Struggling to Find Home

For most of my adult life, I have had the privilege of living in a home owned by my family. I am in a new state, and for the first time since I was twenty-four years old, my family is renting. I know lots of people rent, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. However, renting is making me feel so unsettled. I’m in a space that feels like I do not control. Little broken things that my husband and I would have fixed long ago continue to stare at us and go ignored by the property management company. The wall color bores me as I dream of a more personalized space. I imagine just how great the rental home could be if I could just make a few small tweaks.

Searching for a more permanent domicile has not been easy. Our last home was a modest 2/1 in rural Oklahoma. My husband bought it for a song before I moved in. We still own it and have some wonderful tenants who are now living life in it. So, I do not need anything fancy in a home. Just a sturdy place where I can prepare meals for my family and have impromptu dance parties with my daughter while drinking coffee on the porch. Unfortunately, there has not been much to offer in our modest price range. Especially as we try to buy closer to the university where I am employed, the prices just seem to climb and climb.

Everytime a house pops up that looks like we can afford, I send my husband to go take a look. And everytime it turns out to be a mess. Crumbling foundation. Roof falling apart. Literal poop in the living room! Buying a home has become so out of reach for so many of us, but I did not think the choices would be so meager now.

The latest house of interest is a 1939 farmhouse that has been owned by the same family for eighty years. Just a town over from my university, it sits at the outskirts on an acre of land and includes a workshop which I imagine would make a lovely studio for my husband. As we move into the holidays, I am dreaming of being under contract for a sweet country home by Christmas!

For all of you trying to find home, I wish you luck. May all our searches be fruitful soon!