(no subject)
We had to walk away from the house we put a contract on. After the inspection it became apparent that there were too many problems for us to deal with. Extensive mold in the basement, leeky pipes, a furnace that didn't turn on and electrical outlets that needed to be rewired or replaced. Those were just the problems we'd have to deal with right away, in addition there were minor things like the retaining wall in the back yard was sagging and there was seperation of bricks on the chimney.
Needless to say we were disappointed. This week we looked at four new houses in our price range and at the end of the day came to the conclusion that we can not afford a house that is in livable condition, or the ones we can afford are in neighborhoods that we'd really, really not want to live in.
We started discussing alternatives, smaller houses, moving farther away, condos. Condos are the one that we're investigating now. It's not the most preferable, but there are nice condos in our price range that we can simply move into. For total monthly prices often including utilites for one or two hundred more than we are paying now it seems like a safe bet it'd be more like moving into a larger appartment.
The downside to condos, other than the fees, is the agreements you have to sign. We need to look into those agreements before we move, but we have time. Fees are a pain, but the higher ones often pay for utilites and give you access to community features such as gyms, pools and so forth.
Needless to say we were disappointed. This week we looked at four new houses in our price range and at the end of the day came to the conclusion that we can not afford a house that is in livable condition, or the ones we can afford are in neighborhoods that we'd really, really not want to live in.
We started discussing alternatives, smaller houses, moving farther away, condos. Condos are the one that we're investigating now. It's not the most preferable, but there are nice condos in our price range that we can simply move into. For total monthly prices often including utilites for one or two hundred more than we are paying now it seems like a safe bet it'd be more like moving into a larger appartment.
The downside to condos, other than the fees, is the agreements you have to sign. We need to look into those agreements before we move, but we have time. Fees are a pain, but the higher ones often pay for utilites and give you access to community features such as gyms, pools and so forth.