Better And Better

If you don't draw yours, I won't draw mine. A police officer, working in the small town that he lives in, focusing on family and shooting and coffee, and occasionally putting some people in jail.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Resentment? Moi?!?

In late 2001, my wife and I were tired of renting. With a second child on the way, we knew the little two-bedroom apartment was about to get crowded. We looked at our combined income and realized that we might could swing a house, if we kept our sights low. And if our credit was good enough.

It turned out that our credit was great. Credit may be a score, but really, it's a series of Pass/Fail tests. That match play never showed how close to the bone I'd gotten at times-- only that I'd managed to pay my bills. Nowhere on it was reported how I had several times pawned my shotgun, or my .45, to make the rent check. (And then scurried back to pick them up at the next pay check.)

So we bought a little 19 year-old 1440 square foot fixer-uper for $70,000. We fixed it up as we lived in it, doing most of the work ourselves. We lived happily. 5 or 6 years later, we sold it for $96 grand to the first person who looked at it. I think she got a heckuva deal.

We put our little profit in the bank, and rented for a year and a half, until we saw our current fixer-upper. We plunked down about $70k for this foreclosed-on old house, and then spent about $30k fixing it up, and moved in. I still need to re-plumb the master bath's sink.

During the course of all of this, we've been driving the same old second-hand Civic, and my wife has picked up a salvage title Saturn.

I'm not trying to poor-mouth. I've got it pretty good. Damned good, in fact. My credit is just as good now as it was when I applied for the mortgage on that first house, and we're still meeting payments. Sometimes we even go out to eat. :) But I don't have a lot of extra; there is a moratorium on gun purchases until grad school is over with.

What I will NOT have to do is beg my neighbor to bail me out, for having promised to pay more than I could afford.

And if I sound a little resentful for having to bail my neighbor out for having bought a new house, and having parked a new car in the driveway of it every day, then by golly, I've managed to accurately convey my feelings on this issue.

Labels: , , ,

6 Comments:

At Thursday, February 26, 2009 8:09:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Amen.

Matt
St Paul

 
At Thursday, February 26, 2009 9:38:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ya know, there's going to come a point here shortly where the balance is going to tip away from an honest day's work even for honest working people. I'm getting damned sick and tired of being mugged by the .gov every damn day to cover its addictions.

 
At Thursday, February 26, 2009 1:01:00 PM, Blogger .. said...

I couldn't agree more.

 
At Thursday, February 26, 2009 4:51:00 PM, Blogger Assrot said...

I'm not rich by any means. Probably not even upper middle class but I do okay. Like you I worked hard all my life and worked my way up.

I don't mind helping a person out in need if I see they are helping their self by working and trying to better their self.

What burns my ass is when guys like our current and previous socialist presidents want me to pay for a ne'er do well that does not try to educate their self or accept the student loan and get an education or learn a trade.

I had $25,000 withheld from my pay in Federal income tax this year and I just filed yesterday. It turns out I still owe a couple of thousand. So I guess I supported a family of misfits this year.

It's only money right? We can just print more and flood the US with worthless paper.

Who is John Galt?

Joe

 
At Thursday, February 26, 2009 9:58:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You need a better accountant.

 
At Friday, February 27, 2009 7:20:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hear, hear!

You're a gentleman and a scholar ( no matter what Tam and LawDog say).

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

Add to Technorati Favorites
.