Divorce, it’s an ugly word. It brings out the worst in everything involved. The people and the government. Fathers of children are typically taken for everything they have or are attached to, and mothers are given sainthood.
Well, that didn’t happen here. I wasn’t about to let it happen either.
All she wanted to do was run away and start a new life with someone new. This left the house. As I said in my previous post, at the time – I didn’t make enough money to even consider making the mortgage payment, which was $960 a month at the time due to her mismanaging of our finances. That was literally my entire net income.
She wanted to give it back to the bank in a short sale, but agreed to let me try to save it. I knew that I couldn’t afford to rent an apartment, and I knew that I would have to get a room mate if I got an apartment. So why not use this asset of mine for my own gain? Right?
As soon as I could, I put an ad up on Craigslist and all other sites trying to find a room mate. My area has a problem with rentals, as they are typically priced to a point of luxury. I’m not trying to make any money here, just trying to survive myself. What I charge for rent basically pays the utilities.
I also refinanced the house. I didn’t want to, but needed to for two reasons. To get my ex wife’s name off of the mortgage, and to make that payment lower. It set me back a decade, but now it is mine.
It all started with phone calls and emails. I would get calls with nobody on the other end of the line, and emails with nothing in them, not even a subject line. It was constant, it was nagging and it was frustrating.
Once I was able to actually communicate with this person, he ended up being the best room mate a guy could have. He was originally from the area but had lived a life of adventure, traveling the famous trails of our country. He had to come back to town to take care of things due to the death of his father, needing a place to stay for a few months.
He kept his area clean, and would even clean the entire house! I loved that guy. When he told me that he was done here and going to pack his bags to move in with his brother in Bozeman Montana, I was a little heart broken.
I then got another room mate, this time a female. For a period of a couple of months they were both in my house at the same time. This is when I learned that more than 1 room mate just doesn’t work well. Too many people.
She is the polar opposite of Tony, on the level of hoarder. I try to do my best to have more of a friendship than straight up business relationship with my room mates, to weed out people I would not be comfortable living with. I will be more cautious with the next one.
A few months ago, her mother passed away and left her the entire estate, including a home. She is currently working on fixing it up and will be moving out when she is ready. So the search will be on again for a person to help me sustain my home.