jumping on the housing bandwagon

[Croí]

hi ladies

it''s so funny how ''in tune'' our PS community seems to be. I am in the position now where we are trying to decide our next move and I wasn''t sure about posting because it''s so off-topic from rings and diamonds ......... but Ally and Teebee already have the ball rolling so I am going to throw my hat into the ring too!

we are hoping to buy a home before the end of the year. our ''uncertainty'' is what to buy and how to decide. we know we are not planning on staying in Boston but at the same time we need to be here for another two to two-and-a-half, maybe even three, years. I sometimes feel we should buy a condo in the city (for better resale) or a two-family which we could possibly rent when we move, so that it will continue to bring in income. He feels we should buy a nice house, with garden and the whole works, on the very off-chance that we end up having to stay longer than we now anticipate.

any thoughts ???

also, we have been thinking of talking to a financial adviser and getting an outside ''professional'' opinion on what the best options might be for us.

have any of you used a financial adivsor ? any feedback on this ? anyone Beantown PS''ers with recommendations for realtors or financial advisors ? I really *hate* trying to locate someone who is going to be this important in our lives just by pure random chance, I''d love (and really appreciate) any actual and factual feedback from you girls.

THANKS a million !
C

P.S. I have SO much catching up to do but work has been very busy since the London bombings and now with more stuff just after happening there today, it''s likely work being busy will continue. One of these days I am going to try to go read everything and catch up.
Really sorry I''m missing out on all your stories at the moment.
C

 

[allycat0303]

Hi Croi!

Welcome to the stress

. My boyfriend went through the condo vs house thing too. What happened was that we visited a few condos, and I REALLY, REALLY felt like I was in an apartment. For our price range, the condo''s were one storey and one bedroom. In addition, we didn''t want to pay $100 per month for condo fees, because to us it seems like money wasted, especially because my boyfriend wants to be able to care for his own property. However, condo''s on the positive side are usually more new, and you probably won''t have to pay a lot for repairs. I think it''s personal preference, although I''m not sure whether or not condo''s have better resale value, in our market at least, all of the real estate agents told us that condo''s took longer to sell. I haven''t a clue about the actual price they get though.

Keep us updated!

 

[teebee]

Hey Croi!

Welcome to the home buyer''s stressed out bandwagon!!! I know that my honey uses some kind of accountant/financial planner that helps him make personal and business investment decisions and FI finds him quite helpful mainly because the guy is also very familiar with all of the tax implications for a small-business owner... If FI and I end up getting this other house I''ve been posting about, then we will keep the house we are currently in as a rental (FI has dreams of being a slumlord some day

). So, if that''s the direction you want to move in, then I think that a condo or duplex would be a good choice. Like Ally mentioned, in my area, condos do not have better resale & usually take much longer to sell than single family homes. But, I''m assuming that condos and apartments are in much higher demand in a big city. Here in OK, we''re all spread out and people want space, a backyard, LAND!!!

I do understand where your hubby is coming from though ~ not having a definite timeline is kinda tricky. BUT, what I wonder is this: even if you stay longer than you currently anticipate, knowing that you probably won''t stay in a house more than 3 to 5 years, will you feel like putting forth that much effort into a house that you see as ''temporary''? If you think you would, then that''s great and maybe the best choice for you guys. As for me, we are in this house and I''ve been operating under the assumption that we will be here 3 more years... and I''ve not got one iota of motivation to work in the yard, start a garden, etc.... Although, I guess if I actually liked this house, it might be different!

Keep us posted Croi!!

 

[Croí]

teebee

That is where I get a bit jumpy I guess. I REALLY don''t want to stay in Massachusetts forever. Don''t get me wrong Boston has become home-away-from-home and it''s a GREAT city but it''s more of young person''s city (with all the colleges, our population is very young) and I am moving into the next phase of my life now. I want more room, I want to get to know my neighbors, I want a community (something that is hard to create in a city where people are on the move and so on).

I get kind of ''iffy'' about finding something we''ll really like '' in case we have to stay longer '' because then I''m afraid we won''t ever move ! I know he honestly doesn''t want to stay here either but I also know he doesn''t like being in the city in an apartment but maybe his overall outlook (motivation, drive, whatever) would change if he were in ''better'' surroundings.

we are at the very very beginning of this road and I know it will work out as it is supposed to but there is just so much to consider that it becomes very overwhelming.

how did your FI find his advisor ?? would you mind asking him for me ?
thanks hon!
C

 

[Shay]

Congrats Croi. The only home buying advice I can give is make sure you have A LOT of money saved before even attempting to buy. There are so many hidden costs with transfer fees and lawyers fees and electricity and lights deposit etc and it all adds up.
My boyfriend and I bought in May and only in September will we have cleared the debt (not even talking about the home loan here) accrued.

Also make sure you use a reputable lawyer. Ours charged us an extra R10 000 and the only way we can prove it is buy hiring another lawyer... which will end up costing much more. I suppose this is how you learn.

Good luck and have fun doing it. It is very stressful and exhausting but I love going home to OUR house at the end of every day.

 

[jnybrk]

i am getting terrified over this house business. We went and look this past weekend and i was in shock. we are wanting to buy in the next 6 months. We looked about 6 months ago at a new sub. and found a lot and a floor plan but the people who owned the land (a real estate company) treated us like children who had no idea what was going on. THe funny thing is i have to uncles who are contractors and my grandfather just finished building his own home. So we were not as dumb as they treated us. we of course completely backed out of the deal. It was very disappointing but we knew we were getting ripped off.

When we looked this weekend our new realtor showed us a pic of a house that was just like the floor plan i had picked out 6 months ago to build. When she took us to the house it just happened to be on the lot that we wanted to begin with. The developers built the house anyway. Ironicly it is about $20,000 cheaper than what they had told us in the beginning. We are thinking about using this realtor and getting our the house. If we do get it i will have a few choice words for the other company who tried to rip us off. All in all it has been a weird ordeal!

Jenny Brooke

 

[teebee]

Date: 7/21/2005 3:02:28 PM
Author: Croí

teebee

That is where I get a bit jumpy I guess. I REALLY don''t want to stay in Massachusetts forever. Don''t get me wrong Boston has become home-away-from-home and it''s a GREAT city but it''s more of young person''s city (with all the colleges, our population is very young) and I am moving into the next phase of my life now. I want more room, I want to get to know my neighbors, I want a community (something that is hard to create in a city where people are on the move and so on).

I get kind of ''iffy'' about finding something we''ll really like '' in case we have to stay longer '' because then I''m afraid we won''t ever move ! I know he honestly doesn''t want to stay here either but I also know he doesn''t like being in the city in an apartment but maybe his overall outlook (motivation, drive, whatever) would change if he were in ''better'' surroundings.

we are at the very very beginning of this road and I know it will work out as it is supposed to but there is just so much to consider that it becomes very overwhelming.

how did your FI find his advisor ?? would you mind asking him for me ?
thanks hon!
C

Oops!! I almost forgot to ask FI about this - he said he asked one of his patients who he liked and seemed financially stable (i.e. pays dental bills promptly!!) and they had talked a little bit about investing previously. He suggested that he feels the best way to find an advisor of this kind is through referrals from friends and acquaintences whose opinion you trust and someone whose personal financial philosophy is in-line with your own. Like, we know some people who keeps mentioning his ''financial guy'' & how we ''just gotta talk to him'' - well, these people, although well-off, probably take a lot more risk in their investing than we are comfortable with & they also have a lot more debt (HUGE homes, boats, lots of ''toys'')than is feasible for us - FI''s student & business loans and our credit card debt are enough, thank you very much!!

 

[Mara]

My husband went through the whole condo vs house thing as well...he's also from the East Coast and I am from CA so big differences in what we are used to for housing costs...aka I am used to people paying more and he is shocked at what it gets you here. But he's been here 5 years so he knows the drill!

Anyhow, in the end it was basically we could either afford this 40 year old cute-but-needs-work out-of-date small standalone home or this brand new townhouse with all the luxury trappings...and since it was our 'starter home' we chose the townhouse/condo. Basically it came down to, did we want to be doing work on a 'cute house with potential' on every weekend, if we weren't even sure how long we planned to be there? Or did we want to basically do nothing but pay the mortgage and HOA for 5-7 years and live in a beautiful place while we figured out our next steps in life?

If it was a long-term decision for us, aka this is the house we'll be in for the next 30 years, it would have been different, but this is truly just a starter home for us, a stepping stone. We actually ended up LOVING our townhouse/condo, the floorplan is awesome for us, it's just the right size for us two and our dog, and the complex is filled with a bunch of DINKS like us and there are tons of dogs around here for our dog to socialize with, people have group BBQ's etc. It's been a great decision and NOW we are like...oh my god what will happen when we leave here?!?! Where will we go where we have all the same fabulous amentiies. Is trading up for a yard and a standalone in a nice neighborhood worth what we potentially lose?

So it's hard to say one way or another but this was absolutely the right decision for us...I also feel like our place just fell into our lap and was fate...these were all sold out and we were about to buy a similar floorplan but not as nice elsewhere and then two of these fell out of financing and we snagged one at a 10% discount over what the last one sold for. I really feel like we were 'meant' to be here...for however long life keeps us here!

Anyhow that's my story...good luck on your hunt and your decisions, and I will also say that home ownership has been awesome for us. It's a very different feeling over renting...you view things very differently when it's 'your house', even just down to things like making holes in the walls and hanging pictures!

Edited to add: Oh and re: the whole something you can rent out later, chances are if it's a place you want to live in now, you won't want to rent it out later AND you probably won't get enough to cover your mortgage and all taxes/costs etc. Our financial planner disabused us of the notion of getting our TH and then if we ever moved out of state (an option since Greg is from the EC) renting it out til we came back. He said ..who wants to pay your mortgage/HOA/Property Taxes on your luxury TH? People will usually rent smaller condos or apartments. He said we'd probably need to sell this TH and get a condo or two if we planned to leave and wanted to keep an investment property here. So just something to consider, aka the rental market in your area. Is whatever you buy going to be rentable or will you have to sell it regardless.

 

[rfath]

Croi - my fiance and I went with a gal from American Express Financial services (they have a different name, now, I think). She''s younger and we thought had more understanding of how we thought about money and where we''d like to be in 5, 10, 30 years or more. Most advisors will meet with you for free for the first session so you can meet them and get an idea of how you gel together (PM me if you want her contact information).

I''m still torn about the housing situation in Massachusetts. From talking to financial advisors, it''s not a clear-cut decision in a lot of situations that buying a house is better than renting. It''s also HARD to be a landlord in Massachusetts - many laws written to protect the renter at the expense of the landowner. I''d LOVE to have a house, but it''s SO expensive right now that it''s depressing.

 

[Croí]

thanks ladies for all the input

it definitely is a HUGE decision and as rfath said, Massachusetts (and Boston city in particular) is just horrendously expensive. for my part I am leaning more towards a condo, I simply can''t see myself in a HOUSE in Massachusetts - the average here at the moment is $420,000 for just your regular, basic house - and, to be totally honest, I don''t think I can justify that to myself.

I want to have money for going home, to LIVE my life and have a life - I can''t put every penny I earn into paying a mortgage and property taxes and the like. I would rather set up a yurt in a field somewhere !!

As teebee said for us keeping our debt (including house payments) managable is the number one priority. I don''t want to lose it later on if one of us lost our job or took ill or something.

I liked what you said Mara about it feeling like ''fate'' when you found your place. I feel that way about a lot of things. Where we are now renting, it was the first place we looked at together and, just like you said, it was ''perfect''. I am hoping the same might happen for us with buying. So, so much about us has seemed to happen that way and I am hoping that great luck might just hold for another while.

There is an old red-brick factory (built on a river) not too far from us and I''d buy a condo there in a minute (if we found one we could afford !) because it would mean staying in the same area, being near work and near downtown - and the airport ! I also think (since there is only a limited number of them) that it would probably be likely that it wouldn''t be too difficult to sell at a later date.

So hard to know which way to jump, isn''t it ?!

C