From the Nesting Place mail bag::

We just bought a second home and are in the midst of fixing up our current home to rent.

We will be replacing kitchen cabinets, painting the interior and exterior. and replacing the carpet in addition to some minor touch ups and repairs.  My question for you is, as a renter, what do you look for/what is most important to you?  Do you view a rental property differently than one you would consider purchasing? Neutral paint and carpet?  Storage? – We have a couple of outdoor storage units I would like to leave with the house and some shelves in the bathrooms I would like to leave for future tenants.  Does it matter if all the appliances match?  What would be an incentive for you – garbage service included, a discount for paying on time as opposed to a late fee, etc.  What would be a deal breaker?

What great questions.  Yes, I do look for different things in a rental than in a home we are considering buying.  In some ways I’m more forgiving of a home we’d own because I know we can change things~sometimes we purposely look for a home we can fix up.

I also love the idea of getting a discount for paying on time instead of the usual punishment for paying late~the money exchange could still be the same, it just feels different.

What about you?  Do you have pressing answers to any of those questions?

Whenever I think of not being content, I think of Madame Blueberry.  My boys have been too old to watch Veggie Tales for years and years but her story always hit home for me.  Discontentment results from a misguided focus.

Like Madame Blueberry learned, “A thankful Heart is a Happy Heart”.  If you are struggling with being ill content,  it’s really worth clicking and watching this.  And here’s a funny quick reminder if you’ve forgotten…

We’ve all felt disappointed and not content at times. We don’t need to feel guilty about it~just recognize it and then treat it with the cure. Maybe for you that means starting a One Thousand Gifts Journal, because we all have been given over 1000 gifts. Maybe that means giving $3 per month to Mercy House. Maybe you join Mocha Club. Maybe that means sponsoring a child in poverty.

Until we know what we’ve been given, perhaps we will be unable to give.

What can you give away today?

{The following thoughts are NOT based on research, professionals or hard facts. They are entirely my ideas based on what’s happened in our particular situation.}

1. Gather information

Just because the owner misses one payment doesn’t mean the house is going to end up in foreclosure. But, I think most home owners are concerned about what’s going on with their personal situation and might not know the best time or way to tell the tenants something is wrong. No one wants a foreclosure and most people hold out hope to the very end that somehow, they’ll be able to catch up on their payments. Here are some signs that first alerted us that something wasn’t quite right.

• Phone calls about basic maintenance issues are not returned
• Notes taped to the door asking the owner to call the mortgage company
• Very official looking envelopes coming to your mailbox addressed to the owners with a return address from an attorney

My advice would be to make every effort to communicate with the owner. Ask straight out if the house is headed to foreclosure and if there is anything you can do to help. Maybe the owners could try to sell the house and you could stage it for them in exchange for rent until you have to move. Maybe they’ll let you live rent free for a month or more while you look for a new place.

In our case, we leased our home through a leasing company so we could not contact the owner ourselves. All of our simple, straight forward questions were answered as vaguely as possible and, as of 30 days ago, we were even encouraged to sign another year long lease.

If you suspect the house you are renting is headed for foreclosure contact a local real estate agent and attorney to find out what rights you have as a renter.

2. Tell people

Don’t be afraid to ask for advice. Get the opinion from people you trust as to how to handle the situation. If you suspect you’ll need to move, tell everyone you know about what’s going on and let them know you are in the market for a new place to live preferably with rich owners who will never miss a monthly payment.

Be careful to not be too harsh on the owners. As upset that I am that the owners seem to be pocketing the money every month and not telling us, I choose to not spend my energy being mad at them. For all I know they have a mountain of medical bills, are facing a divorce or job loss. My guess is they are not taking vacations with our rent money.  Most people don’t want to foreclose on their home. Focus on what you can control.

3. Take advantage of the opportunity and see it as an adventure

Maybe you weren’t planning on moving. Consider this a great chance to lower your rent. Right now, with the market the way it is you might be able to find an even better deal than what you currently have. Look for someone whose house is on the market and has been for a while. Chances are they might be willing to lease the house to you for the current mortgage payment. If they have lots of equity in the house, you could stand to get a great deal. Of course, there’s no guarantee a foreclosure won’t happen in the next house but, get to know the owner and their situation if possible.

When we gave our 60 day notice it was a horribly hard decision. Like with tears and stuff. Our goal was to stay in this house for the next few years until we were debt free. We were settled, we didn’t want to move. We move too much. But the thought of getting kicked out on some random day because of foreclosure was worse than the thought of moving. And we knew that if we choose to not sign another lease here at least we could control when we moved again.

After a day or so I even got excited about moving again. Turns out we found a fantastic home that I cannot wait to live in.  The neighborhood is glorious and looking back, I admit, I’m secretly glad this happened to us.

Update: We moved in July of 2009, a few months after this post. The house went up for auction one week later and did not sell. As of December, 2009 it sits empty. How sad. Update to the update:: looks like the bank sold the house in January 2010. Then it was sold again in May 2010, and it’s on the market now.  I found this little chart online after I googled the address that showed how the price of the house has changed over the past few years.  Interesting:

I’ve heard of people starching fabric and hanging it on their walls like wall paper.  supposedly, once you are tired of it, you can easily remove it and the walls are unharmed.  Here are some instructions at Apartment Therapy.

Another idea I found at Curbly is to use graphic bed sheets instead of fabric that only comes in 54 inch widths, sheets are much wider so that could make for less work.

Hate your backsplash? How about covering it with fabric? I have a feeling I’m way too messy for this idea but I appreciate the creativity.

Or you can just cut out a shape and make a starched fabric headboard.

I’m considering doing this just to see how difficult it is.

Have you done a starched fabric project?

 
Some days I’m ashamed of our house.

{Woah – did I just say that on The Nester’s blog? Where houses are beloved, treated politely, and complimented often. }

Other days I’m pretty sure our house is ashamed of me.

The house and I? We have a love-hate relationship.  Some days more hate than love.

You see, it’s not really my house. I’m a renter. There, I said it. I’m a thirty-seven-year old, long time married woman with three kids and I’ve never owned a home. Did you get that? I have never owned any kind of land beneath my feet, white picket fence or a red front door. {I dream of a bright red front door}.

Pete and I have lived in three different countries and gypsied around so much that at first we never wanted to own a home. Then when we wanted to, we had no easy work history, since so much of it was overseas. And then, well, yes, there was the issue of debt to credit ratio.

So we’re renters.

And for years it made me feel like a dork who would never be a “real” grown up. Because “real” grown ups owned homes and planned renovations and didn’t get intimidated by the Home Depot. And our rental, well, she’s reliable, but she sure ain’t pretty. She’s small and has faux bricks in the kitchen that constantly come unglued, barely there counter space, and a mosquito infestation for a back yard.

After a while I started to feel as small on the inside as my house was on the outside.

You see, I felt we deserved to own a house. That we were entitled. And I got pretty worked up about it.

So there I was all hot and bothered in the brain – for months, mind you – until I stumbled across this verse written about the man who is said to have had everything. The man that one translation calls, The Questor, because he was so set on trying every pleasure that life had to offer:

[The Questor] challenges the naive optimism that sets a goal that appeals to us and then goes after it with gusto, expecting the result to be a good life. ~ The Message, Introduction to Ecclesiastes p.1162

Did you get that?

One of the richest men in history said it’s naïve to assume that simply getting what we want will guarantee us the good life.

This may be obvious to you. But I’d been blinded for a long time by the dream of curb appeal, a two car garage and a stone fireplace. And suddenly I saw the dream for what it was – no guarantee of the good life, no matter how much the American dream might tell you that it is.

Even more surprising was how relieved this made me feel. I am not defined by my house. Neither the one that I don’t have nor the one that I don’t want. Home is the mess and the people who make that mess living inside.

So this current house and I? We’re on much better terms lately. Our relationship is going on three years now and we aren’t quite as shy about having guests over. I still can’t quite get up the desire to invest paint and elbow grease into this cramped place that may not look the better for it, but I do love how its smallness has been so full of big lessons.

So much so, that one day when we are finally able to afford something I might actually enjoy decorating, well then, I think I might find I miss this crazy upside down little house that taught me that I’m much more than my bathroom or the amount of counter space in my kitchen.

More wisdom in the form of some of my favorite posts from Gypsy Mama::

At Home on The Road:: What Home Is

You are More Than Your Swimsuit

What I Learned From Almost Two Months Almost Unplugged

Why Motherhood Shouldn’t Be Graded on a Curve

One of my favorite items to use in a rental or in any house rented or owned is large architectural pieces, mirrors and large pieces of art.  For the most part, the larger something is, the more impact it has.  And over the years my go to items for impact have been shutters, doors, framed chalkboards and mirrors. But for our mantel, I’m addicted to shutters.

Many of you have seen my mantel countless times complete with two pair of wooden plantation shutters that I found at a thrift store. When they are alone, they have a calming affect. They were about $5 per pair and then I painted them Halcyon Green by Sherwin Williams~just some left over paint from my armiore.  The shutters are tall, textural, add a pop of color, and all I have to do is lean them up against the wall on our mantel.  No holes required.  Plus, they have knobs for opening that I use to layer a wreath or a frame.

Just for fun, here’s how our corner fireplace looked when we moved in.  You can read more about the 5 minute pretend brick chalkboard surround here.  And notice the wimpy little carving?  I always cover it up with a more substantial piece-that usually ends up crooked.   I did make two nail holes for that but they can easily be filled in.

In our last house we had one of those dreaded huge TV holes above our fireplace and I leaned shutters on the mantel to hide the hole and the TV in its nest of wires.  Now I still use the shutters but as a base to layer other things when I’m in the mood.  Perfect for a white walled, no holes allowed rental if that’s where you are right now.

Have you leaned something lately?

Need more ideas? Melissa from The Inspired Room wrote a great post about Leaning Artwork {large and small} with all sorts of tips and ideas for leaning and layering different sized items.

I’m a little surprised that I have tears in my eyes as I type out this first post.

I have a feeling Content to Rent is going touch on some of the most personal parts of what I talk about online.

I’m too tired to figure it out right now but, my husband and I have been renters for over half of our 16 years of marriage. At times by choice, at times by default, at times with discouragement and disdain and a sense of hopelessness. Every day of feeling like a second class citizen, like dorks, like kids because we rent has been worth it because of this space right here on the internet. I had no idea that those days of discontentment were my education on how to find contentment.

It’s been almost five years since we’ve lived in a home with a mortgage payment. We’ve lived in our current rental home for two years and I am completely content. Are there things I would change if we owned this place? Absolutely. But this house serves our family well and I am beyond grateful for it.

Life doesn’t start when you buy a house. We’ve owned three homes. We’ve rented condos and apartments and garage like structures and 200 year old houses. And I can honestly look back and tell you that I have loved every place we’ve lived. They have all been home.

I hope Content to Rent will be a place for you to find encouragement. My plan is to talk about all aspects of renting~how to find a rental, how to decorate a rental, show off homes of fellow renters, maybe interview some landlords; you get the idea. But mostly, I want you to know that you can love where you are.