The Venting Thread

[Parasaurolophus]

Thanks for the thoughts and wishes!

Ouch!  So sorry to hear & I hope it works out for the best - at least it's 4 months warning, not merely ONE!

Yeah, four months is the legal minimum. They also didn't tell us why they were doing it, which I'd have thought we were owed after paying off more than 100k of their mortgage. But they did let slip that it's got to do with a series of quack cures they're pursuing for their daughter (whom they think is suffering from a mystery illness, but which her pediatrician thinks is an eating disorder; they're something of a quack illness/cure family, with the son's obvious but undiagnosed autism being due to a tick that bit his mum before he was born, etc.).

Miraculously, an affordable apartment went up yesterday (otherwise, there are another five advertised for $10k+ a month =/ ). We visited it. It's acceptable, but we would be paying 20% more and compromising on basically everything, in ways that would definitely make us miserable, so we would want to move again as soon as possible. Also, a cougar had been spotted chasing deer over there. Still, it's tempting. Especially since we've kept an eye out, and in the last six years we've seen maybe one unit go up for rent that would be comparable to our current one. There's just nothing here. We have a friend who had the same thing happen to her twice in six months, and she ended up just buying a tiny house of her own and parking it on a friend's lot.

Currently, however, we're thinking we might manage to live in a yurt on our property for the winter, while a small kit house gets built on it. The level of compromise/privation would be comparable to the apartment we saw yesterday, but in a much nicer place with lots of outdoor space and nobody to share it with, so the mental health outlook seems better. I imagine it would cost a year's rent, plus all the construction costs of course, but at the end of it we'd at least have a house, and we'd be paying about the same for the mortgage as we would for rent.

We'll see. I've got a chat with the bank lined up for Thursday morning.

[jimbogumbo]

Thanks for the thoughts and wishes!

Ouch!  So sorry to hear & I hope it works out for the best - at least it's 4 months warning, not merely ONE!

Yeah, four months is the legal minimum. They also didn't tell us why they were doing it, which I'd have thought we were owed after paying off more than 100k of their mortgage. But they did let slip that it's got to do with a series of quack cures they're pursuing for their daughter (whom they think is suffering from a mystery illness, but which her pediatrician thinks is an eating disorder; they're something of a quack illness/cure family, with the son's obvious but undiagnosed autism being due to a tick that bit his mum before he was born, etc.).

Miraculously, an affordable apartment went up yesterday (otherwise, there are another five advertised for $10k+ a month =/ ). We visited it. It's acceptable, but we would be paying 20% more and compromising on basically everything, in ways that would definitely make us miserable, so we would want to move again as soon as possible. Also, a cougar had been spotted chasing deer over there. Still, it's tempting. Especially since we've kept an eye out, and in the last six years we've seen maybe one unit go up for rent that would be comparable to our current one. There's just nothing here. We have a friend who had the same thing happen to her twice in six months, and she ended up just buying a tiny house of her own and parking it on a friend's lot.

Currently, however, we're thinking we might manage to live in a yurt on our property for the winter, while a small kit house gets built on it. The level of compromise/privation would be comparable to the apartment we saw yesterday, but in a much nicer place with lots of outdoor space and nobody to share it with, so the mental health outlook seems better. I imagine it would cost a year's rent, plus all the construction costs of course, but at the end of it we'd at least have a house, and we'd be paying about the same for the mortgage as we would for rent.

We'll see. I've got a chat with the bank lined up for Thursday morning.

Given your market's long term outlook I'd think the yurt/build plan is a very good idea.

Best wishes!

[Parasaurolophus]

Thanks! The only hitch is having to move into it at the start of winter which, even though it's mild here, is non-ideal. There will absolutely be power outages, for up to a week at a time. We're experienced campers, so not too daunted, but it's bound to be a trial.

[Puget]

Thanks! The only hitch is having to move into it at the start of winter which, even though it's mild here, is non-ideal. There will absolutely be power outages, for up to a week at a time. We're experienced campers, so not too daunted, but it's bound to be a trial.

This sounds like a real adventure, although I'm sure it will be hard at times!

One thing that was surprising to me in buying a home (with a fixed mortgage) was just how much a mental health boost I got from not having to ever worry about having to find new rentals when prices went way up or conditions deteriorated and the landlord failed to do anything about it. I hope you experience similar relief when you have your own home!

[apl68]

Thanks! The only hitch is having to move into it at the start of winter which, even though it's mild here, is non-ideal. There will absolutely be power outages, for up to a week at a time. We're experienced campers, so not too daunted, but it's bound to be a trial.

This sounds like a real adventure, although I'm sure it will be hard at times!

One thing that was surprising to me in buying a home (with a fixed mortgage) was just how much a mental health boost I got from not having to ever worry about having to find new rentals when prices went way up or conditions deteriorated and the landlord failed to do anything about it. I hope you experience similar relief when you have your own home!

Seconded.  It may not be easy or on an ideal schedule, but it sounds like you have a good chance here to improve the family's situation long-term.

[Sea_Ice]

Thanks! The only hitch is having to move into it at the start of winter which, even though it's mild here, is non-ideal. There will absolutely be power outages, for up to a week at a time. We're experienced campers, so not too daunted, but it's bound to be a trial.

This sounds like a real adventure, although I'm sure it will be hard at times!

One thing that was surprising to me in buying a home (with a fixed mortgage) was just how much a mental health boost I got from not having to ever worry about having to find new rentals when prices went way up or conditions deteriorated and the landlord failed to do anything about it. I hope you experience similar relief when you have your own home!

Seconded.  It may not be easy or on an ideal schedule, but it sounds like you have a good chance here to improve the family's situation long-term.

If you have the possible problems figured out and know that you can cope with them, I'd say go for it!!!  From what you've said, it'll be a major - & life-long! - improvement once you work through the building stuff, and that's a good thing to look forward to!

[ciao_yall]

Thanks! The only hitch is having to move into it at the start of winter which, even though it's mild here, is non-ideal. There will absolutely be power outages, for up to a week at a time. We're experienced campers, so not too daunted, but it's bound to be a trial.

This sounds like a real adventure, although I'm sure it will be hard at times!

One thing that was surprising to me in buying a home (with a fixed mortgage) was just how much a mental health boost I got from not having to ever worry about having to find new rentals when prices went way up or conditions deteriorated and the landlord failed to do anything about it. I hope you experience similar relief when you have your own home!

Seconded.  It may not be easy or on an ideal schedule, but it sounds like you have a good chance here to improve the family's situation long-term.

If you have the possible problems figured out and know that you can cope with them, I'd say go for it!!!  From what you've said, it'll be a major - & life-long! - improvement once you work through the building stuff, and that's a good thing to look forward to!

Thirded. I have owned my home for years. Currently renting out our condo while we rent and decide our next move.

I forget how annoying it us to rent and not feel control over one's space. I hate that light fixture, carpet, paint... but must live with it.

[Parasaurolophus]

Thanks for the input, everyone.

I had a chat with the bank today, and the signs are good: with our incomes and the fact that we own the land without a mortgage, they can loan us a couple hundred more than we expected, and just front us 60% of that outright. Plus, no downpayment is needed. So it looks like we can build pretty easily.

A friendly acquaintance (I run a parent and child program which she attends every week with her twins) also just put up a decently priced (20% more than we currently pay, but still way less than the average) rental suite, and it sounds like they'd want to be able to AirBnB it in the summer. So the current thinking is that we can stay there for the winter, buy a cheap tiny house outright with the savings we expected to sink into a downpayment, start building, and then move onto the land in the summer, and end up with a small house and a suite for in-laws.

It's an attractive plan, apart from all the adulting required.

[Parasaurolophus]

Well, we're buying a tiny house to plonk on our patch of land. It's lovely, but tiny.

Moving and siting it are going to be a bit of an ordeal, however. But it can be done. And once done, we have a place to live while building. Though hopefully we can rent somewhere til the summer, at least.

[Puget]

Well, we're buying a tiny house to plonk on our patch of land. It's lovely, but tiny.

Moving and siting it are going to be a bit of an ordeal, however. But it can be done. And once done, we have a place to live while building. Though hopefully we can rent somewhere til the summer, at least.

Woohoo congrats! I bet you are going to have great family memories and stories about this living in tiny house while building a bigger house adventure!

[Sea_Ice]

Well, we're buying a tiny house to plonk on our patch of land. It's lovely, but tiny.

Moving and siting it are going to be a bit of an ordeal, however. But it can be done. And once done, we have a place to live while building. Though hopefully we can rent somewhere til the summer, at least.

Yay!! Here's hoping that it all goes smoothly!

[sinenomine]

I feel like I'm a character in a Greek myth, endlessly trying to complete a task -- that task being staffing courses that start in just over a month. I had it all set, but in the past week, I've lost multiple faculty, one full-time and a couple part-time, and had to add classes due to unexpectedly robust enrollment. I think I just got everything accounted for, but the way this week has been going, I'm likely to be proven wrong.

I think I've earned myself an adult beverage or two.

[apl68]

Since Monday I've been experiencing a new flare-up of the severe ear/headache trouble I complained about at the beginning of this month.  Monday I had it all afternoon and evening.  Yesterday I had less of it in the afternoon, but it lasted all evening.  This morning I woke up with my ears feeling okay, as usual, and then started developing the problem almost as soon as I got to work.  It was so bad for a while that I just wanted to go home and lie down.  But I had hours of weekly payroll and bill paying work to do today, so I forced myself to work through it.

Then it started fading, and I felt fine for an hour or so.  I feel it trying to come back now.  I don't know whether to keep trying to stay at work, or take the afternoon off.  Usually three days is the maximum number that I have to deal with this problem in a row.

I'm beginning to wonder whether perhaps it's part of some undiagnosed migraine issue.  It feels like something is boring into my ear, and yet there's no hearing loss.

[mythbuster]

Apl68, I'm sorry to hear about your health issues. I dealt for years with issues of clogged/ clicking ears and horrible sinus pressure any time a thunderstorm blew through. At times it felt as if I had broken my nose, and I looked as if I had been punched with dark circles under my eyes. Finally worked with an ENT who set me up with a medicated daily sinus rinse to open up the passages. Life changing improvements. So, while yours might be migraine, it could also be related to your sinuses, which directly connect to your ears. Something to investigate- hoping you find a good treatment.

[AmLitHist]

Good for you, Para! As you say, it won't be smooth all the way, but at least you're on the way to your goal! (For a variety of reasons, we've rented forever. I can get a partial lump sum out of my pension when I retire, so the plan is to use that to pay cash for a house. . . if/when I ever feel like I can actually retire!)

Sorry to hear about your earache, apl68. Ears are the worst for me: I can handle a lot of things (cold, bronchitis, broken foot, etc.) much easier than the littlest thing with my ears. And I hate having the doctor look at them. I hope you feel better soon.

Latest from here:  no surgery this past Monday, but a follow up visit and x-ray yesterday. I wish I'd stayed home:  the surgeon said, "The x-ray shows the bone is healed!" Um, OK. . . so WHY is my foot still hurting like hell and why is it swelling like a balloon? He can't give me an answer, except that "maybe it's anxiety." So, I can't step on it--or even just sit here, for that matter--without 6-of-10 level pain? And that's all in my mind?  He wouldn't come out and say that, but he clearly was skeptical because I "shouldn't" still be hurting. Don't get me wrong:  if it's somehow healed and I can skip the surgery, that's great, IF it doesn't hurt anymore. I go back on 8/29 for another CAT scan. (I should also mention that I have a knot the size of a cherry tomato on the side of my foot at the site of the break. I suppose that's from anxiety, too.) I'm disgusted with everything and everybody at this point, but I'll follow through on 8/29. Also, I didn't get seen until 1:20, for an 11:45 appointment.  I get it--things happen--but your staff can't have the courtesy to call people to let us know you're running that far behind? SIGH.