Finn Sleeps on My Feet at Night

Every now and then, Marty and I get some wild idea that we can downsize our housing situation. We look at selling where we are now and renting in the area. The idea being we would be paying less in living expenses. There is no urgency to this, which is good, because we always come to the same conclusion.

Truly, we probably could cut our expenses if we wanted to make a few rental sacrifices. However, rents are exorbitant, so for what we pay for a mortgage payment, we would probably pay similar for a smaller rental home. Of course, a smaller (and preferably pool-free) home would also mean less electric and water bills too. Also, if I were to customize this potential rental home it would also be one floor instead of three.

You will just have to get your own foot warmer.

There are few reasons why renting isn't a plausible scenario. First, I have pets. And though I know I could give them up if I absolutely had to, right now they are decorative and don't eat too much. Plus, Ollie is currently sleeping under the desk, laying on my foot. A foot warmer is a pretty cool addition to any home.

The other super-nitpicky reason why renting is not exactly in the cards is we are less than a year off a bankruptcy. Though our income is reasonable, landlords see what is on paper. One bankruptcy can be a deal-killer, though it shouldn't have to be. A bankruptcy means I cannot bankrupt anyone else any time soon. Though, to be fair, I have no desire to ever go through that process again.

This morning I got on to MLS to see what was available for rent. Most rental listings said no pets. None of the homes in the price I wanted to spend were in any neighborhood I wanted to live in. And for those homes in the desirable neighborhoods (in our case, close to Polly and Marty's jobs, Longbow Golf Course, Sprouts, our church, a hiking area and our favorite grocery store) nothing was the size I am willing to live in with two teenagers and a couple of spares that show up on my couch on the weekends. If I had to downsize to half the size of home I have now, I would do so. But it is not necessary.

To make this a value to us, we would have to be willing to save more in downsizing than we lose on the moving expenses and tax deductions (I write off my home office as well take the mortgage deduction). What I am figuring is the cost to move to a rental has to save us more than $10,000 a year to just to break even. I don't think moving to a rental can come close to this. So, once again, having done this analysis, we decided we are staying in our home until something comes along that speaks to us. But this certainly isn't the season. And hopefully that something will allow for pets.