Rent a Center No More

So, how’ve you been? Good? Great. That’s good to hear. What me? Well, we’ve been busy. You know, the usual. Early mornings, late nights, not enough salads, yada yada yada. Oh – and we bought a house.

Yes, it’s true. The perma-renter has crossed over to the other side. After several aborted feints in that direction, we actually searched for, found, and bought a house. And yes it’s in San Francisco, the city I swore I’d never settle for or in, but here’s the deal we struck: it’s rentable. So if we get it together to move home to New York, we’ll swap it or rent it or, if necessary, put it on a truck and Airstream it to Brooklyn.

So goodbye money down the drain, hello stable investment.

Of course it’s terrifying – mainly the unknown maintenance and very known mortgage – but it’s a great place and a good time to buy. (If any of you remember the property we came within an inch of owning a few years ago, this place is on that same block. Weird, right?) I wanted to buy a condo so we’d have on-site management, but we saw this place and couldn’t walk away.

It’s super sunny, which isn’t a given even in our sunny neighborhood because it’s all hills, so lots of yards or bedrooms face into the hill. Also, that hill is bedrock, which is great for earthquake safety but not so great for yard management. A lot of places we’ve seen have given up and resorted to gravel, and most places have either poor grading or unmanaged trees (presumably latched onto that rock), or both. We’ll actually have a proper yard with a lovely tree, grass, a small sun deck and a lighted dining patio, all of that extending out from double doors in the living room, which makes it feel like a giant Mediterranean living space. The main bedroom has dormer windows, a skylight and two banks of windows facing east and south. And A. will have her own room. Which will be sweet.

I’ll post some photos once it’s a done deal. I don’t want to get too attached before we’re all the way there. But we’re halfway there, so keep your fingers crossed that we’ll make it to moving day. I’m hoping the most stressful part – the finding and getting – is behind us and the move will be all joy (!) Send packing boxes and organizational thinking.