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That's why i would never buy a condo or townhouse. I would also buy a house with plenty of buffer. Now if you are a city dweller or like to be in the middle of the action this won't work for you.
I know plenty of people that thought the same. First, a good building and a good HOA can be your savior over neighbor issues. I have 6 inch concrete walls between my neighbors and mgt. that addresses issues promptly. I have friends on sizable properties that suffer from 4 wheelers, snow mobiles and jet ski noise and firearms. Because of the hills the noise can be hard to track down and generally the noise laws in such areas is nonexistent. People mover out there so THEY could make all the noise they wanted.
I know plenty of people that thought the same. First, a good building and a good HOA can be your savior over neighbor issues. I have 6 inch concrete walls between my neighbors and mgt. that addresses issues promptly. I have friends on sizable properties that suffer from 4 wheelers, snow mobiles and jet ski noise and firearms. Because of the hills the noise can be hard to track down and generally the noise laws in such areas is nonexistent. People mover out there so THEY could make all the noise they wanted.
Yep but still better then living under a dictatorship hoa. Not all areas in the country or suburbs have the issues you describe. It's not just about noise it's about freedom to do things on your own property. I live in the suburbs now and i hear more noise from noisy trucks, loud motorcycles and cars with fart mufflers on them.
I've lived in NYC and buying a house is doable. If you live in the city, a house is considered a 2-3 story building where each floor is an apartment. In a semi-nice area and depending on location, this will run you close to a million. If you're middle class the only way you'll be able to afford the mortgage is to rent out 2 apartments and live in one. Mortgage will be around 5-6k a month. You can easily rent out an apartment for around $1500-2000 depending on size. There are single family homes but unless you make 200k+ a year, you won't be able to afford it.
I bought a house in Missouri with 5 acres, very nice place and my mortgage is less than 1k a month. The only major repairs I may ever have is buying a new AC unit, water heater or furnace. To be honest that is not that bad. Right now I'm renting out the place but one day I'll be back. I know in another 20 years I will own the place and it will probably be worth a lot more than what I paid for it. I like the idea of being able to do what I want and nobody can tell me anything.
Paying someone else's mortgage is not my thing. I can't call the place I live my home because it's not. I hate landlord's rules, fees and in AZ, tenants are treated like crap.
That's why i would never buy a condo or townhouse. I would also buy a house with plenty of buffer. Now if you are a city dweller or like to be in the middle of the action this won't work for you.
and buying a condo or townhouse means you have an HOA which is like having a LL tell you what you can and can't do.
but the good thing is the hoa can control the things your neighbor does which you other wise have zero influence over .
we owned a house next door to a guy who was a weekend car mechanic . the noise and banging started every Saturday morning . it bothered us for years .
when we had a house in an hoa things like that were not an issue anywhere . in fact homes were not even allowed to be in dis-repair so there was quite a lot of good that came from having rules .
to us the rules were transparent since we had no reason to not comply.
the people we sold to would only buy in an hoa that took the rules seriously . they too had bad experiences with neighbors and had no recourse being they were just individually owned homes out on a street ,.
Last edited by mathjak107; 11-06-2015 at 04:42 AM..
but the good thing is the hoa can control the things your neighbor does which you other wise have zero influence over .
we owned a house next door to a guy who was a weekend car mechanic . the noise and banging started every Saturday morning . it bothered us for years .
when we had a house in an hoa things like that were not an issue anywhere . in fact homes were not even allowed to be in dis-repair so there was quite a lot of good that came from having rules .
to us the rules were transparent since we had no reason to not comply.
the people we sold to would only buy in an hoa that took the rules seriously . they too had bad experiences with neighbors and had no recourse being they were just individually owned homes out on a street ,.
They can be good or bad depending on who runs it. it the person in charge is an adult who behaves like a power hungry spoiled child that's a problem. If the costs are high, that's another issue. If I were to ever live in one I would be certain to get involved at some level.
If I had a neighbor who worked on their car often and earlier than 9am I would mail them an anonymous letter put kindly for them to be more considerate, with an anonymous email for them to reply.
letters never helped , we tried that . we swore after that we would never just roll the dice with a house on a street where there are no rules or guidelines that everyone had to follow .
only owned in an hoa or co-op after that when we weren't renting and never regretted it .
there was never a rule that effected our life in any way . for the 600 bucks a year in hoa dues we had lots of amenity's and was well worth it .
If they don't, they are effectively shorting the housing market.
In my area, the payments on a 30-year mortgage with 20% down + insurance + real estate tax + HOA fees approximately equal the rent payment for the same property. So if the market were to stay as it is, it makes sense to own.
Importantly, you have a lot less privacy and stability when you rent. The one big downside to owning is the transaction cost of buying/selling.
Sometimes it isnt always feasible to own, not monetarily but due to job requirements. For instance, with us being military, we could be sent anywhere in the world at any time. Dealing with the stress of moving is rough enough but trying to sell a house on top of that? It's too much. I know the house we rent, they had it on the market for nearly 6 months before they decided to rent. The houses just dont turn over well here. We'll buy when we are financially stable and emotionally stable.
It really comes down to timing and the individual.
My parents purchased their home 25 years ago for $75k. Its now valued around $300k. Its completely paid off. If they were renters the same home would likely cost them around $1,800 a month in rent. Instead its only costing them about $500 a month in taxes and insurance. So they get the double bonus of keeping over $1,000 a month in their pocket vs renting at this point, and when they decide to retire they'll likely sell the home for a much smaller place, and withdraw 4% from the capital of the home each year giving them an extra $500 a month through retirement. That's a swing of over $200k over 15 year in retirement between rent savings and the 4% withdraw.
Also being handy is a huge plus for being a homeowner. If a hot water heater goes are you the type of person who can buy one at home depot and put it in yourself for $400 or are you the guy that needs to call someone to replace it for $2,000?
If you're the type of person who moves every 5-8 years you're much better off renting as buying and selling homes is expensive. But if you're the type of person who likes to stay put for 12+ years you'll come out ahead in the long run by owning almost every time.
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