zeroes

My family has been looking into buying a home. If it were just me, I wouldn't care. I've wanted to travel light since the beginning, since as far back as I can remember. Renting is fine with me. I have friends who own homes and property. They bitch about repairs and taxes and the dissatisfaction with their rooms, roof and lawn.

The things you own end up owning you. My old man said that. He was quoting someone else, but it's good advice.

But... be head of household for a family like mine, where you're always a little afraid of the neighbors and the landlord, and owning something that can't be taken away so easily starts to make sense. Banks might be a little evil, but they don't care what you do or how you live as long as they get their money. The neighbors can think you're weird, even spooky, but they can't go running to the landlord to complain.

With renting, things can come crashing to the ground and suddenly. The neighborhood and the landlord can turn on you. Someone might notice the kid stacking sandwich bags of fluid out under the tree and wonder what that's about. Someone might complain about the hand-lettered sign on the front door advertising a paid bounty for breasts or the shouting match that occurs when the sign is removed. You keep your distance from everybody because you know what happens when things go sour.

So... we've been looking for a house. We may have found one. It's big enough for the lot of us, built solid and located near a set of train tracks. It would give me something to shout at every now and again. Sometimes you just need to, you know?

The parking sucks, but it's in our price range... It's what we could afford with a standard mortgage. Now we're trying to find our way through. Just from watching the realtor and the banker, neither of them think we can pull this off... and honestly, they're probably right. We don't have much of a down payment and my credit score, though improved from six months ago, would get me locked up in some parts of the world.

But fuck it... The worst they can say is no and if we get it, we need never worry about having to move again.