Back in November I became a first-time home owner.  Thanks to the National Association of REALTORS®,  I bought into the hype that “It’s a Good Time to Buy.”  Sure, it’s only a condo, but it’s all mine and I get to do what I want with it.  Well, to the inside…although, I can’t knock down walls, or my upstairs neighbors might fall through the ceiling.  And I can get new windows…but only a certain type.  But I foiled their rules about outside changes and got myself a doormat.  Yeah!  Take that!

Being a new homeowner means that I’ve had a lot of work to do.  When I moved in, all the walls were one generic color.  The carpet in the bedroom, while newer, was an ugly shade of blue.  There was an accordion door on the closet.  And the light fixtures, well…lets just say I didn’t want my kitchen looking like a high school cafeteria.  And the utility closet…just…nasty.

And so, with the help of a small army of friends, I went to work.  Got new carpet installed.  Removed the accordion door.  Painted every room.  Threw out the nasty stuff in the utility closet.  Put in new shelves in various places. Put up stuff on the walls.  Replaced all the outlets, switches, and light fixtures…well, I didn’t…I actually just watched (thanks Jones)…but I went to home depot to buy the stuff!   Cleaned all over the place. 

What I DO miss about being a renter though is having a landlord.  Toilet not working?  Call the landlord.  Squirrel in the attic?  Call the landlord.  Drippy faucet?  Call the landlord.  The landlord was good for so many things…but guess what?  Now I’m the landlord…I gotta call myself.  It’s kinda like at work when I run into a problem and the solution the help manual give is “Call your Network Administrator”…but that’s me!!!

So now I face the problem of having my entire shower re-tiled and 2 walls replace due to water damage and mold.  One day water just started pouring out of my wall every time I turned the shower on…like a mysterious waterfall.  Turns out the pipe was messed up.  Hey landlord, call a plumber!  Oh wait, that’s me…darn!  And so I must call the plumber, insurance company, must get quotes, must schedule contractors…must do it all.  But hey, that’s what I signed up for.  I’m a “homeowner” now…me and my 1%, the bank and it’s 99%.   I think I should be able to call the bank and have them come do the work…they own most of it anyway.

I wanna hear your homeowner horror stories, and how you made the decision to jump from renter to buyer!  Or are you really a landlord with some great tenant stories? Share below!