Do we continue to rent in country or return to city?

[robin4kids]

We have a BIG decision to make and we are struggling DAILY with it.

Last September we moved from a city home to an OLD country house on 40 acres of land. We were so excited to finally be fulfilling our dream of living more off the grid. The property itself is beautiful. We have a pond, creek and the lake is 1/4 a mile down a dirt road, behind our house. The creek empties out into the lake and makes a small waterfall. We have our own private small beach and can swim all summer long.

The house itself is very old. It is smaller than our house in the city. We have 5 children and 4 of them have to share. We live off of well water and have a gas well.

The problem is, we can't afford to buy a house and so this house is RENTED. We know the owners, so the rent is not too bad. The owners had this house as a kind of summer place. They neglected the house and the property, so everything needs a lot of work.

My husband and I have already bought a chain saw and attempted to cut down many of the dead trees. I have cleared out HUGE old gardens. There are many old broken down sheds that we are attempting to clear out.

We are pouring our heart and soul into a property that will NEVER be ours. The owners do not care about what the property looks like. For example: an old apple tree fell down right in the middle of the lawn. When we contacted the owners about clearing it away, they responded with: "We usually just leave it where it falls and chop away at it for fire wood when needed. " This would explain the huge collapsed tree right in front of the house too.

If we stay here we won't be able to just leave all the over growth.

Are we stupid to work on a house and property that will never be ours? Or do we go back to our city house. (Our city house is rented out to great renters right now.)

There are other things to consider too: Living out here means we use a lot of gas driving places.

                                                              I can't find as many kids to babysit in the counrty

                                                              Owners want us to leave for a long weekend, so they can have a huge camping out type party on the property. We are not to happy about having someone in the house while we are gone.

                                       In The City: we are too close to our neighbor's house

                                                           Schools are not as good

                                                            I can easily find kids to baby sit

                                                            We don't use as much gas

So do we stay or do we go? Help we need some unbiased opinions.

Robin

[insidevoice]

The driving has become the deciding factor for my family.  In your situation, space in the house  would probably be an issue as well- though that would depend on the climate.  Here we have a lot of indoor weather, and on those days, it can be hard.

I also wonder about living somewhere where the owners want you to leave so they can have a party- that seems strange to me.  If it were a more traditional rental situation, I would be more inclined to be there, but they seem to think that though you rent, the house is something they can use whenever they want.  I would not be comfortable with a situation like that. 

[robin4kids]

The rental situation is a strange one. For example last fall they hired some guys to paint the house and replace the windows. These guys were local guys just looking for work. The owners who BTW are very educated and live in very nice home, had, had these guys do work for them in the past. They liked them, because although they had NO training in any of the work they did, they were CHEAP. So these guys never finished the job. My husband offered to finish the painting, but now the owners are like, "No we want to hire someone that IS insured, because I don't want you falling off a ladder or anything."

Well in that case, they probably don't want my husband using a chainsaw to cut up all the trees on the property either, right?

Moving back is very big. If we move back then we may never be able to leave the city again. Our children balked at our move last summer. Now they are kind of set on their new schools and the new life style. If we move back it means a new school and another summer of packing, instead of playing. They will never go for us moving again. We would not want to have them change schools again either.

You are right though. If we stay we are allowing our selves to be mercy to whatever this family wants from us.

[mattemma04]

I say continue to rent this farm house, BUT start looking for another home in the country. If it is unlikely the owners would sell then all your updating and yard work will help them with future renters/sale.

The main reason I would move though is I would be seriously angry if they asked me to leave the property I AM FREAKING PAYING TO LIVE AT....so they can use it for a party. Unacceptable in my book. When you rent a home you *own* it 24/7,and the landlord IS not permitted to use it while you pay the rent. If that isn't a law it should be!

I would not leave for their party.They should not rent out the home if they want to use the land. I would however move asap. No need to go back to the city house.It is rented.Just look for something else to rent.You may get lucky and find a home to buy for cheap.

Best wishes!

[Rani]

What does your rental agreement say? And please tell me you signed a lease? If its not in there that they can use the property, you don't have to let them. If it is in there, to be honest, I wouldn't have signed it. 

If its a "gentlemens' agreement that they can use it once a year, well, you kinda have to suck it up then if you want to continue living there. Now,having said that, have you asked them about buy it eventually? or is it a rental only deal.

If so, well, to be honest, I would try to find another rental house then. Im sorry

[CCJWGM]

Last year I left a beautiful 45 acre partially off-grid property to move back to the 'burbs due to A) intolerable landlords B) we'd never be able to by the place and wanted to be homeowners again and C)  bad well water the landlords refused to fix. Gas/travel time too played a role in our decision.  My family, shopping, and other activities were all in the city I moved to.  That house also was overgrown.  It was heated by wood furnace and we tried using the dead trees for firewood.  We cleared 15 cords when the landlord called us and screamed at us to pay for the wood. 

In my experience if your landlord does one intolerable thing they will do others.  I personally would get away from that landlord. 

If you move to the city rather than getting a different country rental check out buying some rec land.  That is what we are going to do next year.  We will have our little house in the burbs and hopefully about 10 acres of non-buildable forest land of which there is an abundance around here.  It will be our little place to escape the burbs and camp and make our own.  Because it's non-buildable it sells for much much less. 

[QueenEsther]

I totally agree with mattemma04. That is one of the weirdest rental situations I have ever heard of! There is no way I'd agree to go away for the weekend and let them party through my stuff! Hope you have already found another place out in the country somewhere that will work much better for your family.

[Contrariety]

Can you not sell your city house to buy a country house?

[JesKace]

I would not be comfortable with staying in that home.  I don't know what you're actual agreement with them is or anything but it seems like you're putting in work to the place and they are going to reap all the benefits of it.  Asking you to leave the house that you're paying to rent for a long weekend to throw a party is something I would never be comfortable with.  All of your belongings are left in the house while you are gone and people you don't know are coming in and out?  Are they going to replace things if they get broken or stolen?  I also wouldn't be comfortable putting all my hard work into the property knowing that it will never benefit me.  It's not like you're getting to live there rent free in exchange for fixing up the place and maintaining the land....

I'd say now that you've lived in each place for a while it's up to you guys to make a decision.  Are you happier in the country or the city?  If you're really happy in the country where you are, I'd look for a more permanent place to live in the area you are in.  That may mean selling the city home to get approved for a mortgage on the new place... Were you holding onto the city house because it's unsellable or because you were worried you wouldn't like living in the country?  Would it be a possibility to keep the city home as an income property and take out another mortgage on a home for you guys?

After owning my own home I couldn't imagine renting a home from someone else and feeling like I'm at their mercy as far as to what I can do to the property.  I would love to get out of the city to live in the country, but with the current market we are unable to sell for a price that would give us enough of a down payment on a new house.  We are choosing to wait it out until we have enough equity or the market comes back enough that we can sell at a profit.  I wouldn't want to rent my house out to rent someone elses.  I'd rather stay in my home until we can make a change.  It just seems counter productive to me.  I think the only thing that may change my mind would be if we could get a really good rent for our house and pay close to nothing for a rental so we were making an income each month....But even in that situation the rental would only be temporary until we could find permanent residence in the country.