Pat S: What is the advantage of having a condo verses an apartment?
Is an apartment practical to live in if I plan not to stay at my current location/state. I don’t like my job and currently contemplating I want to live in another state and move. I won’t being moving within the year, it might be a year or two so would it be better to get a apartment but I know a condo is a good investment and I will not be wasting the money away as I would an apartment but is it easier to get rid of my apartment than of a condo. Some advice please.
Answers and Views:
Answer by Ace Aerosmith
No yard work. You also build up equity in your home if you buy.
Renting is best if you’re going to be moving out of the area. With the real estate market either going nowhere, or even down, you will lose money if you buy a condo and sell it in the next year or 2. It would be much better to hang on to your savings and earn interest on them. And it could take a while to sell your condo when you are ready to move, you might wind up having to pay rent in one town and a mortgage in another at the same time.Answer by [email protected]
both of the answers I read prior are true, however even if you find yourself “stuck” with the condo if you decide to move again, it can always be rented out and a small source of income.
you have the same situation with neighbors next door as with an apartment, but most are decent. If you like patio gardens make sure that the HOA will allow it.
HOAs frankly suck. You will have to be very good at budgeting your money to make sure you can pay the HOA fees and property tax if it applies. Suggestion: Have your employer automatically transfer a set $ amount to another account set aside for just that purpose. I even have mine at another bank so I basically never see it until the bill comes in. Honestly, they sap a lot of the money that you would be spending or saving on other things AND then tell you how you can live in your own home (ie. mine is: what color door knob has to be, no more than 4 flower pots, pay $ 25.00 fee if you want to install a satellite dish, the list is endless), HOWEVER, the equity and credit boost may overshadow that. Never forget that it takes spending TONS of money to get a great credit score and even more to repair it.
Best piece of advice. READ EVERY WORD OF THE COVENANTS BEFORE YOU SIGN ANYTHING! It will be a tedious read, but the last thing you want is to be slapped with nasty letters and fines from the board and management company for violations that will seem EXTREMELY petty but they exist “for the quality of the community”.
Those are facts, but don’t let them all scare you. Most of them are very similar to the restrictions you experience in an apartment…its just that you get a different attitude about them when you own it, but you still can’t do exactly what you want to it.
I have to agree though, if you’re not set on a particular place, job, or otherwise, it may be best to get an apartment first and scope out where you want to be. Once you get a little more established, then a condo may be a good thing.
Answer by Jay PIf you are thinking about moving in the short term as your posting suggests, then buying real estate is not a good idea. Real estate is a good long term investment, especially now. However, buying and selling costs money. Couple that with the recent fluctuations in home prices and you have the potential to lose a lot of money if you are forced to move.
Additionally, the concept of wasting money on rent is really not valid. When you buy a home, they first five years of payments are almost entirely interest. You don’t start paying off principal for several years. So the question is, do you want to pay your interest or your landlords? If you think you might move, it might be a good idea to let someone else take the risk.
Answer by Frank112If you buy a condo, you build up equity as you slowly pay down the loan so you’re not throwing money away like you do in rent.
Also, mortgage interest on a condo is tax deductible while rent isn’t.
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