Monday, November 12, 2007

Packing Our Bags

Last week my husband and I met with a realtor, again, and signed a contract to put our home on the market for lease with option. He looked at both of our homes, let us know which he felt he could rent the soonest, and gave us rental prices for both homes.

If I haven't mentioned it before, our largest home has been on and off the market for the past three years. Our price went from $390,000 down to $330,000 with no offers. Recently, we were told our home would sell for approximately $260,000. Unfortunately our mortgage is for $318,000 and we're not in a financial position to take any losses, let alone that size of a loss.

Our second home is an 1100 square foot loft on the river in Downtown Detroit. It is in a high rise building with valet and amazing water views all around. I've wanted to move down there, but, we were thinking we would rent it on an executive rental program. The condo is already partially furnished, has all the needs for kitchen and bath, and is only in need of a few pieces of furniture.

I've been packing what we plan to take with us and my husband's been cleaning the home top to bottom. Tomorrow we have 2 couples scheduled to view our home at the rental price of $1595 per month, $100 of which would go to our rental company for management fees. Our current payment with taxes and insurance is $3000.

With the renting out of our home we will not only have an additional $1495 coming in monthly, but, we'll be eliminating our monthly utilities. In the winter, these utilities can total up to $500 - $700.

We will be responsible for any maintenance situations that come up, and, I already know they will be coming up. There are also some repairs that will need to be taken care of right away, our furnace isn't working on the upper level, some areas of the house need repainting, window repairs, etc.

We'll be moving from approximately 3000 square feet down to 1100 square feet so we need to get rid of a lot of things. I've scheduled a meeting with an estate sale company to see about selling all of our furnishings, kitchen items, linens, toys, etc. Hopefully, they will be interested and available to make something happen quickly.

Whoops, spoke too soon when I said quickly! I met with the Estate Sale company and they're going to hold the sale November 24th and 25th! They'll be coming over on Monday morning to begin setting up the sale. I'll be spending the weekend packing those items I plan on taking to my loft.

I've called my kids to see if they're wanting anything before I sell it all. They'll be coming over tomorrow evening to celebrate my husband's birthday and hopefully take whatever they are wanting.

I've delayed my surgery that was originally scheduled for November 21st, primarily because I wouldn't be able to pay my house payments if I was off work. I haven't set aside enough money to be able to take off six to eight weeks to recuperate, and I don't want to feel afraid while I'm trying to recover.

I feel certain that with all the changes my husband and I have been making that we are well on our way to becoming debt free. I'm in a place where I feel willing to do whatever it takes to pay off all this debt.

While all this is going on, I've decided to return to my doctor and ask for help (again) with my eating disorder. I struggle with my eating constantly. I'm neither anorexic or bulimic, but I do have a problem that I need to deal with. I've committed to my doctor that I would attend Overeaters Anonymous (again) and make additional efforts to deal with this problem.

Does it sound like I'm taking on too much? It does to me, but, I'm not doing anything that doesn't need to be done. I need money and I need to take better care of myself.