I Was Priced Out of Buying in My Hometown, But I Decided to Stay as a Renter
When my wife and I needed to find a new place to live in January 2023, we didn’t want to leave Petaluma, a vibrant California town 40 miles north of San Francisco in Sonoma County. We’d spent 15 years living on her family’s farm in Penngrove (a rural town just outside of Petaluma), first in a granny cottage and then the main house after her parents passed away, but Petaluma was our hub.
And there’s so much to love about this place, from tasting local wines at Barber Cellars in the historic Hotel Petaluma, to enjoying dinners and handcrafted cocktails at The Shuckery. But there’s more than food and wine: I love browsing the poultry hatcheries-turned-artist studios during the monthly Arts Alive events and shopping on Kentucky Street for vintage clothing and collectibles in stores like Summer Cottage Antiques and Opera House Collective. Plus, my wife has strong family ties to the town’s agricultural roots, which we commemorate by attending the annual Butter & Egg Days Parade.
When the farm sold in late 2022, we knew we had to find a way to stay. My wife and I considered purchasing our first home, but prices were high — so high that we eventually decided buying wasn’t an option. Before we took home ownership off the table, we looked at homes for sale while renting in town. We moved within walking distance of downtown Petaluma, renting a furnished house for six months, followed by a month of travel and another half a year in an Airbnb.
We combed Petaluma property listings and toured homes with a real estate agent, regularly seeing listing prices between $800,000 and over $1 million. (According to Rocket Homes, the median sold price in Petaluma in 2023 was $885,000, which was more than double the national median of $416,100, as of August 2023.)
After deciding homeownership — which would include upkeep, property taxes, and rising costs of insurance in a wildfire-prone region — wasn’t a good financial move for us, we searched for a long-term rental. But that market, too, is competitive. I reached out to our agent in case she knew about a vacancy before it was advertised. Voila! She’d represented the buyer of a furnished historical home, which belonged to a family living on the East Coast. She immediately showed it to us.
The two-bed/two-bath home is spacious and light-filled, with an office and a covered patio that connects to the carriage house. There are two decks and a front porch overlooking a sizable side yard with mature trees. My initial reaction: Too big and fancy! But my wife, who loves to entertain, was immediately drawn to the renovated kitchen and formal dining room with its built-in china cabinet. It didn’t take much convincing to sign the lease: I was relieved we’d found a way to stay in this town that means so much to us.
In March 2024, we were elated to move into the designated Heritage Home in the Oakhill-Brewster Historic District of Petaluma, just blocks from downtown. It’s what realtors consider a “coveted” neighborhood, with a range of home designs, from Queen Anne Victorians to 20th-century Craftsman bungalows. We wouldn’t have been able to afford (and didn’t even consider) the $1.53 million sale price of our rental home, but thanks to our realtor, we found another way in — as renters.
Our 1,700-square-foot Edwardian rental, built in 1906, retains many period details: wood floors, crown molding, vintage wallpaper, stained-glass windows, formerly gas-lit copper chandeliers, and large windows with wavy antique glass. It came furnished, but by coincidence, our own aesthetic matches the eclectic style of the homeowner.
Making a rental feel like your own can be tough, but there’s plenty of space for our treasured pieces steeped in Petaluma ranching heritage from my wife’s family’s farm, like the wire egg basket now used to collect wood stove kindling. In the family room, a tiered Arts & Crafts oak barrister bookcase inherited from my father-in-law houses our books, while a distressed yellow cabinet from his mother’s kitchen stores my art supplies.
Personal touches make any house a home, but I love how our home’s decor tells the story of Petaluma, our family, and our history as a couple. For example, the quilt a friend’s mother made a decade ago for our farm wedding is draped over the living room sofa. And there’s the steel table that my father-in-law welded, which I’ve repurposed as a stand-up desk.
As I was recently researching the history of our rental, I discovered the prior owner’s obituary. It mentions that he was a Petaluma Good Egg award recipient, an honor bestowed annually to those who help to preserve the town’s unique qualities and heritage. Living in a home with such great Petaluma history, we hope to carry on the tradition.
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