Kelly's 2016 Apartment Patio Garden

[TexasTycoon]

Originally Posted by Captain Neon

Wow! 9 months? I was unemployed for 4 months in 2012 and was starting to believe that I would never find a new job that wouldn't involve asking, "Do you want fries with that?"

Truly disheartening to see jobs that I had applied to months prior with no response being posted again on the job boards. I had all of the qualifications, but these employers thought so little of my resume that they would rather hire no one than even interview me!

I remember my meetings with my case worker at Unemployment where it was obvious to both of us that I knew more about finding a job and interviewing than she did. All she could do was shrug her shoulders, and give me another pointless check-the-box homework assignment so that I could continue receiving my minimum wage check while looking for a real job.

Yep, 9 months. He left his previous job voluntarily due to health issues caused by the extremely stressful environment he was in (yes he went to HR, yes he talked to his boss and his boss's boss, believe me all outlets were exhausted before this decision was made) and had worked for the company 7 years prior. It's the same company I work for, but a completely different department. We made the decision for him to resign together (at the end of November) and agreed that he would begin seriously looking for another job in January after giving his mind a little break (we've both worked since high school, longest I was unemployed was 6 months in 2009 and he'd never taken more than a week of vacation at a time). He wanted to get out of the finance industry, but unfortunately with so much experience it was difficult to find anything else he was qualified for. So, he'll be returning to the same company he left in about two weeks, but a different department with a boss he's had before who is a wonderful and easy-going person who trusts his employees to do their own jobs. It didn't work out the way either of us thought it would, but he can continue to look elsewhere and probably have a better time of it now that he'll have a job and money coming in.

The job market here in Austin is really difficult with so many people moving here from other states and taking so many jobs. They're hiking up our rent costs, too, to the point where many native Austinites/greater-Austin-area-nites are having to leave the region completely so they can afford the basics. It's really a shame, since I've lived here all my life and can't really imagine living anywhere else.

Edited to add: he did have several interviews over the past few months that were all promising but never came to fruition. He had a short part-time job helping my sister-in-law's store with renovation, just to have some money coming in. The problem with taking whatever job you can in situations like this is that when you then try to get a job making the amount of money you need to be making and were making previously, if you've already taken less doing "grunt work" to pay the bills, employers don't really see the need to pay you what you deserve anymore, since you've already taken less. That was a weird sentence, but hopefully it makes sense. In addition, some of those employers with the easier-to-get jobs won't even hire someone like my husband due to overqualification.

[Worth1]

I cant count how many jobs in the cabinet industry I was turned down for being over qualified.
The the ones that did want to hire me were only willing to pay minimum wage and pay contract labor which meant they didn't have to pay for workman's comp.

So I just walked away from the only thing I have ever loved to do and that is fabricate.
As for Austin and their high rent it is unreal what they expect people to live on and pay for rent.

Way back in 1983 or so I found an old hippy house on 49th and ave G in Hyde Park.
Everything around us was 6 to 7 hundred dollars a month.
I paid 200 a month and split the rent with another co worker and he paid 1/3 the bills.
The house was unlivable but we went in and fixed it up.
One side of the house was like 10 inches lower than the other side so I leveled the thing on my own.
I remember pulling up the floor in the kitchen and the vapor barrier was old news papers from the 40's .
Homes in that area that sell for way over a million now went for 15K.
Worth

[Captain Neon]

Good to know about housing in Austin. I have headhunters contacting me frequently to move to TX and CA. I tell them that I am tired of moving (6x since 2007), and won't consider anything more than a 30 min. drive from my current place. That gets rid of most of them.

I know about companies trying to lowball employees. I get headhunters that know my current salary (which is too low, but I agreed to it to escape a bad employer in IA), and try to tell me that Glendale's CoL isn't much higher than Minnesota. I just laugh, and tell them that I have Angeleno friends, and know that the salary they are quoting (adjusted for CoL) is less than I made working an entry level brain-dead labour job before I got my degree. They need to triple their offer before I'll even start to negotiate. They think that since I live in the Midwest that I don't know about CoL, and I'm stupid enough to think a 20% bump in pay to move to California is a great deal?

[Worth1]

It isn't as bad as California but it is expensive.
I had a company try to get me to go to work for them in Laredo a few years ago.
I asked what they paid.
We dont want to talk about it over the phone we want you to come see us.
Okay can you tell me what your highest paid workers get give me a break here I dont want to waste my time.
Well our highest paid workers get 10 dollars and hour if they have been here for a while.
Lady are you kidding me I make twice that much money, 'this was in 1998 or so.
Well the cost of living is lower here.
Okay how much is a gallon of milk and are you telling me a $30,000 dollar truck cost only $15,000 there?
Is fuel 50 cents a gallon?
Well no.
Thanks for your time I wont be coming to see you.
Sorry Kelly but I just had to get that out.
Worth

[TexasTycoon]

Figured I'd pop in for an update since I'm not on Tville much these days. Our Tycoon plant is still alive with one little baby tomato and a bunch of flowers, a few mealybugs here and there, I've given up on babying it at this point of the season and we'll just see what happens. The satsumas are getting fatter and I've supported a few of the bigger ones with pantyhose "hammocks" so we don't lose any of the few that we have. The tree itself looks very healthy. We've still got lavender growing but not flowering, and the bell pepper plant grew back and is flowering after I chopped off most of it that was infested with mealybugs and thrips. The newer growth looks really good, but I don't expect any peppers until it gets cooler (and even then I know those would be small). That's all the plants we have left now, everything else got eaten by various pests and has been cleared off the patio.

Another update - we may be living in a house in Leander by this time next year. It's sort of bittersweet, the house belongs to my stepmother-in-law's mother who is currently in hospice at my FIL and SMIL's home. Well, they own the house but she's who lived in it the past 3 years. She's a sweet, sweet lady, and I'm really glad I got the chance to meet her before her health began to decline. She's developed dementia in the past couple of years, to the point where she was no longer allowed to drive and FIL had security cameras put up in her house so they could check on her while she still felt independent, but a couple of weeks ago she became jaundiced and a cancerous mass was found (I can't remember if it was in her gall bladder of kidneys, but that general area). The oncologist gave her two months, so SMIL is now caring for her full time (SMIL is retired) at their home. Both FIL and SMIL want to rent her house to my husband and I after they get it ready (they want to replace the carpet with tile throughout and of course fix anything that needs fixing, likely won't start on that until the beginning of January with everything going on this last quarter of the year), with the intent of leasing it to us (at a steep discount compared to what they *could* get for it) for 3 years or so and us eventually purchasing the home. It's a beautiful house, and we're looking at it as a silver lining to all the bad going on with SMIL's mom right now. Our lease isn't up at the apartment until July 2017, but we may be able to move into the house early (and either pay rent on both or break our apt lease, we'll see). I'm sad about the circumstances, but really excited to live in that house and so thankful to have the opportunity. It's a real relief knowing that we won't have to search and search for our next place to live.

[dmforcier]

Too bad about your plants. I chopped down my dwarf toms because they got some sort of wilt. Bugs here (on the 3rd floor) are rarely an issue. Out of four full-grown plants I got two (count 'em 2) small toms. The peppers are doing well, though.

IIRC, the Texas standard lease has an early move penalty of only about 125% of a month's rent. So before you start paying both, check the lease.

Hope everything goes well.

[Worth1]

Here is the deal.
I have a friend that is 40 now and he was close to your age when I met him.
at that time and for some time after that he wanted to play the rich playboy.
I begged him to buy a house and he said he couldn't make his mind up where he wanted to live.
He did what to live in an are like down town Austin with the high prices and so on.
You know what I mean, like he wanted an artists studio apartment as he is a photographer.
After relentless scolding him about blowing money time went on and his grand father passed away at 90 some odd years old.
The house came up for sale his mother was the executor.
Well I got him to buy the little place it is in Longmont Colorado where he lived anyway.
As time went on his priorities had changed and the little house was just fine for him and his new wife.
Neither one wanted to make 2,000 payments on a house.

Do what ever you can do to get in that house by all means, it is better than giving money to a land lord.
You can do what you want when you want without answering to anyone.

Worth

[TexasTycoon]

Originally Posted by dmforcier

Too bad about your plants. I chopped down my dwarf toms because they got some sort of wilt. Bugs here (on the 3rd floor) are rarely an issue. Out of four full-grown plants I got two (count 'em 2) small toms. The peppers are doing well, though.

IIRC, the Texas standard lease has an early move penalty of only about 125% of a month's rent. So before you start paying both, check the lease.

Hope everything goes well.

Yeah, most of my neighbors whose plants are still kickin are up a level or two, bugs are such a problem this year. We got probably 10-12 tomatoes total this year, but only the first one was full-sized. Didn't lose any to bugs or birds, though, so I guess that's good.

I'm thinking we'll likely do the early-move-out thing, I think my husband looked over our lease and said it's something like 2 months rent + letting them keep the security deposit, but we'll clarify closer to the end of the lease next year. My FIL and SMIL just bought a new house and are selling their old one, which I think played a big factor in them wanting to lease the other house to us for a while so they don't take such a huge tax hit selling two houses in one year. But FIL is saying end of July might be too long for them to hold the property for us, not sure if it's because he doesn't want the house empty that long or if it's because they need the income. We're thinking he might lower the rent even more than he already is so we can move in earlier, but we'll see.

Originally Posted by Worth1

Here is the deal.
I have a friend that is 40 now and he was close to your age when I met him.
at that time and for some time after that he wanted to play the rich playboy.
I begged him to buy a house and he said he couldn't make his mind up where he wanted to live.
He did what to live in an are like down town Austin with the high prices and so on.
You know what I mean, like he wanted an artists studio apartment as he is a photographer.
After relentless scolding him about blowing money time went on and his grand father passed away at 90 some odd years old.
The house came up for sale his mother was the executor.
Well I got him to buy the little place it is in Longmont Colorado where he lived anyway.
As time went on his priorities had changed and the little house was just fine for him and his new wife.
Neither one wanted to make 2,000 payments on a house.

Do what ever you can do to get in that house by all means, it is better than giving money to a land lord.
You can do what you want when you want without answering to anyone.

Worth

Oh, we're definitely prioritizing the house above keeping our rental history intact. I mean, we'd still be renting the house for a couple of years, but with my FIL as the landlord I'm sure we'd be able to live in it like we owned it since we will own it eventually. It's a pretty big house, a little more than we really need, but room to grow in the future (yeah, we're finally starting to think seriously about makin' a baby or two ).

1,876 square feet: 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage, formal dining + eat-in kitchen, 2 closets in the master, in-law floorplan that puts two bedrooms at the front of the house and the master + 4th bedroom at the back, nice big trees in the front and back to keep the house cool, covered front porch and back patio, and a really good neighborhood close to police and fire stations and a hospital. It's a really great opportunity that's fallen into our lap and we aim to take advantage of it!

Can't wait to have a yard to garden in, though I know Leander is mostly rocks so it'll be raised bed gardening for us. FIL was telling us their oldest granddaughter asked about renting the house with some roommates and he flat-out told her no (she's 18) so it's nice to know he thinks we're responsible enough for it.

[Worth1]

Leander former goat country.
My has that place grown.

Worth

[TexasTycoon]

Indeed it has, growing more every day.

Here's the front of the house from the last time it was listed, I didn't take any pictures when we walked through it weekend before last. (Yeah, I know my little edits don't do much to help privacy but hopefully no one is crazy enough to try and track it down.)

[My Foot Smells]

Get everything in writing, ESPECIALLY if it involves family!!! I cannot emphasis that enough. Take it from a middle aged old fart like myself, seen it too many times!!

[TexasTycoon]

Originally Posted by My Foot Smells

Get everything in writing, ESPECIALLY if it involves family!!! I cannot emphasis that enough. Take it from a middle aged old fart like myself, seen it too many times!!

We absolutely will and had no thoughts of not doing so. The last family money issue I had was with DH's aunt who had offered to pay for our wedding reception venue but when the time came she only gave us $100 and said she had never offered anything more than that. I've been burned before and it won't happen again. That said, we have a great relationship with my FIL and SMIL and I trust them both completely. But FIL was the first to mention writing up the lease and we would have mentioned it if he hadn't, so no worries there!

[Worth1]

1,800 square feet is perfect for a house.
The going size when I was growing up was around 1,200 square feet and that was big.
The school snob girls and boys lived in tar paper shotgun shacks.
Remember you pay taxes on square footage you pay to keep it warm and you pay to keep it cool.

I know so many older retired folks that built these monster 3,500 square foot homes they wished they never would have built.
They said they did it for the family to come visit.
Well the family never comes to visit but once a year and then they don't even spent the night.
Worth

[TexasTycoon]

Originally Posted by Worth1

1,800 square feet is perfect for a house.
The going size when I was growing up was around 1,200 square feet and that was big.
The school snob girls and boys lived in tar paper shotgun shacks.
Remember you pay taxes on square footage you pay to keep it warm and you pay to keep it cool.

I know so many older retired folks that built these monster 3,500 square foot homes they wished they never would have built.
They said they did it for the family to come visit.
Well the family never comes to visit but once a year and then they don't even spent the night.
Worth

The last house we rented before this apartment was similar in size, a little bigger, but it was two stories and we didn't use all of it aside from setting some furniture out. This house looks tiny from the front but it's kinda long which is where the square footage comes in. And yep, we're preparing for taxes as well as HOA dues. We're also planning quite a bit of DIY upgrades and changes to the house and that's something I'm really excited about since we've never been able to do that before. Staining the kitchen cabinets, new countertops, new appliances, lights, paint of course and board-and-batten treatment on the walls, building the garden beds in the back yard, landscaping the front yard a bit more, etc. It's definitely something to look forward to, and we're already building up our savings again to be able to afford everything we want to do. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to share when those projects begin!

[TexasTycoon]

Probably my last gardening update for the year: tomato plant, pepper plant, and lavender finally gave up the ghost (partly my fault for slacking on watering, partly because of bugs and bugs and bugs). The satsuma tree is doing just fine and the fruits are getting even bigger. I had wanted to try carrots again this fall, but I think we're going to pause most of our gardening activity until it's time to move next year (aside from some seasonal flowers like mums and whatnot just to keep the patio looking nice).