Sunday, February 24, 2013

A Mental Vaporization

As of last Tuesday, life has taken a topsy-turvy route.  Our landlord lost his job and, to compensate, is selling our apartment/condo.  Meaning, basically, we have to get out.  Combine that with some personal opinions and thoughts that needn't be discussed, I'm trying to figure out where to live.

Basically, I'm trying to find the money balance and decide whether or not it is wiser to continue to rent or if I should outright buy a condo.
Condo
Pros:
- Finally own some land (in this area, the price of a home and land is only going to increase) = good investment
- Have my own place that is closer to school (at least, the condos I'm looking at are closer) which would cut off some more travel time
- Be able to have a small porch garden
- Have some say on interior aesthetics (shallow, I know, but really important to me)
- Could collect rent for mortgage if I move for a new job

Cons:
- Mortgage, bank, accounting, bleh...stuff that I have very little knowledge of
- $$$
- SOL if some appliance in the condo breaks

Apartment
Pros:
- Little concern if something breaks - call the landlord and they fix it
- Increased mobility (if I want to move, I just move....sort of with a 6 mo. contract)

Cons:
- Rent disappears...aka: not investing
- Further away from school route (longer commute)
- Possibly noisy neighbors
- Have to work with a landlord

Add to that the following things:
- Graduate School (do or do not) for K-12 Music Education Curriculum and Instruction (a step that I need to do if I am to become a professor of education someday...the long term goal) at MSU.
Pros:
1) It puts my current loans on hold, so I won't have to pay them until I finish
2) I would move over a "lane" in the salary schedule (a pay raise)
3) I can finally feel like I'm starting to learn again (my brain feels stale)
4) I can get local tuition rates ($9,000) which is reasonable
5) It's online, which means I can work at my own rate
6) It would be a way to network with local teachers and suck their brains for information
7) It would add to my value at Monforton (making it worth their while to try and keep me)
8) It *should* make me more marketable (see Con #4)

Cons:
1) I would be accruing more debt...which should probably always be avoided (but, it pays off?)
2) I would have to work hard and be sure to maintain a solid GPA (no more sluffing off)
3) It would increase my work load to having things to do on the weekend and during the evenings in the weeks (decreased free time)
4) Some schools avoid people with M.Ed's because of the move over one salary lane....M.Ed's can be expensive people to hire depending upon the district

AND
Lander, Wyoming has a job opening. For all those education major out there, if you can find a location in WY that you love....try to get a job there!  The pay is outstanding (for educators), there is no income tax, and the property tax is low.

I'm not expecting an offer on the position.....it was only open for a week and a half, which makes me think that they have someone in mind and that they were just making the position available to follow protocol.  However, if they did offer, I would be conflicted.  I love the students, staff, administration and community I work with/for...but it's barely a livable wage and more or less will require a part time job somewhere in the future.  Lander, WY is similar to Bozeman, but much smaller (apx 7,000 pop) and more conservative.  They do have NOLS, which is something I've been interested in for a while.  The position is MS/HS Band...right up my alley.

Like I said, I'm conflicted.

But, the Pros/Cons list definitely helped (except for the Lander, WY situation...I don't know that it's possible to make a list like that when I don't know as much about the position as I would like to).  It's looking like maybe I should opt for Graduate school (if I can swing it) and the Condo.

Hey, thanks internet, for all your help.