Well, glory to God! I’m no longer homeless. *Insert praise break gif and 100 emojis of raised hands*
Photo from Christopher Jolly on unsplash.com
Through sharing my story publicly, a friend reached out and now I’m renting a room in a house. This bit of stability is energizing! Though it’s only temporary, it feels refreshing. Being able to sleep in a real bed in a room that I don’t have to give up at the end of the week is something I’m thankful for.
My quest to buy a house continues. “This is a terrible time to look!”…”This market is crazy!”…”What if you don’t find anything?”…”Maybe you should move to another city!”
Chile, people have peppered me with enough questions and comments as if I’m a celebrity being interviewed after a nasty breakup. People will always have their opinions and advice. I get it.
Day after day, I receive emails with listings for homes I cannot afford. I’m not looking for perfection or anything that would rival homes on the popular show MTV Cribs from the 2000s. I keep double checking my budget as if I am St. Nick getting ready for the biggest holiday in December. “Can I afford more? Should I just settle with a house in a part of town that I don’t want to live in? Do I have a rich auntie I don’t know about who was separated at birth?… maybe she has been looking for us??”
These are the types of questions I ask myself.
I was discussing this with a couple from my church after service this past weekend. “It’s like you have to have a half a million dollars sitting around in order to buy a house these days,” the husband said. “We’re looking, too.”
This conversation illustrated what I’ve known for years: baby boomers and millennials are both looking for housing and often competing against each other for condos or even small homes often referred to as “starter homes”. With soaring interest rates and less inventory, many homeowners are staying put. This creates the perfect storm… but I know the Person who calms the sea.