Since I left my parent's house in 1999, I have always rented. Be it apartment, house or duplex, I have never owned my own place. To tell you the truth, as much as I have moved over the last six years it does not make any sense to buy anyway. Renting seems to fit in better with the transient lifestyle I seem to lead. Mom refers to all of us kids as "gypsies" because we move around so much. Regardless of what we are, I know she is happy to have all of us off the payroll.
Have I mentioned how much I love living in Tahlequah. It will be a year this week since I moved here and lately I have been itching to buy a home and plant some roots, even if they end up being pretty shallow ones. I currently rent a duplex here in town and it is very nice. This is probably the nicest place I have lived since I left home. I have everything I need here, but would like to have a place to call my own.
I saw a "For Rent" sign at a two story house that is a stone's throw away from the back door of my store. For those of you who do not know, I am not a commuter. God bless the people who commute thirty minutes or more to work, but I am not one of them. I called on the rental and found out that it was not exactly what I was looking for to rent. However, it was available for sale and that immediately peaked my interest. Basically, it was two one bedroom one bath apartments. One was upstairs and one was down. They had recently been remodeled and were really cool. DeWayne, my assistant manager, and I were out to lunch when the realtor called so we both went to see it. In the end it did not work out, but some things were missing that I was not willing to live without, namely washer and dryer hookups. On a sidenote, the realtor made several comments about DeWayne and I being a couple while we were looking at the house. Both of us told her more than once that we worked together and that was as far as it went. This did not stop her from saying "this place would be great for you two" several times. Oh well. I guess that is why DeWayne opted out on seeing the house I went to see this last Thursday. I cannot blame him, I just like to have a second opinion.
That brings us to the Gingerbread House, which is the house that is pictured within this post. It is small efficiency that became available last week. The realtor told me that local people call this house the Gingerbread House. After the comments I made about DeWayne and I, I feel it needs to be clear that I did not give the house that name. Are we clear? Okay good. Anyway, the house is really cool. Perfect for someone like me who is looking to cut his rent and cut down on the amount of crap I possess. I am not saying that you might see me on the next episode of "Hoarders," but I could certainly reduce the amount of furniture, kitchen gadgets and knick-knacks I own. You would think that someone who moves as much as I do would learn to travel light. However, every time I move the company hires packers so I have yet to fully embrace the amount of junk I own. I imagine having to face up to what I own would be the real estate equivalent of waterboarding. Maybe I will tackle it before I move someday. Maybe not.
Back to the house. As you can see from the pictures, the place is really nice. The people who owned it completely remodeled it and had a new roof put on within the last year. It has a stackable washer and dryer included, which was the first thing I looked for when I walked in. The house itself is 468 square feet. It is on a corner lot across from the school. Are you ready for this? The place is being sold furnished! A new place and new furniture? I really would be getting rid of a lot of my stuff. What is the biggest selling point? It is selling for $39,950! Some people spend more than that on cars. I would love to own a house for that low price and would love even more to have a mortgage that low.
Their are definitely some drawbacks to this house. Their is no full size refrigerator, only a fridge that is a little bigger than the one I had in my dorm room my freshman year. Their is also no stove or oven. It is being sold with a dual hot plate, which is nice. No dishwasher either, but that is no big deal when you can hardly cook in your own kitchen.
To tell you the truth, I think I am just enamored with the idea of owning a home right now. Maybe I am not ready to buy? Maybe I am? I am just not sure. However, when a place is that nice and that cheap, it is hard to pass up. It works out to $83 a square foot, which I am told is a great deal.
I emailed the listing of this house to Mom and to my friend Donna in Arkansas, who is also in the market for a house. I sent the link for the house in the email and simply said, "what do you think?" Mom emailed back shortly and said, "Cute!" Donna's response was short too, but exponentially funnier! See below for Donna's response, which I may have shared with some of you already.
"Cute! If you're an elf. How the hell are you suppose to get in and out of bed? Climb over the little half wall? What in the name of Bilbo Baggins are you thinking?"
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