We find ourselves at a crossroads. Since moving to Madison, we’ve rented within the same building for 3 years now. We love our location and we are blessed to have a ton of space, a garage, and a large back yard.
But we have no ownership rights over our home. If we want to plant flowers or vegetables, we have to ask our landlord and await his determination. If we scratch the floor, all we see are dollar signs, rather than just being able to shrug it off. Our walls are white and will stay that way.
The upside is that when something major goes awry, like water in the basement, it is our aggravation but NOT our expense (only downside- repairs are completed on a time-table and a quality standard set by someone else.) If we tire of our neighborhood, we can move when our lease is up. And our bills are typically a fixed amount from month to month.
Then there is the fact that we want colorful walls. And we would love to expand our garden. We don’t want to constantly wonder if the landlord will deal with the leaky sink. If we fix it ourselves, will he get angry? We long to establish relationships with the majority of our neighbors rather than seeing them change like the seasons. We don’t enjoy holding our breath each year, wondering if the landlord will finally sell his building and not renew our lease.
So which benefits outweigh the negatives? We aren’t 100% sure yet. But we’re stepping closer toward home ownership.