Letting her off the hook hasn’t done one bit of good to date, and perhaps will end up doing further harm.
It was still the right thing to do and I’d do it again.
The other thing, about giving up on the dream of ever living in Silver, experimentally … that’s different.
It felt right from the start and a few weeks on, it feels more right and like less of an experiment.
SandRock is just more central to the turf I care about anyway, and plus I feel unburdened.
I still haven’t come to terms with staying here forever.
Because … things like this exist.
1 bed, 1 bath, and 1,918 square feet, most of which used to be a bar on Main Street, so it’s dual-zoned.
In a little nowhere town that is down to 100 residents.
(“The railroad was removed in 1950, contributing to the town’s long-term population decline.”)
100 miles east of Las Vegas, New Mexico, 30 miles from the nearest food market.
$35,000
A brief conversation with the AI:
That makes the property more interesting as a deliberate downshift than as a romantic gamble. If you have roughly that much in current equity, the key figure is not the equity itself but what remains after selling costs, moving expenses, taxes, and any repairs needed before listing.
A rough planning framework:
Sale proceeds: current market value minus mortgage payoff and selling costs.
Transition reserve: moving, temporary lodging, inspections, closing costs, insurance, and immediate repairs.
Replacement property: purchase price plus title/closing costs, inspections, utility transfers, and renovation.
Long-term reserve: ideally enough cash left for several years of property taxes, insurance, vehicle costs, health expenses, and major repairs.
A $35,000 purchase could leave substantial room for improvements, but an old mixed residential/commercial building can consume cash surprisingly fast. I’d want an inspection, sewer/septic and water verification, roof and foundation evaluation, electrical review, insurance quote, and a written zoning confirmation before treating it as a bargain.
The strongest version of this plan would be: buy only if the place is habitable without major work, preserve a large cash reserve, and regard the former bar as optional studio space—not as a renovation project that must pay for itself. That way, you’re reducing housing costs rather than swapping a mortgage for an open-ended construction budget.
Well that sounds very sensible, my cybernetic friend.
But really I’m just snacking on pie in the sky.
For now.