bfitzinAR was kind enough to write a diary earlier today to help me raise funds to move this month. A very kind person offered to match up to $1000 in donations. So far we’ve raised $467. We need to raise another $533 to get the full $1000 match. Please help me out & share this diary or donate if you can. Remember that every donation made will be matched — so if you donate $10, that means $20 towards my moving fund.
My goal is $2500 so I’ve got a long way to go to get there.
I lost my house (and most of it’s contents) to foreclosure about 6 years ago. I was a homeowner for many years & I forgot what it was like being a renter. It can be a very helpless feeling & for me, very unsettling when you need to find a new place. It was no big deal when I was young but at age 62 with 3 precious dogs & a very limited income, it’s not as easy.
I received a letter from my Landlord about a month ago informing me he was selling my house. I’ve lived here for 3 years & although I was surprised, I can’t really say I was shocked. I live in a very small 2 bedroom house built in 1950 with a nice big fenced in back yard for the dogs. I grew up about 2 blocks from here. It was a blue-collar, working neighborhood where many couples bought their first house & many stayed on for years. My father died in our old house. Now it’s unrecognizable — a mini-mansion.
As Charlotte, NC has grown over the years, homes close to the uptown area are very desirable. Of course, these neighborhoods aren’t what people who have relocated here (many with Bank of America & Wells Fargo) have in mind. They want bigger & fancier so the race is on to tear down these old neighborhood houses & build something more “suitable” on their big lots. And that’s what my Landlord is planning.
These were also great neighborhoods to rent a little house with a nice yard at an affordable price. Those days are over. I spent the first 3 weeks frantically searching for a new place to live. The prices were outrageous & then there’s that credit problem that happens when your house is foreclosed. I found myself afraid of what was going to happen to me & to my beloved dogs.
I finally found a little house in another area nearby that’s going through the same changes as the one I currently live but at a slower rate & it was crime ridden for many years. Plus the new Landlord says he wants to keep it for 10 years as an investment to pay for his daughters’ college education. Who knows how long it will last but I’m starting out with a 2 year lease. If you don’t own your own home, you’ve forever at the mercy of another. I don’t like that feeling but no alternative.
Now I have to get there. bfitzinAR, in her diary, detailed a lot of what I need to make the move happen. Needless to say that my friends & I aren’t as able to throw things in a pickup truck & move. It was much easier at age 21. I didn’t mean to run on for so long but here’s the link to her kind diary.
www.dailykos.com/…
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Oh, almost forgot — my paypal account is palskaren@aol.com