Bribery

There is been some discussion about where Steve and I will end up when we’re through with Santa Cruz. Our two natural choices are Long Beach and Sacramento, since we have family in both cities. We have been leaning heavily toward Long Beach since we have the most family and friends down there and miss living there. However, the gauntlet has been thrown down in Sacramento.

My sister-in-law Tiffany forwarded an e-mail to my mother-in-law Carolyn (who then sent it along to us) that said the following:

“I found the house next door to us. Attached is the information. Can you believe only 160,000! I'm sure it's a fixer upper but better than a garage!”

The information showed that the house is a 3 bed, 1 bath with 1,073 sq. ft. on a 15,682 sq. ft. lot. Figuring it must be in some sort of horrible disrepair to be so inexpensive, Steve looked for other houses in the area and found more than 20 houses under $175,000! A mortgage payment on $160,000 would be less than the rent we pay to live in a garage.

Those Sacramento folks are crafty. They know how to bribe us… we’ve been dreaming of having our own house since before we got married.

However, our net worth is still currently negative due to student loan debt, so the decision will have to wait for about another year.