I Guess That Settles It: We're Renting For Another Year

Housing update: our management company offered us a new one-year lease and we've accepted it, so I suppose that answers the rent-or-buy question for now.

Like pretty much every other tenant in 2022, we got hit with a substantial rent increase. In our case, it ramped up by about 8%. It's not ideal but it's also not horrible, and luckily we can manage it without too much stress. 

Some of the pros of staying where we're at:

• We live in a great location, and my partner and kid can walk to work/school. Thus, we don't pay the price of commuting.
• We don't have to deal with the off-the-rails circus that is the current house-buying process.
• We don't have to move our stuff to another part of town, which always takes more time and costs more money than it's supposed to.

Some of the negatives/things that annoy me:

• Our house is small. I used to think I'd be happy in a tiny house, but living here, in a house that is not tiny but definitely space-limited, has convinced me that nope, I could not handle it. 
• We have no yard. I want a yard so badly! I want to garden! I want to set up a hammock!
• Our management company doesn't seem particularly inclined to devote time/money/energy to maintenance. We have lived in our place for four years, so naturally, there are things that need to be done: the sealant around the windows needs to be reapplied, the exterior needs to be power-washed, the porch needs painting, and the cheap deck chairs - which came with the place and which are literally crumbling to dust in this dry and windy environment - need to be replaced with something sturdier. My guess is that if we want any of these changes to materialize, we'll need to do it ourselves. Which, FINE, but ISN'T HALF THE POINT OF RENTING NOT HAVING TO DO THIS SHIT YOURSELF.

I think what frustrates me most of all - and I KNOW some of you can relate - is that we are finally in a position where we should be able to buy property. Transport us back about three years with these jobs and this income, and we'd be golden. But now it's impossible. Housing prices continue to increase, to the point where a modest ranch house is upwards of $800K - $1 million. 

Northern Arizona is pretty, but it isn't, like, Colorado pretty or California coast pretty. It is dry and rugged and harsh, and it's relatively isolated, making travel more expensive and more tedious than it already is. Jobs that pay any sort of competitive salary are scarce. Nevertheless, people from out of town keep purchasing homes in cash, either as vacation getaways or as Airbnbs, thus driving up prices.

Anyway. Got a little sidetracked and ranty. Sorry. My main point is that the deal is done and we don't have to worry about housing for another year. Whew.