Crossing my fingers and toes!

This housing situation has been one of the biggest up and down roller coasters of our lives. I don't think we had any idea how difficult it would be to 1) sell the house we currently own or 2) find another home that we would like to live in. It's a lot like when I was trying to find my first teaching job. Before I graduated, I had a very specific set of criteria for my future job. I wouldn't teach a grade higher than 3rd, and I wanted to be in Indy (north side to be exact), blah blah blah. Then, as the summer went on and I wasn't getting any calls, I started to lessen my criteria. Well, I would teach 4th or 5th grade. Then, as it came to be about 2 weeks before the start of the school year, I gave up any criteria and just said, I WILL DO ANYTHING! Thus, I got a job teaching 4th grade in Muncie of all places. It has been a great fit for me for 4 years, and I am thankful that I opened my stubborn mind to the opportunity.

It's a very similar situation with the house-hunt. At first, I was very optimistic that we would sell by the end of May. HA! FUNNY, ASHLEY! I also said I couldn't stomach the idea of having renters or us renting a house in Muncie. Now, as the months have gone on and we have had a few positive showings, but no offers or anything close to that, I find myself this close (holding my fingers about a 1/2 inch apart) to listing it on Craigslist to rent and being done with it. I have already put feelers out on Facebook about it among friends. I am not opposed to the idea, as long as we do it the right way and have trustworthy people renting from us.

On Thursday, Luke and I will look at two properties to rent in Muncie. Yes, I said rent. Who knew there were other properties to rent besides BSU rentals? Luke has been working hard at driving around in ideal neighborhoods and writing down numbers of agents of homes that are for sale. He has called a page full of people asking if their clients would rent to a teacher and a doctor with an adorable 15 month old. Hey, we'll even let you give her a hug if you want. He hasn't had too much luck, but we do have a very promising house that we will see on Thursday. In fact, I can't WAIT to see it in person because the online photos are great. This house would be a great location, size, style, and fit for us. In fact, I love it already and am already attached. This could be bad news. The story is apparently the woman who is moving just got divorced and is moving to New York. She said that if it doesn't sell by July 10, she would "highly consider" taking our 3-year rental offer. The price is pretty reasonable...in fact she is willing to rent it for about $50 less than what her mortgage payment is, which is pretty nice of her. I am hoping that if we go and see it Thursday and LOVE it, that she will forget about the whole July 10 thing and just let us do it then.

So why are we now on the renting bandwagon? Well, let me list the reasons why renting will be better for us this time around.
1. We do not know how long we will be living in Muncie. It could be 3 years, 10 years, 30 years, or 5 years. We do not want to be held down to a property here the way we are being held in Indy. As lovely as our home is, we are having a hell of a time trying to sell it (as with many other people we know), and we don't feel like turning around and playing this game again in 3 years.
2. Do I really even need to list any other reasons? OK, I will. The idea of not being "responsible" for covering home repairs is pretty nice. Or praying property taxes. Or home owner's insurance.
3. There's something about not being "tied" to a property that is kind of liberating. I say that in the same breath that "owning" a home gives me great pride, but it also scares the shit out of me. Signing all those papers at closing is not something I want to do again for a little while. We might have signed Noelle up for an arranged marriage in those papers-- I don't know...didn't read them!

Now, I know the argument that we are not going to be building equity in the home and that we will basically be throwing away money for 3 years. I get that. However, we very well might be throwing away money on the house we currently own just to try to sell it, AND after 3 years in our home and putting on a new roof and siding as well as upgrading many features inside, we haven't gained hardly any equity in the home. We are looking at barely breaking even with it. So, I am not sure the "equity" argument stands unless you plan to stay in the home for 30 years. And who does that anymore?

So, please, lady I don't know with a really pretty house in a nice neighborhood that would be perfect for our little family...please have mercy on us and let this piece of the puzzle fall in place. Please?