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wow, that's terrible.
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Sorry to hear that. And why do you need your dad's house? You are a single woman and why do you need all the space? Will you hire people to help you do renovations? Will you be able to afford to upgrade and update the house on your own? Can you afford to furnish the house on your own?Comment
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Jim, there is actually an area near me with good nightlife and stuff and luxury condos...they are small, but have nice upgrades and finishes.
MLS
MLS
MLS
There are many townhomes in the area...but they are in very residential areas - these are in a funkier, more stylish area with lots of night life and resturants etc.Comment
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Livingalmostlarge,
When my dad moves out, he is leaving all furnishings here...this includes all furniture, law equiptment, kitchen items...the works. The house needs some updating...but not renovations. My main thing would be to replace the countertops (which are in excellent shape - its just that they are a bit dated) and that kind of stuff can wait. In fact, the only thing that needs to be replaced would be the roof in about 10 years...
I could definitely buy a condo or a townhome. HOA fees stink though. The difference is about $100,000. My house would be $300,000 and a condo/townhome would be $200,000.
My thoughts are...i wouldn't want to live in a condo/townhome long term. I would always be wishing for a single family home. With all of the furnishings (which are in great shape) being left behind...it seems like a great advantage. Also, I really don't think I would ever, ever move from the home unless I had a huge job change (and I am tenured in a fantastic school district).
So I don't know what is the smartest thing to do. The house does well with heating/cooling costs...not much more than a smaller place would...its been beautiful maintained...I don't know. It would make things easier on my father - but I know that isn't a reason to buy it. I do love it though. A lot.
I figure in two years I will have $75,000 saved (not counting interest) and I will be making $70,000. I will be able to afford it.
By the end of this year I will have $45,000 saved...and be making $60,000. I could afford something around $200,000...but would probably only live there for 5-7 years.
Am I crazy? Prolly.Comment
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Keep in mind you don't know me, and I don't know you. The outside appearence of the building and a gym or downtown location are not what make a condo "luxery" to me.Originally posted by ScrimpAndSave View Post
750 sq feet to me is TINY for a condo. I am thinking in terms of 1200 sq ft here in Ohio.
I had a townhouse with 2200 sq ft. Space. We had a dining area open to a kitchen. We had 2 BR, one which measured about 20x30 and another 20x20 (the bedrooms in my current house-3200 sq ft are smaller than the bedrooms we had in the condo-2200 sq ft). The basement of the townhouse was 600 sq ft finished and open (many people turned this into their TV room and put in a bar).
The bar in the picture- where is that (relative to the condo)? Dowstairs? That might make that a luxery... but I think if you look in a suburb you might find what I was thinking.
Our old condo is for sale.
You may need to login to see that listing (it is free). Jeff was our realtor when we sold, so if he actually uses the info to contact you, tell him jIM sent you.
The pics (the jIM tour if you will):
#1 is outside, this is in a 6 unit building. You can see the 2nd unit door (to left of the listed property). There is a 3rd condo to left. If you mirror the 3 to the right, there are 3 more, 6 total units sharing same roof.
#2 is kitchen, #3 is eating area (note you can see the kitchen "open" thru a 4x4 opening)
#3 is fireplace in open area, what you cannot see is the eating area (the picture was taken from the eating area).
#4 is in master bedroom
#5 is in basement
#6 is off deck-main level
#7 is off deck- lower level
#8 is the clubhouse (has fitness area and we would rent the clubhouse for parties too).Last edited by jIM_Ohio; 01-07-2009, 09:28 AM.Comment
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Jim, that is totally what I could get around here too. I actually like these quite a bit:
The Enclave and The Reserve at KnobHill
But I feel like if I was going to buy a townhouse in order to buy a place the "feels" like a single family home...I should probably just hold out for the single family home.
Downtown living in a little condo is different because the environment is different.Comment
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Scrimp-
do you feel like mowing lawns?
feel like fixing a roof?
weeding a garden?
I am NOT suggesting you do condo 1 (previous post) or the ones above (BTW- I really do like the one you posted above too).
Single people and condos get along real well. You could go out at night, be hung over on weekend and not have to worry about mowing a lawn or wake up to a neighbor cutting his.
If you get married or involved in 3-7 years, you could sell and more than likely the condo holds its value. The condo I linked to was sold for 179900 I think (I think that is what wife and I were asking). So in 5 years it appears to have held its value while the price of everything around it dropped 20% or more.
The condo will not appreciate much, but you will not lose much either (prices much less volatile).Comment
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Nah mowing a lawn sucks.
Fixing a roof...ehh in ten years maybe.
I do love gardening...even weeding.
Worrying that I am going to smell what neighbors are cooking? Gross.
HOA fees even though they include lawn, snow removal and garbage? Stinks.
Trying to keep noise levels down? What a pain.
I don't know. I know I could live in either one...and I know my current house (dad's house) isn't maintenance free, but it has been pretty much hassle free for a long time...Comment
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I never smelled my neighbors in the condo shown. Neighbor to right was a semi retired 60 yo which worked on his cars in his garage and was always pleasent. I would not even here him shut his doors or run water and we shared a wall.
I don't even know if I had a neighbor on other side- that quiet.
Fisher homes built the condos and they put a 1" or 2" air space between the units to muffle the sound- that really worked well.
The utilities in condos, especially heating, is MUCH cheaper than a single family home. My electric bill tripled when we moved for example and my current house has gas heat where my condo was electric heat.
If you get an inside unit for a condo the heat bill is cheap.Comment
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That is really awesome. I hear a lot of people complaining about hearing neighbors and that scares me. Even in the nicer townhomes (like the ones I posted). I guess I just feel like if I bought something with shared walls, I would feel like it was just temporary for me.Comment
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Scrimp, you could inherit all your dad's stuff anyway so why would you need to buy the house it goes into? He might give it to you anyway and how old is his furniture? Most condos have appliances. And how old are his appliances? You'll have to replace them at some point, unless then are less than 5 years old now.
And a larger home needs more maintenance and repairs period. There is no way around it. Roof? Bigger roof = more expensive. Just materials even if you do it yourself. Deck? Etc
So why do you need a single family home for just you? How much stuff you do have?
It sounds like you are thinking I'll get a home that's furnished with my dad's stuff so it's a great deal. You aren't stepping back and asking yourself financially and emotionally, do I want to deal with all this stuff?
Will I like his furniture? If it's already 20 years old, will you want new stuff? How do you know your heating bills are comparable to a newer home that has better insulation, new storm windows, etc?
When I move into my next home, a single family home, I will be installing solar panels, tankless water heaters, more insulation, new windows, etc. I plan on it being my final home.
But I am having kids and dogs. I need more space than my 1 bedroom condo could have afforded. And my townhouse now is perfect for us and 1 kid maybe 2, depending on the parents and in-law situation.
But I haven't spent much updating and doing energy efficient solutions because I know I'm not staying. Will you do these things to your dad's home?
You have asked us how to save for the home before you broke up. And Jim has said you can't see the forest from the trees. Same thing with this house babe.
What do you really need? Where do you think you'll be in 5 years? Do you ever want to get married? Would you consider marrying someone who is divorced with stepchildren even if you don't want kids? How will that affect your lifestyle?
Would you be unhappy if you meet someone in 5 years and they wanted to move to a different home. Didn't like the home you were in? What if they have a house they love and want you to move into?
These are all questions that cannot be resolved quickly or easily. Consider long term prospects and goals before just leaping into "i'm getting a deal for my dad's home".Comment
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S&S-
My comment would be do the condo. My wife suffered from what I call "never lived alone" syndrome. She always had mom their to pay all the bills, do the laundry, cook food, buy food and take care of more details than I can list here. If you go right from living with dad to living with BF or husband, I can tell you there are SOOOO many things you will need to learn about getting used to your own habits plus those of a SO.
It took a LONG time to break her of old habits or teach her new ones. In some ways it is still a work in progress 8 years later. If you live on your own now, even for 6-18 months until next SO comes along, you will at least learn your own habits and what is important to you.
If you get a condo that is something YOU would be doing to teach yourself things YOU do not know and improve YOUR financial situation.
Maybe in 3 years you decide to sell the condo and buy dad's house. Would you actually lose anything if this were the case? Maybe time, I could not see you losing money (you might not make any money, but I think most you would lose is about $2k in closing costs or maybe $5k-10k in a bad real estate market. Best guess is the tax benefits make even a 5k loss a wash.
I don't think anyone gets a condo expecting to live in it for 30-60 years.
You would get a tax deduction in the meantime (more for you to learn) and also be more independant than you are now (it's sink or swim for you in the condo).
Size does matter- if you plan to move out first opportunity, get a smaller condo for just you. If you'd like to live there for 10 years, get some room (like a second bedroom) included in the townhouse/condo. This way if next BF moves in, you have room for more stuff.
The 179k price you saw on the condo we used to own could have bought us a single family home in same zip code. We chose to NOT go that route because of the hidden single family home expenses (mowing lawn, roof/house repairs and similar), plus the location of that condo kicks butt (real close to interstate and walking distance to shopping).
LAL last post was quite good too.Comment
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I think the smaller place in Bethlehem (the ones I posted in the beginning) would be fine for just me. I know I would be sacrificing square footage...but I would be able to walk to so many great places to shop/eat etc. The other townhouses and condos...though they are cute...they are in residential neighborhoods. I wouldn't want that if I was going to move into a condo out on my own.
Of course, I am not going to jump on anything right now. I can wait until this summer and start looking seriously if I want to. On Sept. 1st, my salary goes from 55k-65k and I will have approx. $30,000 saved up. I could use $20,000 as a 10% downpayment on a place and still have $10,000 saved up to furnish it...and the mortgage would be low enough that I could still send money to my roth and have money left over to save.
It's just a thought. I will keep my eyes open.Comment
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The fifth one you posted looks nice. That and the fourth one are my favorites out of the ones you posted.Comment
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