tl;dr
I want to buy a condo/ townhouse in my hometown, which also is where I work all 4 of my jobs.
Apartments in said town are scarce, crappy, and totally overpriced. Currently we rent in a crappy city (FI's hometown). I hate it here, but our apt. is 5 mins from FI's work, very clean, and a resonable rent. But it's 30 mins from my work, where I have to drive everyday with hazel at the crack of dawn and late at night. My car destroys gas. Did I mention I hate it here!!
Condos where I want to move are much more affordable than single fam homes, and I think the mortgage would be about 2/3 of what we currently pay in rent. But IDK maybe there's a lot more initial costs, so we'd go broke making the initial purchase. We don't have much savings because currently all our money goes to rent and other bills.
Am I crazy to think we can buy a condo? what is a good argument to convince a grumpy FI that he should do everything I want to do? He's very stick in the mud, I hate changes, we're poor, blah blah blah.
If you read all this then you're invited for wine and cheeses at my fancy new condo...oh wait, I mean tiny basement apt. in hell.
Re: Help me convince FI
I think that if you can buy a place, stop throwing away money on rent, and actually spend less per month than you do now - how can he say no? It's purely a smart financial decision. Plus, he would have to drive that 30 minute commute alone, no? While you're the schlepping the kid? All bonus points in your favor.
That being said, these days it's pretty hard to get into property without putting at least 10% down. Ten years ago, you could buy a condo at 97% financing and bring very little money to the table - but right now, the economy sucks so bad, we weren't able to find any kind of financing with less than 20% down. Well, this was when we bought our house two years ago. But, it can't hurt to talk to a lender and have them run some numbers. :-)
I think your idea of moving closer to your work does make sense and is worth at least discussing with your FI. Would a condo though have outside space (yard even if small etc)? Is that important to you? Do you currently have that in your apt?i only ask becuase we have a condo which we LOVE, but have no outside space. It is important to us to have outside space so we are trying to sell to move to a single family home. I do not know if that is an issue for you. Also for condos there are usually condo fees monthly at least for those I am familiar with. So although we have a great mortgage on our condo we pay an addition $200/ month in condo fees. So that is in addition to mortgage, utilities, and taxes. None of our utilities are in that $200. Just some things to keep in mind.
we don't have any outside space now, and I would only be interested in a condo with some grass. I didn't realize the condos fees would be so expensive! I guess it depends on the place though, I'd have to look at places to really find out how much it would cost. Thanks for the heads up.
This is what I was thinking. Does he not want to move because he doesn't want to buy? Or because he wants to stay in your hometown? If its the second it may be worth looking at places between your jobs so the commute is more even.
Honestly, I'd wait. You have a second baby on the way, and being strapped from the get go will make things way too stressful. There are condo fees, which can be $200+ per month. Also, if something breaks on your home, like the water heater, you have to deal with that. That little repair can be upwards of $1000. Also, what if you need to not work as much? There are many factors at play that will just add unnecessary stress.
My advice is to do it when you can afford it more easily. You need a down payment, and you need a savings built up - even just 2 months expenses would be a great cushion.
Is there a compromise to be had? Can you move to where you want & rent a larger place with a yard? You might find a great deal that will suit your needs & not put you in such a stressful situation.
Are you certain you'll want to live in the same place for at least 10+ years? Will you be satisfied with the size and type of place you can afford now in the long term or are you looking at it as a starter home?
How do you feel about the responsibility of being part of an HOA? Are you willing to go to meetings to stay abreast of how your assets are being managed and to get involved if they're not being managed well? Are you prepared to pay monthly HOA fees, as well as have money in savings for potential special assessments that the HOA might ask you to pay? Are you willing to abide by strict rules about the appearance of your property and how you use it, including kids, pets, etc, even if those rules change over time?
I hate to be Debbie Downer, but these are all things you need to think about long and hard before you consider a condo. If you want to move to a new location or a bigger space now, all you have to do is wait for your lease to be up, but the reality is once you own, you may not be able to sell when and how you want so you can pick up and move. You also need to know what you're getting into with an HOA. HOAs can be great, but they can also be huge sources of drama, and if you're not an active part of the association, you can really get blindsided by huge assessments, major rule changes and other issues.
We bought our condo intending for it to be a "starter home" right at the height of the bubble, and our community was an apartment conversion by a shady developer, so our HOA's been mired in legal and budgetary troubles for about eight years now. And we've had some crazy HOA Board members who peeped in people's windows, took bribes from developers and without notice decided to ban large dogs (even though half of us already had large dogs, which they were eventually persuaded to grandfather in, phew!). So, of course, all that experience colors my opinion. But if I were to go back eight or nine years and give myself advice, I would say, rent, rent, rent until you are really fully established in your life and career and ready to buy your "forever" house that you'll retire and grow old in. We'd like to move to a bigger place and, possibly, a different state, but it's impossible right now because we own.
On the other hand, I think it's really important to like the neighborhood you live in. I think having a short commute is also important (although by my standards 30 min. is super-short). If you don't like the place you're living now, why not look at renting a small house, condo or apartment and give a new neighborhood a try. You shouldn't have to commit to buying just to move somewhere you like.
GL with whatever your decision turns out to be!
I love love love my house, but if I could go back, I would live in an apt again. Our mortgage is so out of control, esp because of our taxes (high in NJ...esp high in North Jersey).
That being said, it wouldn't hurt for you to sit down with a lender and see if you can do it. A lot of times they don't even charge for that. If I were you, I would look for someone I know and trust so they arent' trying to sell you something.
Also, it wouldn't hurt for you to just look for a new apt in your hometown closer to your jobs. If you don't find something, you don't find something, but still.
Thanks for all the tips and things to think about. FI said we can start going to credit unions and banks to see what we could get pre-approved for. It looks like we'll really have to start looking at places to see exactly what all the fees would be.