The end of October marks the end of our current lease, and the beginning of our new one.  We have always lived in a house, both in Illinois and Wisconsin.  In Wisconsin we were so fortunate to have an absolutely fantastic landlord, and the last house we vacated, well, we really had a problem leaving!  It was the best house we have ever lived in, and we were voluntarily leaving it and heading into the unknown.  There are still times now when I really miss it, but I also realize that it is way too big for us now, as we have a lot less “stuff”.

We are generally happy with the apartment complex we chose, and apartment living in general.  Maintenance is fabulous with responding to service requests, even with items such as changing the fluorescent bulbs in the kitchen, and providing air filters for the air conditioning unit! These are things that we had always taken care of ourselves.   It is also so nice not to have to put forth the time and energy into maintaining the lawn and landscaping.

Recently we have started talking about making the move into a rental home, for a few reasons.  One, we miss the ability to grill whenever we wish.  Yes, there are both charcoal and gas grills available, but it requires a walk to the pool area and the hope that no one is using the grill at the moment.   Two, we miss our outside decorations for Christmas.  We had quite the extensive display in Wisconsin, but only chose to move two to Florida:  our countdown clock and Rudolph.  And three, we really could use a larger living space.  There are purchases we’d like to make but we really have no available space to place them in.  We really have to think out what we buy.  Not to mention the seasonal dilemma of where to place the Christmas tree.   In general I think one loses some privacy living in an apartment, and we’d really like to gain that back.

We don’t, however, foresee this happening prior to 2014:  our lease is up shortly before Thanksgiving 2013, and we have no desire to move over the holidays.  We have so been there, done that, and no desire to do it again!  There is also the question of the extra expenses required to maintain a rental home, including lawn care, pest control (we currently pay $1 a month for pest control, and I KNOW that would significantly increase), possibility of purchasing a washer & dryer (included in our apartment), and pool maintenance.  I think we would need to find a rental home that offers a significant savings over the amount of rent we pay, and of course it would need to be in the same school district for our children, as we refuse to have our daughter switch schools half way through.   Yes, there is school choice, but there is always the possibility it could be rejected, and we’re not willing to take the risk.  She needs the stability of staying at the same school with her friends.

We have no regrets about the decision to move into an apartment, and we really feel fortunate as the office staff really does cater to its residents, but we also recognize that this is probably not a long term situation for our family.   We will stay in the area as we love Clermont and what it has to offer.