Buying my House

Guest post by Gerard Mcdaniel

 I have to admit, I may have gotten into this home ownership thing way before I was ready. I had a hard enough time getting used to working again right out of college and now that I’m 26 and I own my own condo I’m thinking it may have been a bit too much at once. Oh, and I bought a new car last year, too. That’s what happens when you give a 25 year old a job making too much money! Anyway, I had to get my mom to come down and go through all the steps with me – from looking through paint samples to dealing with the under-sink plumbing issues to finding out What is the Dallas Utility? I am ashamed to say I didn’t even know what utilities needed to be set up and paid at the new place since in college my roommate dealt with all the utilities. I really wish I had a better understanding of what it meant to own before I bought this place but here I am, worrying about the dishwasher and whether or not the gardeners are going to come this week or if my sidewalks going to be wet from the sprinklers again. 

I love having room for Terry, my Golden Lab, to run around in while I’m at work during the day but I do NOT love having to constantly be on the hook for broken stuff. I guess I should have bought new or started doing some of my own repairs at the apartment I rented in college – I would call the landlord when a light bulb was out! My mom was really helpful but she did not have me under any misconception that the next few years would be easy. When I started talking about renovating  the bathroom she was the first one to tell me it probably wasn’t the right time to jump into something totally new. She’s right, of course, because she always is, but part of me wants to do it just because I’m an adult and can do what I want!