A Home For Lane

I've been dreaming of owning a home for a while now. Every Sunday I attend at least 3 open houses and usually I come away disgusted and discouraged. In my price range, I've run into my share of fixer uppers and in some cases condos that should be condemned. This summer I made an offer on one house (a lovely cape in a good neighborhood) and one condo (newly upgraded). Both offers were rejected and both properties are still on the market. So I'd given up on home ownership.

I started looking at apartments. I need to move soon because I refuse to sign a lease where I presently live. You may recall from my Starting From Scratch post that I had been feeding a stray kitty. I met Oscar on Valentine's Day and I fell in love with him. In June, I rescued him but my landlord won't let me have a second cat so Oscar is living a very nice life with his foster family. His foster mother Diane treats him as I would. She absolutely loves him and is probably spoiling him. Our agreement was that she would keep Oscar at her home for up to 3 months. So I need to move fast-literally. Unfortunately I put the cat before the house.

Today, I called about an apartment. It sounded fantastic and when I saw it I really loved it.

It had hardwood floors, built in china cabinets, a fireplace, french doors in two rooms, and

storage space. The rent was reasonable. The landlord seemed nice. I took an application

to be considered for this rental.

Would you believe this evening I received a call from the condo owner of the unit I made an offer on? He had his condo under agreement but this week the deal fell through. So he is lowering the price by $20K and he wanted to know if I would be interested. You would think I would jump at the chance to own. This unit has everything I want. But I was planning on renting something about $200 more than what I pay at present. This condo would be about $700 more per month.

I know what you're thinking. If you rent you throw money out the window. Here's my take,

happiness comes first. I want to have a life. I like to travel, eat out, etc. and most likely I will be paying the mortgage for 30 years. There's no getting out of that or at least no easy way to get out of it. So there's my dilemma.

I need to decide soon, rent or buy. Either way, Oscar will have a new home and he will join

my cat Molly and me very soon.

Just for fun, I am posting some photos of my dream homes, the ones I won't be buying.