 1200 square feet with the six of us, and a rather large dog. Our attic is unusable all of our closets barely hold our clothes ((Bella and Mason don't even have stuff in any of the closets)). We have two other closets, one holds our winter jackets and that's it, the other is full of shelves but it's not even 2 feet deep.
 
i'd say... do it!
we have a big appt. but no storage at all and this clutters the whole thing. we have an offer to get into a much tinier appt. now but with two extra storage rooms (attic and cellar). i thought the whole thing out and we would get all our stuff into the thing.
plus, there is a new kitchen and bathroom, we could get awesome furniture and would pay nothing for that.
have to talk my husband into it.
 
Kindof a catch 22...to sell the house, you'll need to make the repairs, but once the repairs are done, you might not want to sell anymore. The first thing I'd do is fix the back door to save on the power bills and for security reasons. But, if you just don't want the headache of being the home owner for a while, it might be better in the long run if you rented. Good luck with your decision. ;)
 
I'd stay personally..it's a much better investment to own your home than rent. At least your $$ is going to something each month

Take 1 project at a time and save til you can fix it in one shot..I'd start with the door probably the cheapest and easiest not to mention what Laura said about the security issue. From there I'd move to the fence then the bathroom.

Afterwards if storage space is an issue I'd save up for an outdoor shed or something

((hugs)) it's frustrating I know..but so worth it when the house is how you like it
 
:( I feel for you. I truly do. It can suck living in a house that is not only too small but needs work as well. I agree with Laura about the back door, that should be a relatively easy fix too. A pain, no doubt, but still on the easy end of things.

We have lived in a few money pits. It stinks. One house we lived in was a HUGE mistake. We saw potential and only saw potential. We didn't see what a huge headache it would all be. When we bought it there was NO bathroom or kitchen. No flooring, walls or ceilings in half the house, etc. Half the house had been completely gutted. We thought it was great because we could make it ours. Didn't work out. We owned the house a few months before I lost my job. Then I got pregnant and so on. We lived there for 4 years and didn't have a kitchen the entire time. We put a bathroom in before we moved in but we never got to the kitchen. Crazy doing dishes in the bath tub at 9 months pregnant. We left that house when Caitrin was 2.5 and we rented for about 4 years before buying this house. I'm so glad we moved, rented, and got ourselves back in order before buying again!
 
FlirtatiousBrat said:
I'd stay personally..it's a much better investment to own your home than rent. At least your $$ is going to something each month

Take 1 project at a time and save til you can fix it in one shot..I'd start with the door probably the cheapest and easiest not to mention what Laura said about the security issue. From there I'd move to the fence then the bathroom.

Afterwards if storage space is an issue I'd save up for an outdoor shed or something

((hugs)) it's frustrating I know..but so worth it when the house is how you like it
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You know, I see what you are saying, Meghan and in many cases I would agree. However, sometimes it just isn't worth it to stay in a house. The house we left, we actually PAID to leave. The house was torn down and we ended up paying for the rest of the house just to get out of it. It was so worth it in the end. That extra money was NOTHING compared to the feeling of relief we had being out of there. We were living on one income too, with lots of bills so it wasn't easy at all but there was no way we would have ever gotten out of that house what we owed without putting 3x what we owed into it just to get it livable. It just wasn't worth it. I think that there is plenty to say about renting. A house isn't always an investment the way it should be. Sometimes a house is just a headache and a money pit.
 
Oh... and having rented from a family member... be sure you have a contract that outlines expectations on both ends.

We rented from my uncle after we moved out of the piece of junk house I mentioned. We were there for a year and a half. Things were falling apart right and left and he kept saying "I'll get to it, I've been so busy". We fixed several things on our own and never even mentioned them to him. The shower was leaking and he came out a time or two and said it was fixed but we knew it wasn't. He just didn't want to tear it all out (like you would have to do in your bathroom) to fix it. So he didn't. It kept getting worse. Our water bill was going up and the flooring was starting to bubble. It was obvious the shower was leaking on the floor under the tub and then wicking out. We moved out and my brother and his wife moved in. When they were living there the floor caved in on them and my uncle came and replaced the floor and still NEVER fixed the dang shower. The heater went out and he refused to fix it. There were all sorts of other issues too and I can't say that my uncle was at fault or that my brother was at fault. I think there was a lot of miscommunication and I also know my brother didn't pay rent a few months. In the end it worked out okay for us. Sure, we lived in a crappy place for a while, but it was better than the one that was falling apart around us. I still have a great relationship with my uncle, I just learned not to expect too much. ;) We left there and moved into another rental and ended up with the most amazing landlords in the world. Seriously. Awesome couple! If something went wrong we would call and they would be there within an hour and not only fix it but make sure it was done perfectly and looked good too.
 
My only hesitation with what you're talking about doing is that you'll be renting from family. We did that once and it didn't work out very well. It might be totally different in your situation, but in my experience it's never been good to have any sort of business relationship with family.

ETA: Ha! Sherri beat me to it :)
 
I think for me the big question would be - is there a difference in price between your current mortgage and the rent on the house you're thinking about moving to? If the rental is less, I would not hesitate to move someplace that would be more comfortable, and then you can use that money in other ways - paying off other debts, saving for another house, etc etc.

I would probably talk with a realtor about what you would need to do to get your house market ready...whcih wouldn't necessarily mean you'd have to commit to selling it, but it might help make a decision one way or another. For example, if the master bath needs work, perhaps it would be better to put in the purchase agreement that the seller agrees to pay $xxx towards repairs in the master bathroom, rather than fixing it - perhaps a buyer would come in and want to change up that whole bathroom and if you'd already fixed it up, they'd probably just be tearing up what you already did, you know? I don't know how often that actually happens or if people would be turned off by that arrangement (I know it happens sometimes here, though, that something like that would be in the purchase agreement), but I think it's worth having someone talk to you about options for that kind of stuff.

And I totally agree with the ladies above - definitely have a lease with very clear, defined rules & expectations about what each party will be covering, etc. I would treat the rental situation just as if they WEREN'T family in terms of expecting an actual legal contract. :)
 
I personally feel like owning is better then renting like 95% of the time. I mean sure there are times that putting more money into a house is a mistake but when you rent none of that is yours. Our house is nothing to be crazy about but we own it outright with no mortgage and the things we have to fix are cheaper then thinking about another place. Just a thought but have you checked on pinterest for creative storage solutions?
 
I think the real estate market can be kind of tricky sometimes. I have saw so many people go upside down on their houses. It stinks and, in those cases, renting would have worked out better for them. It sucks to owe $100K more than your house is worth, you know?

Fortunately, that really isn't a problem in my area. There aren't even very many homes that would be in the $100K price range at all. LOL

I used to think owning was better than renting, but I've learned so much over the past years that I really think it depends on the market, the person, the situation, etc. I'd say it's about 60/40 in my opinion whether owning is better than renting or not. My mom and brother live in my grandma's house (she passed away almost 8 years ago). The house is paid so they have no mortgage but they also have no extra income for repairs/maintenance or even taxes. In their case renting would be 100% better for them. Sure, they'd have a rent payment where they have no house payment now but they would also be living in better conditions and someone else would be responsible for roof repairs, heaters going out, etc.

I have no regrets renting and I'd do it again. I love this house, but that is the only reason we bought. We had plans to rent for a few more years. Our rent was a little less than our mortgage but the house was about half the size so. It was so nice not having to worry about repairs though. Too bad we didn't tuck money way back then when we actually had a chance. Now when we have extra we always feel like we need to do something to the house.
 
misfitinmn said:
I think for me the big question would be - is there a difference in price between your current mortgage and the rent on the house you're thinking about moving to? If the rental is less, I would not hesitate to move someplace that would be more comfortable, and then you can use that money in other ways - paying off other debts, saving for another house, etc etc.
Click to expand...

This.
 
FlirtatiousBrat said:
I'd stay personally..it's a much better investment to own your home than rent. At least your $$ is going to something each month

Take 1 project at a time and save til you can fix it in one shot..I'd start with the door probably the cheapest and easiest not to mention what Laura said about the security issue. From there I'd move to the fence then the bathroom.

Afterwards if storage space is an issue I'd save up for an outdoor shed or something

((hugs)) it's frustrating I know..but so worth it when the house is how you like it
Click to expand...

I totally agree with Meghan. If you spend all your extra money and time focusing on one task as a time, it's totally doable.
 
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