On the Move
And then there’s the small matter of the flexibility and opportunity the condo affords us. See it turns out the owner really wanted to sell the condos. But he had the misfortune of having the development complete during one of the crappiest housing markets in years. From what I gather, everyone bought houses back a couple years ago when the interest rates were ideal and now they aren’t selling that well. To compensate, the owner decided to rent the condos for a year or two and then offer them for sale to the tenants (hopefully when the housing market is better; one thing about California, you can pretty much count on housing markets to improve eventually). But they’re also offering a sort of retroactive rent-to-own plan where a percentage of the rent you’ve already paid for that year or two will be set aside and used as part of the offer for the condo purchase. And of course it will be optional at that time.
What that means for us is that our rent won’t necessarily be wasted money, which is a concept I can completely get behind. It also means that even if it doesn’t work out, it’s not a big deal since we’re technically just doing what we’ve always done. And if it does work, we end up getting what we had almost given up hope of ever having which is something tangible that we could hopefully leverage into something bigger down the road as needs warrant.
In any case, I’m pretty excited. I know it doesn’t much address the commute issue but honestly I’ve been doing it for three or four months now and it isn’t so bad, especially with my current schedule. If there is one positive thing about the grave shifts, it’s the smooth, traffic-less drive. Besides, at this point I might as well concede that this town is where we live and while not without its flaws, it has friends and family and a certain familiarity that make it perfectly tolerable.
As a second part of our busy day we also got our taxes done. Whether good or bad, we were pleasantly surprised by how much our returns are this year. I suppose that means our W4s aren’t as optimally configured as they could be but what is done is done so now it looks like we’ll be able to do some of the furniture swapping as part of the move and still have a nice chunk to put into savings as well. The key is going to be avoiding the temptation to buy the biggest HDTV you’ve ever seen instead of stuff like a couch that doesn’t cause active humiliation whenever other humans are forced to set eyes (or worse, posteriors) upon it, but I’m sure Nik and her icy stare will help sidestep that landmine.
In fact the only bad news I can even think of is that I guess the staircase is too small to allow one to maneuver a queen-sized box spring up the stairs so you have to have one of those split boxes instead, and from what I understand they aren’t all that cheap. Granted, the one we currently have has been frustratingly used by the cat as a secondary scratching post as we’ve operated without an actual bed frame for three or more years now which puts the box spring in easy access of Dixie’s claws, but it’s hardly something I’d replace if given the choice.
This pending move has also brought about an even greater intensity with the big “stuff we no longer need” fire sale. This includes a few items added to the list:
- Computer desk. For those who’ve been to our place, this is the big black desk with hanging file cabinet, roll-out keyboard tray and overhead bookshelf. We’re going to trade down to a smaller computer desk since I no longer have or use sixteen computers simultaneously therefore the behemoth is not needed. If you’re interested, I have a truck and will just haul it to the dumps unless someone wants it so it’s going for free, and I’ll bring it to you assuming you don’t live in Utah or something. If you haven’t seen it, I should mention that it currently has a bunch of really geeky Linux stickers and junk plastered all over it, but I can try to remove them or paint over them if that’s going to be a problem.
- Entertainment center. We have a new TV stand in the living room and the old one (which was a gift from HB) probably won’t make the move with us. I kind of doubt HB wants it back so if I can pass it along, I’d be happy to. Same deal applies: I’ll bring it to you gratis if you just say the word. It’s possible HB would rather have it back than see it junked, but he gave it to me free so it would just be wrong to try and make a buck off it.
- Microwave oven. We have a white GE microwave in perfect working condition but the new place comes with an over-the-counter one included so we have no use for the standalone. If you want it, lemme know. Microwaves are pretty cheap so I’ll just give it to ya, but if you want it delivered (it fits in a Civic, I mean… how lazy are you?), I’ll do it for the gas money.
- Green leather sofa. Hahahahahahahaha! Just kidding. I wouldn’t inflict that thing on my worst enemy.
Oh, and since we get to move in fairly leisurely over the course of a month, we probably won’t need to even rent a truck much less beg our friends to waste a whole Saturday on manual labor.
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