Me: I don't know.
Student: How many years ago?
Me: I don't know...a few years ago, maybe. (pause) Why?
Student: You look younger.
Me: I was younger.
(Student smiles)
Today was inspections day. I left school immediately after dismissal to rush back to the house I might buy, where I then dawdled around for half an hour until the inspector finished up and unloaded the bad news. The house needs a lot of work, and not the cheap kind. Oh, and if you're worried about money, don't forget that this bad news will cost you five hundred dollars. The inspector left. The seller's realtors left. My mom left. My realtor opened her passenger door for me, and we sat in the air-conditioned refuge of the car, working through everything we'd learned. Over and over, I puzzled: is it worth it?
The answer still eludes me. I've got a lot more information-seeking to do before I make a decision, and a little soul-searching is in the cards, too. House buying seems to be as much a mental health decision as it is a financial choice. If being a home-owner feels the way I do right now (which is exhausted beyond belief), do I really want to buy a house at all? I'll have gray hairs by December. Kids will look at my ID badge, and instead of insinuating that I look older, they'll ask who that woman is in the picture.
Is that your daughter?
And so, I currently sit on my couch in the home I have happily rented for the last three and a half years, staring out through the beautiful glass front door and wondering whether it wouldn't be better to just live here all my life. It would be easier, at least in the short term, and it would be cheaper, too. For now, anyway.
On the bright side, I had two great things happen to me today. First, a kid called my binding of their cell project books--and I quote--"swag." (Who's boring now, suckaaaaa??) Second, my real estate agent told me I looked tan.
Looks like we're even, universe.
Maybe the seller will reduce the cost of the purchase by the amount needed to fix the problems found by the inspector. That happened for us!
ReplyDeleteThey won't knock the price down to fix all of it (they disclosed some of the problems before I made the offer), but I'm hoping enough to make it worthwhile!
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