I called the mortgage department about financing if I want to buy a house, and I now have a commitment letter, so I can go house-hunting officially. I haven't called any of the realtors (or owners, in some cases) on my list yet. I'm almost leery of calling a real estate agent. Because my needs are so specific, it's not like I expect one real estate agent to be able to find me a house to live in, and I have the feeling I will be explaining, over and over again, to each agent, that no, I am not interested in any properties other than the one I called about, thankyouverymuch.
I also called Whispering Lakes and set up an appointment to look at their apartments on Saturday.
I feel a bit better about the whole thing, now that I've finally taken some action in various directions. I'm still leery about living at Whispering Lakes (there have been two more murders in Stonegate Meadows, across the street, in the last two weeks. The second one was a shooting and the police do not have a link between the two. None of this is very heartening, in fact).
One of my co-workers said, "Maybe it's just time to get a car."
I suppose I could get a car.
But cars are so expensive. Cars nickel-and-dime so much that I don't think most people realize just how much they pay for the things. I estimate that owning a car costs about $5,000 a year, between the cost of the car itself, plus repairs, plus insurance, plus gas. I don't spend $5,000 a year on housing currently. Even if I bought a relatively expensive house (for the area), I probably still wouldn't spend $5,000 a year on it. (Factoring in that Lut would be paying me rent to live with me.)
I wouldn't mind getting, say, a scooter, which is much cheaper on all fronts. But there's a limit to what roads I could drive on with a scooter.
And even if I had a vehicle ... I don't like driving. That whole possibility is not much more attractive than any of my existing options.
Lunch hour's almost up.
I think I'll call a realtor.
