Breaking Blog

So, remember yesterday how I said I was super paranoid and superstitious?

You probably laughed at me and said to yourself, "That girl is way crazier than I could have ever imagined."

Well, turns out I was right and talking about it all on the blog totally came back to bite me in the ass.

Stella is totally, 100%, never-before-been-sick-like-this, vomiting sick. And let me tell you, it's all pretty awesome.... (Please hear the sarcasm.)

I knew it was risky making a blog about it, I knew it was dangerous, but I couldn't help myself. I just couldn't keep my mouth shut. And now? Now I have been showered in puke twice within the last 30 minutes.

There is no teaching that child to turn her head towards the toilet or sink. None. She has never vomited before. Never. Not in her entire three years. And guess what, she doesn't like it. And neither do I!

She has been sick before, with like weird diseases. She's had ear infections, and a urinary tract infection which was totally bizarre and she's had a yeast infection, also strange in my opinion. I guess maybe she's had strep once. But never the flu. I had no idea what I was missing. This is just... great.

She's in the tub right now. And as far as I'm concerned, that's where she can stay. As it turns out, the whole puke experience scares the living daylights out of her, and so just when it's about to happen she latches onto me, holding me close and burying her face in my neck. 2 seconds later, a shower of grossness all over me. Did I mention twice? And it's only 9:30. I mean we have a whole day to go here.

Oh my gosh. I just started to have a panic attack.

Also, it looks like Scarlett has ear infections. So there's that too.

I thought yesterday was bad.

Well, I had a real topic to talk about today. So I might as well get to that. I just wanted a listening ear to my misery....

I don't want to buy a house.

There, I said it. I know that it's totally taboo, and everyone will think I'm bananas. But it's the truth, it's the way I feel, and I'm tired of telling people I do want to buy a house just because I know that A. it's what they want to hear and B. it's the appropriate social response.

And it's not because I want to live with my mother for the rest of my life. I love my mom. And it has been great, it really has. Simply for the fact that my girls adore her, and the relationship they have is so special because they get to see her almost every day. But we've outgrown our place here. I mean literally, we are coming apart at the seems. We don't have a choice but to move. And. Soon.

But that doesn't mean I want to buy a house.

Doesn't everybody want to buy a house though? Isn't it the American Dream? A rite of passage? Proof that you're a grownup and responsible? I mean, now that I have a family isn't buying a house the only available next step in the process? Once a person owns property, they own the world, basically. Don't I want that?

No. I don't.

Not everybody does want to buy a house. And it's not the American Dream. The American Dream is Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness, not the guarantee of happiness by way of land.

This isn't the Wild West, you don't just put a stake in the ground and call it your own. This isn't the Homestead Act, where as long as you were moving somewhere, anywhere West you were guaranteed land. Those were simple times, simple solutions and simple houses.

Today is nothing like that.

Credit scores, bank loans, mortgages, Realtors, closing costs, interest rates, government bail outs, home owners insurance, liability, the whole nine yards.

No thank you.

Buying a house today seems like the absolute most risky, unsafe thing to do. Fine, you can get houses for much cheaper today then you could five years ago, but there is still an insurmountable cost. You are still buying a house for hundreds of thousands of dollars and then paying to upkeep, maintain and insure that sucker.

Think about it. If I rent a house for $800 a month(This is possible) for one year, that is the actual cost of renting a house. There are no interest fees, no taxes, no anything. Just a down payment and $800 due on the first of the month.

And guess what else. I don't have to pay for maintenance and large home projects. If the roof blows off during hurricane strength winds, guess what. It's not my responsibility. If the sewer line collapses underneath the street and the line that just happens to collapse, happens to be the line to my house, guess what. I don't have to pay for it.

Homeowners? Completely different story. All of those freak accidents and natural disasters are the home owners responsibility.

Did you know that women who own a home are on average 12% fatter then women renters. That's a real statistic. I've been doing my research. This isn't just a fear, or a whim. I've actually been looking into this.

Also, home owners spend less time together as a family then renters and more time on house projects and remodeling.

They also are more stressed out and get less opportunity to travel.

Owning a home is one of the worst things to do in a bad economy because it anchors you to a specific place. If the jobs leave and the economy is terrible in your city, turns out you can neither sell your house nor find a job.

Plus, I don't know if you've noticed but there is a Democrat in office. Guess what Democrats like to do: Raise Taxes. And don't think the average home owner isn't going to be hit trying to get this Universal Health Care Bill passed.

I know there are lots of good things to buying a house, I understand that. Like the tax incentives, but at the same time, sure you get money just for owning a house, but how much more money did you sink into that same property? A new fence, a new roof, a new water heater, hail damage on the side of the house, someone through a rock through your window... stuff like that?

And what really makes me angry is the whole credit thing. Because, I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but our credit system is broken.

Zach and I don't use credit cards. You can imagine what this has done for our credit... But we just don't get the concept of (Think before you owned a home, because owning a home is obviously great for that three digit little score) proving you can spend a ton of money, you don't have, on stuff you don't really need, just to prove you can handle debt. Like, yea, we bought a boat on a credit card, even though we can only use it two months out of the year and we can't afford the monthly payments(Just an example) but now we're ready to buy a house....? It doesn't make sense.

Take that same concept and apply it to the mortgage. Let's say you get a steal of a deal. 4 bedroom, 3 bath, brand new kitchen, finished basement, nice neighborhood, great school districts and close to work for....$140,000. Fantastic Deal. Then, you take a 30 year mortgage at an interest rate of, oh lets give you, 6%(Congratulations on the best deal of the century by the way.), making the real cost of the house....$302,000. Over twice what you bought the house for. That is if you actually, ever get to pay your mortgage off.

Ok, I'm way over simplifying this. I know. But the principals are still the same.

Why can't student loans contribute more to the total score? That's good debt, but it makes up a small amount of what actually goes into the credit score. Yet, student loans are actually worth something; they are one of the only things, if not the only thing that doesn't depreciate over time. A boat you buy for 20,000 isn't going to cost nearly that by the time you're done paying it off, yet you've probably paid three times the total amount with interest. Education however, only continues to add value to your life.

Like I said, the system is broken and I don't want any part of it.

At least not yet.

I'm only 26 after all and just because all of my friends the same age as me own houses doesn't mean that's the norm. In fact, good for them, but I feel like they are very far above average.

What's the hurry? Seriously. So stop pressuring me(This is a general admonishment to society, not anyone in particular) into buying a house. Maybe we will, maybe we won't, but listen, we usually take a long, long time to make any decisions, no matter how small, and this one is kind of big. So don't hold your breath for one to be made any time soon.

Rachel

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3 comments:

  1. I TOTALLY AGREE!!!!!! Buying a house is scary scary SCARY! No thanks! I'll rent! :)
    I hope Stella feels better soon! :((

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  2. rach, if you don't want to buy a house, don't. i don't know anyone who would tell you you should if you don't want to. but people who are buying houses aren't doing anything wrong. get over it.

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  3. LMAO... someone sounds like a pretentious bitch and is obviously taking their "blogging world" WAAAY to seriously.

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