I suppose I should be grateful, we have a roof over our heads; we have had for about 5 years now. It’s even paid for, except for lot rent. But I worry every day about how LONG it will remain over our heads. Not because some mortgage company is going to take it away, but because it may just fall over.
WYFP is our community's Saturday evening gathering to talk about our problems, empathize with one another, and share advice, pootie pictures, favorite adult beverages, and anything else that we think might help. Everyone and all sorts of troubles are welcome. May we find peace and healing here. Won't you please share the joy of WYFP by recommending?
When we bought this house we were desperate to find something both cheap enough and big enough to hold us. The house we were renting was being sold and the landlord wanted us
out so he could do some renovations and get a higher price. So we found this old double wide in a trailer park. It was only $6,000, four bedrooms, two baths.
We were told the roof had been replaced the year before, and the AC was only a year old as well. The couple who owned it wasn't living in it; they had been renting it to a group of bachelors who had stopped paying their rent. So they sold it to us. We made payments on it and got it paid off within a year and a half. Things were ok at this point, not great; the house was showing signs of stress, but ok.
Then the AC died, nearly taking the house with it. Luckily the circuit breaker worked because according to the electrician if it had tried to keep running just a bit longer it would have started a fire. He disconnected it from the power grid altogether because we didn't have the money to replace it. Then the front door died. Actually it blew out, the wood had apparently been dry rotting and during a storm it just kind of.. fell outward. We managed to lock it into place and just used the other door.
Next the roof started bowing in spots. It doesn't leak, the roof itself is solid, but pulling some of the paneling off, I discovered that the outer walls, the two longer ones at least were both black, charred, and rotting. A little talking to the neighbors who had predated us discovered that there had been a fire in the trailer, which is why they had replaced the roof. They’d also replaced the drywall, the siding, some of the insulation (the rest is just missing), and painted things up nice, but they never repaired the walls themselves.
And then there are the normal old trailer problems, soft spots in the floor, some of which I've had to shore up with plywood as they became more than just soft spots. My kitchen counters are soft and caving in. We keep getting spiders because I can’t seal up all the cracks and crevices and holes they sneak in, bugs are a constant struggle, and spiders can be particularly bad, especially as I've found quite a few black widows. One bathroom has been abandoned to them, we can’t keep them out, can’t kill them fast enough, and so we all share the Master Bath now. We've even tried using strong chemicals I’m allergic to and have to clear the house out during their use, they still come back. Bug control people have proven useless.
And now a couple of weeks ago, the front door that was bolted shut, blew open during a wind storm. I used up the last scraps of plywood to nail it into place. Oh yes, and the glass window beside it fell out, so I have to caulk that into place because it’s rather noticeable. I worry someone’s going to realize this and just break in some night while we’re asleep. I think the only thing stopping them are the dogs and the fact that my son is up until about 4am most nights.
So we’re looking for a place to move to, once again. Someplace we can afford and that is big enough to hold us all. We know we aren't going to find such a place here, costs are too high, so we’re looking further north. We’re hoping to find something before another big storm comes through and this place falls over. We’re hoping to find something while we have time to look and are not in desperation again to take the first thing that comes along, no matter what condition it’s in. We’re also looking to rent this time, fully because I can no longer handle the small maintenance tasks as well on my own, Caedy has not much of an idea when it comes to house repairs, and Dad is not capable of doing a lot of it due to his own physical restrictions.
So this is what has been keeping me up at night. WYFP?