That’s right!  Operation move back to NOVA is in full effect!  Yesterday day the man and I decided that it would be best if we moved back to Northern VA.  I miss it terribly and so now starts the process of getting our home rent ready by June.

You may be asking why are we moving so soon after buying our first home back in 2007.  No, we aren’t walking away from our mortgage and we aren’t moving to find cheaper housing, though it would be nice.  We are just truly over the way that our current county government runs  right now.  Truly.  As young homeowners looking to buy a home 2-3 years ago we were mainly concerned with the neighborhood and finding a suitable home for our needs but less concerned about the county government and school system.

Well, as we near the point where we’re starting to plan a family within the next year or so these things start to matter more.  Especially the abysmal state of the school system and planned increase of property taxes when there will be a decrease in county services as proposed by our county executive who has gone to court to push it through.  According to our money grubbing county executive:

…..would have to lay off hundreds of workers, including police officers, if his proposal is not approved by the legislature.

“We would have to devastate our government. “We just don’t have the money to operate our government.”

…said the county has made enormous strides in the past few years, including seeing crime reduced and improved school test scores. He said if the county is unable to close the hole in its budget, public safety and education would suffer: “I want everybody to be clear on this: If we don’t raise taxes, we will be cutting police services, we’re going to be cutting fire/EMS.”

At the last community meeting to address the proposed tax increase, residents pushed back:

TH said she is tired of paying high county taxes and receiving what she said are inadequate public services. She complained about trash collection and said she goes to a hospital in Calvert County because it provides better service.

“I am embarrassed to say I live [here],” she said. “But you know what? I’m out. I’m going to Calvert County, where I can see how my money is spent.”

Many residents complained about what they see as excessive spending in the county government, citing county employees’ personal expense accounts, elected officials’ government-provided vehicles, the county school board’s decision to move its offices from Upper Marlboro to a new office building closer to the Beltway and [the executive's] recent trip to Africa in an effort to promote international trade at a cost of about $30,000.

[He] defended the school board move, explaining that the $36 million planned for the lease of the new building would be spread out over 10 years. Move-in costs would require an additional $8 million.

My question for them, with the school system being among one of the worst, how much worse can it get?  They were right about cutting public safety because I called 911 recently to report that someone went over the guard rails on the ramp going into DC, ladies and gentlemen they put me on hold.  HOLD.  4 MINUTES.  911 put me on hold before answering the call.  I was done.  Hung up.  That simple.

Now, don’t get me wrong, our neighborhood is great, I love our neighbors and the community is beautiful, but separate from the county government issues I’d prefer a community that is more tight knit, active and closer to shopping and other active lifestyle options.  I detest having to go to another county for Whole Foods, Harris Teeter or Moms Organic Market.  These are things we didn’t think about when we were buying the house but I guess it’s just a part of life and knowing what you want the next time around.  We’re also renting because we’re not at all interested in buying at this time because the idea of being tied to another home isn’t all that appealing.  Besides, the neighborhood where we’d like to move still has SFHs in the million dollar range.  Meh. We’ll pass.

But there are a few things we need to do first.

Property Taxes

We would like to start paying our property taxes on the home upfront instead of with our mortgage.  So we have to call the bank to figure out how this is done.  I know that our neighbour pays hers upfront as well and her reasoning is that she would rather get the interest on her money rather than give it to the bank upfront.  This will also enable us to me a bit more flexible with the rent because we wouldnt have to worry about the rent covering the property taxes.  The tax deduction is good enough to warrant doing this.  Even though the rent might not cover the mortgage (interest and principal), the tax deducation at the end of the year makes up for it.

Save $5000 Towards Emergency Fund For House

We plan to rent a similar home when we move back to VA and want potential landlords to know that we have an emergency fund should our home back in MD be vacant for a few months.  $5k should cover 3-4 months.  This will further indicate that we are serious about keeping above water financially just in case our home is vacant for a few months.

Pay Off Credit Cards

When potential landlords check our credit we want them to see ZERO balances on the credit cards.  That will happen by the end of March with miscellaneous accounts on track to be paid off by June/July.   This in turn frees up cash and decreases debt load substantially.

We know that there’s a possibility depending on how much we rent the place for that we might lose money, maybe $200? But staying here amidst a deepening recession dealing with the incompetent nincompoops who are the county government administrators along with an overall decreased quality of life here isn’t something I can further tolerate.  So instead of pissing and moaning about it, we decided to draw up a plan to make it happen.  You get one life and I live it knowing that if you ask, ye shall receive.

Have any of you done this?  Bought a home and then decided to rent it out instead and move elsewhere?  Any ideas and advice?  Thank ya much!