Friday, February 26, 2010

Don't be such a weiner, Aaron

As mentioned in a previous post, my roommates and I are planning on buying our house. We entered into a contract that I am pretty sure is legally binding. About a month ago when we decided to do this, we were all sitting in the living room chatting about the benefits of home ownership. Nick and Lance immediately discounted it as crazy talk and went off to play with themselves or sommit.

Aaron, Calvin, and I excitedly entertained the possibilities that lay before us with a can-do attitude and fervor that would make the Hoosiers look like no account potheads. Within a mere couple of days we had negotiated a price with our landlord and been pre-approved for a mortgage loan. The three of us even pooled together a whopping $1000 to put down as earnest money ($622 of our $700 worth from our t-shirt endeavor, but don't tell Aaron).

I'm not certain how Calvin and Aaron approached their parents with the venture. My parents and I have a very open relationship due mostly to silly adventures where they had to bail me out of jail for toilet papering or egging a Bishopric members house or local school or passing cars or some such mischief. So I happily exclaimed my excitement to my parents over Sunday dinner.

They were not too happy. My dad suggested that someone who was recently booted from school and had no clear career path or experience owning a home would be unwise to embark on such an adventure. He furthered his case by pointing out that going into business with friends of any tenure can be strenuous and taxing, and he said "...let alone a friend that I have only had for the last year, 2 months of which we were separated by 40 states, New Foundland, and the Atlantic Ocean". Oh, Dad.

We talked about it for some time. My mom thinks it's a completely idiotic idea. I pointed out the financial upside of renting the rooms out and even demonstrated how we could very practically have our entire mortgage paid for by the other renters. I also suggested that Calvin and I found each other after only being separated in the Pre-Earth life by birth. He gave up at that point.

I fully appreciate my parents advice. My stance, however, is that there are these big "could"'s involved and my parents are on one side while I am on the other. The furnace could go out. The house could be hard to rent. Calvin, Aaron, and I could fail, fight, and hate each other. That's how my parents are looking at it. From where I'm standing. It could be a learning experience that will shape my future and be far more significant than school. It could make us enough profit to cut down our expense and make us money. It could strengthen our friendship to a degree that the Lord needs it to be for me, Calvin, or Aaron to become one of the Twelve Apostles or something.

My parents are on board and supporting me, with fingers crossed and arms folded. Calvin's parents are backing him, too. Of course, Aaron told his mom and now he's trying to back out.

He's not "trying". He's out. Aaron is a momma's boy. He's an only child, and his mom spoils him something fierce. We are supposed to close on this house in a few days. Aaron comes into Calvin and my room and says, "Hey guys... do you think you could get me my $300 back?" We looked at each other and Calvin said, "Are you out?" Aaron said, "Yeah, it's a bad idea... what with the economy and all."

I said, "Really Aaron, what is with the economy and all?" He looked at me and said, "You know what I'm talking about, dude. The economy is bad." I replied, "Uh, yeah I hear that on the news, but the three of us have jobs. The economy doesn't seem any different to us than it ever did." Aaron got his stubborn face on, "Whatev, dude, I'm not doing it. I don't feel good about it." I was getting mad, "Just because Calvin uses the 'Spirit' to dump chicks, doesn't mean it's gonna fly here. We're supposed to close in a few days, and now... now you bail?" Aaron doesn't like confrontation, especially when he knows Calvin and I will soon start to tag team him with insults and mockery.

Aaron started walking out and said, "You guys owe me $300. I need it." I said, "Well, we'll just have to owe you then." Aaron, "You'll need to pay." I said, "Yeah, eventually, and it's $299, cause I got you that Frosty yesterday." Aaron looked at me like he wanted to punch me. He never would, and I would never punch him back. That's when Calvin said, "You can use it as your first months rent when we own this place." I laughed mockingly, "Yeah, dude, first months rent, security deposit, pet deposit, cleaning deposit." He walked out of the room.

So, a little bump in the road on getting the house. Hopefully when we talk to our mortgage guy we can still do it. He said in the beginning that two of us should be able to buy it, but Aaron does have the best credit score of the three of us so we'll see.

Later I apologized to Aaron, and told him that I was just mad. I tried to talk him into buying still and told him how much we wanted him to be a part of this. That's when he admitted that his mom basically forbade it, and that he just wouldn't be doing it with us.

Hopefully all my hair-brained schemes aren't this hard. At least my best good friend Calvin's with me. I love him. ...and you thought that Pre-Earth life thing earlier was a joke didn't you?

Jake

41 comments:

PushingDaisies said...

I say go for it. You'll be able to make money off the house easily. Good luck you too. And ya, a friend who doesn't back out is the best ever.

Brandi said...

Don't do it. Learn from my horrible experience. I actually did this. Two of my best friends and I bought a house in Logan and rented out the extra rooms. It was great--we made more than enough money to cover the mortgage, insurance and to hire a maintenance guy and still have a little left over to split.

We were (and still are) great friends. That was never an issue.

But here's the thing--one of my friends/fellow co-owner of the house was in a terrible car accident that left the driver of the other car paralyzed. That driver sued the everliving crap out of my friend and won. Guess what? Because her name was on the mortgage, the house was considered part of her assets and we lost the house. We were all financially ruined at 23 years old because of an accident we weren't even part of.

I'm now 34 and still trying to recover (financially) from this. My husband and I couldn't even put my name on our current mortgage.

So, in this case, your parents really are right. It's not that buying a home is a bad idea, but buying it with friends IS.

whyimstillsingle said...

Sorry, but I'm with Aaron on this one. Homeownership sucks.

Ashley said...

You are screwing you and your future wives out of any "first time homebuyer" incentives you may receive when you want to buy a house with your wife. My husband did it to us and it stunk.

Shelby Lou said...

ummm I know nothing about this, but it sounds sweet.

hahaha my favorite line..

Just because Calvin uses the 'Spirit' to dump chicks, doesn't mean it's gonna fly here.

bahahaha
you and calv did meet in the pre-earth life. no lies.

Marci Darling said...

Bromance...so sweet.

Anonymous said...

I get it. This is your way of letting us know that you and Calvin are pretty much married. Back off ladies, these two are buying a house together and don't need you anymore. =)

Kate Weber said...

I think that if you guys think you can pull it off, you should definitely go for it! I wish you lots of luck!

Rochelle said...

Weird. A bad economy is the best time to buy a house when you can afford it. House prices are down and the only place it can go is up. You buy the house, it appreciates, you turn around and sell the house and make money off of it. Not to mention how much money you'll make renting it out, and save by not throwing your money away on rent.

There are benefits and disadvantages to both renting and buying, but I prefer the buying technique. A nice way to make money is to buy a Cheap House "A", sell Cheap House "A" for more than you bought it, then buy a house that's less cheap "B" off the money you made off of Cheap House "A", sell not-so-cheap house "B" and buy house "C", and repeat. This only works if value is appreciating, though. Otherwise you'll lose money. And the co-ownership thing won't have the same advantages because you'll sell the house and split the money. But, I don't know, maybe it's still better than renting a place.

Michelle said...

Are you and Calvin lovers?

Crystal said...

"At least my best good friend Calvin's with me. I love him. ...and you thought that Pre-Earth life thing earlier was a joke didn't you?"

That made me really like you Jake, not that I disliked you before but we all know I'm partial to Calvin. Anyway....I like you now. And that is not something to take lightly, I'm a tough sell. :)

Anonymous said...

This is a bad idea, especically with your ongoing search for a wife. What happens when you find one? Who get's the house? You'll both have a huge debt going into a marriage and probably not be able to buy another house for you and your future wife, while your name is still attached to this one. Just sayin.

Anonymous said...

The fight with Aaron is exactly what your parents warned you about. I hope it doesn't happen with Calvin too. Because there won't be a fight, he'll just change his phone number and you'll never see him again.

Seriously, how reasonable is renting a house down in Utah? Up where I live, margins are pretty small on renting to members. Mormons pay about 20% less rent than everyone else. You get some advantages (like no drunk parties, no smoking), but I don't know if that actually makes it worthwhile.

Anonymous said...

So not a good idea. My husband bought a house before we got married, and it was totally great...until we got married. Then it became a total hassle to find tenants, especially once everyone we knew in the single's ward got married. It's totally annoying and much harder then you'd think. And if it's not full, you're suddenly paying your own rent/mortgage PLUS whatever you're missing out on from your lack of tenant(s). Back out now.

Tripp Hazard said...

If you are serious about doing this as a business adventure, you had better enter into some kind of contract with each other about how to dissolve the partnership. I know everything seems great right now in your relationship but many of the court cases we studied in law school were between friends or family members. Oftentimes both parties felt screwed.

Simply put, any good partnership has plans for everything. Written plans. What to do if one of you gets married, what to do if one of you wants out and expects the other to buy him out, how to deal with foreclosure. As one of the previous comments suggested, both of you become liable for the mistakes of the other. For this reason, it makes a lot more sense for you to form an LLC together with equal ownership and then purchase the house via the LLC. A little extra planning could save you both a huge headache in the end.

Valen Hunter said...

What I see happening is jake + wife and Calvin + wife living together in the future. which isn't all that bad. Mister and I did it for our first year...there were good and bad times, but it worked out...plus then you have 4 people working to pay mortgage instead of 2. So you (calvin) may want your wife to work after all.

Anonymous said...

I also agree with the nay sayers. I recently bought a house for dirt cheap, moved in with some friends and rented out my extra rooms. BUT being a home owner is A LOT of work..I don't think you know what you're getting into. Now you'll be the landlord and when anything goes wrong you'll have to cough up the dough, it's a bigger expense than you think, plus you'll start having to pay renters tax and all that fun stuff.

Anonymous said...

You are all such immature little boys - I love it. Have to get mommy and daddy's okay before making an independent financial decision. You are clearly in no way prepared for this.

Jessica said...

I knew you and Calvin were gay. It's why neither of you stay in relationships with Girls very long.

oh to be young again said...

Why does it not surprise me that neither of you listened to the advice from your parents? I will not pass judgement though because I remember being your age and thinking that I knew everything.

And since you are already in this mess, this is what I think you should do.

You're better off without Aaron, now you only have to split the profits in half (unless the whole thing falls through because you don't have his good credit score). Plus you don't want a third person in the mix, making things more complicated. Not to mention the fact that you already have a partnership with the MBP business of selling t-shirts and possibly calendars and other products that are sure to make their debut in the future.

I think going into business with a friend is not always a bad idea, but put the house in a business name and not your own to avoid problems like Brandi mentions above. Maybe you can rework the contract since Aaron is out.

I also suggest selling the house as quickly as you are able to make a profit (when home prices go up) to avoid any long term problems like not being able to find tennants after you get married etc.

You may not want my advice but I can't help it, sometimes I feel like you are my younger brothers.

Good luck!

Nate said...

Speaking as a new homeowner, home ownership is a lot of work and hassle. Are you guys sure you are ready for it?

As for renting out the other rooms, I could put you in touch with some of my friends who did the same thing. Suffice it to say, there is a very fine line between friend and tenant. Are you going to be able to evict one of your "friends" when he doesn't pay his share of the rent/utilities? Can you handle being the jerk landlord if one of your "friends" has a party that gets out of hand? Having property attached to both of your names makes you both liable for each other's activities - like the post about the car accident. If one of you doesn't pay up on the mortgage, it hurts both of your credit scores. etc., etc. Are you ready for that kind of a risk?

What happens when one of you gets married? Who keeps the house? What if one doesn't have the cash to buy the other's share?

As for Aaron and his $300, depending on the contract you signed and where you are in the home buying process, you might not have to pay him back anything. Whether you do could be up to you, but that's why it's called earnest/good faith money. It is put up to say that you have intentions of buying the house and you put that money there as a good faith promise that you will follow through assuming everyone meets all the terms of the contract. If he backs out, he breaks the contract and forfeits the earnest money.

But you guys have your own lawyer, so I assume you have already worked your way through all these things... ;-)

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Anonymous said...

i'm with aaron.

Autumn said...

Totally bad idea. But, good luck :]

brie said...

after you said nick and lance went to play with themselves in the first paragraph...i...i...well i couldn't concentrate alright? shivers.

also. did you spell wiener wrong? because i thought it fell into the "i before e except after y" rule.

so what happense when you or C get married? who's gonna battle it out to have it be their first home? or please, dear lord, have it be another rendition of that movie with owen wilson and kate what's her face goldie hawn's daughter...i'd like to read that blog post. :)

Unknown said...

I would suggest that you boys are a lot smarter than you let on. It has become apparent that you hired a lawyer to start a business for your blog and maintain your anonymous status. (www.exposembp.blogspot.com)

That is thinking pretty far ahead and being fairly careful. So I think its safe to assume you are treating this house with the same risk assesment. Hopefully you slip up and buy the house with your Mormon Bachelor Pad LLC.

I also love your back and forth with you parents. I think is very un-mormon of you to tell your parents what you think and then not do what they say. Good job for seeking their support either way.

Anonymous said...

this house will be like a puppy. The idea of a puppy sounds great- they are cute and fun and everybody loves puppies.

Then it really begins...puppies are the devil in reality. They pee and poo all over the place, cry at night, you have to buy them food and constantly watch them because once they're alone you can bet they will eat your shoes and ransack your house.

This house is a terrrrrrible idea!!Back out while you still can! This is a serious responsibility that you are clearly no where near ready for.

But you'll probably do it anyhow because you're ignorant and stupid.

Good luck boys, you'll need it.

imemary said...

I like that Aaron's mom "forbade" it. Not because I agree, necessarily, but because it makes Aaron seem like the helpless princess in some Disney movie---maybe Ariel. So you guys are the forbidden Prince Eric, then, only you'll never get to be together... :(

Also, you are following a huge amount of blogs. How do you ever get anything done?

Anonymous said...

Super ideas like this always work out. One or both of you will lose your job. You won't be able to make the mortgage payment. You'll try a short sale but it won't be approved. The lender will foreclose. Your credit score will tank.

I think you've actually found a way to make yourselves even less ready to become an adult.

Anonymous said...

"Harebrained", not "hairbrained."

Anonymous said...

You really are not bright. What's so incredible is how you revel in your idiocy. You enjoy the fact that you are a pampered, over-indulged infant. You know this is a horrible idea, but treat it like it's an episode of some show where next week the mess the characters created is magically fixed. Only this time it won't be.

I say go for it, because a really big screw-up you can't cry your way out of is probably exactly what you need.

Rissy said...

Roommate fights can be incredibly awkward for example... you and your favorite roommate go to Virginia Beach for the weekend. Your other roommate allows to guys you have never met to not only sleep in your room, but also sleep in your beds. These guys also left half empty beers on your desks as an added bonus. You come home exhausted at about 6pm and tear said rommated a new one.

Oh wait your situation is more a life plan oriented kinda thing...so not the same then?

Nikki said...

Bert and Ernie had a house together too.

christina said...

lol so cute! bestie alert! ahhh idk about buying houses bc i have no experience with that mess, but good luck with whatever outcome happens!! sorry aaron backed out last minute-ly :(

Valen Hunter said...

Anon 11:14-

Consulting their parent's is in NO way immature. I think it is wise to get as much input as possible when making a big decision on something like this. And who better to consult other than parent's who have went through it and who you trust and can get an honest answer from?
Sure Aaron's mother may have been his deciding influence but in a way it could have been his saving grace. To me it sounds like he must have been teetering on the fence anyways...He would have backed out or went AWOL either way.

Shelby Lou said...

Anonymous said...
i'm with aaron.
@ February 26, 2010 12:46 PM

No, Anonymous... you are with Aaron's Mom. hahahaa

Anonymous said...

Seriously, if you're going to do this you want to form an LLC and have the LLC own the home. This will protect you both from any creditors coming after you and being able to seize the house to fulfill any liabilities. Since you apparently already have a lawyer, have him draft up an operating agreement and file articles of organization with the state. It sounds more complex but will definitely protect you from future headaches!

Nikki said...

There are a lot of people who read and comment on this blog that need to get drunk and smoke some pot to remove the stick they have shoved up their asses. I am not joking. Break the Word of Wisdom for the benefit of mankind or STFU for my benefit. That is all.

Anonymous said...

Gee, I wonder why Aaron has the highest credit score? Mmmm... brains...

Kari Anne said...

Homeownership is a HUGE step into the "real world" and I commend the two of you are doing this! But, being a homeowner who rents out rooms in the house is a little different... even though your renter(s) are/will be your friends...DOCUMENT EVERYTHING!! Once you own the house, you really should take before pictures of each room...which could be hard considering your renter(s) are possibly already living with you... Just keep a running tab on everything you purchase for the house AND any and all upgrades!

I hope and pray you have the best luck with your new adventure!

Anonymous said...

Shelby Lou. If you don't have anything meaningful to say, don't say anything at all.

Anonymous said...

Wow all I can say is that you are a great writer! Where can I contact you if I want to hire you?