Work From Home Couple

You can get away with house problems if you spend most of your day in an office. But when you and your spouse both work from home? You can’t escape all those annoying little problems.

I write a lot about real estate, and I always laugh when I hear real estate agents say that owning a house really doesn’t cost any more than does renting. I have one question for these agents: Have they ever actually lived in a house?

A house will eat away at any surplus money you have in your wallet. In fact, I think houses know when you’ve just gotten paid. That’s when they decide it’s time for the furnace to go out or the water heater to blow. If you live in an apartment? You call the landlord when something breaks. Problem solved. Money still in your pocket. When you own a home? You call the plumber and the electrician and the carpenter and the water-proofers. Problem still solved. Money still in your pocket? Not a whole lot.

Our house happens to be about 100 years old. When we first saw it, it seemed perfect. It was small, cozy, warm, blah, blah, blah. Today? This house has taken up permanent residence on my enemies’ list. (Richard Nixon is not on my list, by the way, but only because he’s dead.)

Here’s what’s wrong with our home-sweet-home: The kitchen sink clogs all the time. The dishwasher has broken. The water tastes funny. Our basement leaks. That same basement gives off the oddest odor about every fifth time someone takes a shower. (Come to think of it, seems that most of our problems have to do with water.)

Now, if I left my home every day for nine-plus hours, maybe I wouldn’t mind some of these problems. I’d probably be so tired every day that we’d eat out more often and we wouldn’t mind that non-functioning dishwasher or clogged sink. (And, yes, we’ve called in a plumber to route that sink. It doesn’t work.) But I’m home a lot. I notice these things … a lot.

So, yes, if you want to own a home, go for it. But remember … if you spend a lot of time there, you might look back fondly at your days of nagging the landlord.

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