Fix It!

I read a lot of articles about how people (particularly young people) can't afford to own homes because they're just too expensive. Between the high housing prices, skyrocketing interest rates, and downpayment funds, it's hard to buy a home now. As someone who didn't buy my own place until I was middle-aged, I totally understand what younger folks are going through. Home ownership used to attainable for working people and it still is in some places, but far too many people are priced out of the market. My own home isn't a house, it's a co-op. I couldn't afford a house in the area where I chose to live outside of Chicago, so I bought an older two-bedroom, one-bath co-op that was affordable for me. One of the things I love about being a homeowner is that I can get things fixed on my schedule. Yes, I have to pay, but at least if something breaks, I don't have to call a landlord or management company and wait for them to get back to me about repairs. My sister, who's a renter, went the entire past weekend with no hot water because her janky apartment management company kept putting her off about when they'd send someone over to repair her hot water tank. That's ridiculous. She finally ended up calling the gas company today and they sent someone out who fixed the problem. The apartment complex totally fell down on the job.

The last place where I lived as a renter was a condo owned by a nice old lady. She was great as a landlord until it came time for her to fix things that were broken. She wasn't so great with getting things repaired in a timely manner or at all. My sister and I (who shared the condo) couldn't use the dishwasher the entire time we lived there because it leaked and the landlord wouldn't fix it. Instead, the landlord told us not to use the dishwasher. She never disclosed before we moved in that the dishwasher didn't work right. We found out the hard way when we tried to use it and it leaked all over the floor. The landlord never explained why she woudldn't get the dishwasher fixed. Maybe she was too cheap to hire a repair man. On top of that, we had electrical problems in the unit and the power went out in our kitchen one day. There was some kind of power failure in half of the condo. Thankfully, when the fridge went out, I had recently purchased my co-op (but I hadn't moved in yet), so my sister and I were able to move our food from the condo to the fridge in my place until the problem was fixed. At least we didn't lose any groceries! But the landlord dragged her feet on getting the electrical problem fixed. I hate waiting on someone else to fix things for me. I need to be on my own timetable. My own dishwasher leaked a couple of years ago during the heart of Covid, but I was able to get a repairman out to my place and he fixed it. I didn't have to spend months or years without a dishwasher, just a week. 

Not having a dishwasher is a minor inconvenience, I know, but it's still an inconvenience when you're paying for something and you expect to be able to use it. No one wants to live in a place with broken appliances, a janky electrical system, and no hot water!