buying a home is depressing...(auburn) (Seattle, Kent: low income, 2014, rental)

[Ira500]

If your offer is accepted, are you screwed?
Maybe not. I'd suggest driving to the condo complex on a Friday or Saturday night at 11PM. That'll at least give you an indication. if people come up to you sitting in your car and offer you crack cocaine, perhaps you made a mistake.
Also, hopefully your offer had an inspection contingency, so when you get it inspected, and the inspector finds things wrong( and they will) you can use it as an escape and void the contract altogether. Also, in your offer there should be something requiring the info from the HOA, the history of repairs, future repairs, anticipated assessments, etc. You can also use that to guide you on whether to pull out or not. For example, the HOA documents might say something like" We will be repairing all the mold early next year, and there will be a special assessment for each condo owner of 20,000 dollars."
I don't think that part of Auburn is considered especially bad. But again, I strongly suggest doing a few visits at various times.

[sincitysg]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

Guess what? Your HOA dues are not static.. they'll increase too... and you might get what is called a "special assessment" which is what happens when the HOA's reserves are too low to pay for something substantial like a new roof or siding. We had a special assessment begin six months after we bought our unit.. surprised the heck out of us... it was an additional $50 a month for 2 years! It could happen to you too. You need to look at the condition of the complex... does it look like it'll need some major repairs soon? Make sure you get a copy of the bylaws too.

Your HOA can also make you do replace things in your unit... on your own dime... for example, the seller neglected to let us know that he was being fined for a year for not replacing a hot water heater. The heater worked fine, but the condo's insurance required upgrades from all units. It was $1k replacement. You will also be responsible for your furnace, piping within the unit and all your kitchen appliances. If you get a leak in your toilets, sinks, washers, dryers... that's all on you... Last summer I had the ignitor on my oven give out... it cost $250 for a guy to come out and swap it out in less than 20 minutes. This year we had to replace a toilet for $375.

If the unit you're considering is newer you might have less to worry about. Ours is 15 years old.

sorry to hear you were hit with so many unexpected costs, sounds awful. but if you were going to ask me whether i'd rather pay more to the HOA or more to my landlord who hasn't done any updates to my apartment since the day i moved in but is still raising his rates, i would pick the former, no questions asked. after all, you're screwed either way, might as well have something to show for it, right?

[sincitysg]

Originally Posted by mkarch

It's these condos, built in 1979, so 35 years old.

https://www.redfin.com/WA/Auburn/343...-63/home/19060

flyingsaucermom, that doesn't sound bad at all... I'd consider that a good month (but I'm in an old Seattle house)

not that place...we did see it but it was awful. the pictures make it look SO much better.

[sincitysg]

Originally Posted by Ira500

If your offer is accepted, are you screwed?
Maybe not. I'd suggest driving to the condo complex on a Friday or Saturday night at 11PM. That'll at least give you an indication. if people come up to you sitting in your car and offer you crack cocaine, perhaps you made a mistake.
Also, hopefully your offer had an inspection contingency, so when you get it inspected, and the inspector finds things wrong( and they will) you can use it as an escape and void the contract altogether. Also, in your offer there should be something requiring the info from the HOA, the history of repairs, future repairs, anticipated assessments, etc. You can also use that to guide you on whether to pull out or not. For example, the HOA documents might say something like" We will be repairing all the mold early next year, and there will be a special assessment for each condo owner of 20,000 dollars."
I don't think that part of Auburn is considered especially bad. But again, I strongly suggest doing a few visits at various times.

it does have an inspection contingency, thankfully. thanks for pointing that out. we'll do a few more visits (we have been there twice during the day and once in the evening, but should probably drive around a bit more in the evening, later in the night). and i didn't know that about being able to ask the HOA for anticipated assessments, thanks for the tip, very much appreciated.

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by mkarch

It's these condos, built in 1979, so 35 years old.

[url]https://www.redfin.com/WA/Auburn/3435-Auburn-Way-S-98092/unit-63/home/19060[/url]

flyingsaucermom, that doesn't sound bad at all... I'd consider that a good month (but I'm in an old Seattle house)

Are you sure? Our "normal" combined HOA's are $500/month (includes water though...)

Looking at that condo.. $70k.. holy cow! I haven't seen a price like that since I left Michigan.. but..

you can see a lot going on with that unit.... the dish washer is older.. the kitchen is very dated (which isn't itself a problem as our Michigan home had an original 1940's kitchen... cute!) but looks in a little disrepair. Not sure what's going on with the flooring in one of the bathrooms... past water leak??? The doors seem to be beat up in some of the pictures... but at $70k you get what you pay for.

[sincitysg]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

Are you sure? Our "normal" combined HOA's are $500/month (includes water though...)

Looking at that condo.. $70k.. holy cow! I haven't seen a price like that since I left Michigan.. but..

you can see a lot going on with that unit.... the dish washer is older.. the kitchen is very dated (which isn't itself a problem as our Michigan home had an original 1940's kitchen... cute!) but looks in a little disrepair. Not sure what's going on with the flooring in one of the bathrooms... past water leak??? The doors seem to be beat up in some of the pictures... but at $70k you get what you pay for.

oh yeah, that unit was pretty disgusting. holes punched through walls and doors. carpet stains, broken windows, gross rings around the tub, etc.

there are a few updated, cute units in auburn/kent in the 60-80K range, this i think was one of the worst we saw.

[cis_love]

i lived for a year in an area of auburn considered high crime according to neighborhoodscout but i felt safe. it was relatively quiet. once in a while there'd be an annoying neighbor but that's more of an individual thing. we did have a few things stolen from our property. i felt like auburn was overall safe. i let my kids walk home from school, which i would never have done in CA. now that we've moved away i miss it a lot. stores, banks, hospitals are all convenient in auburn. i also liked their library and they have awesome second hand stores!

[sincitysg]

Originally Posted by cis_love

i lived for a year in an area of auburn considered high crime according to neighborhoodscout but i felt safe. it was relatively quiet. once in a while there'd be an annoying neighbor but that's more of an individual thing. we did have a few things stolen from our property. i felt like auburn was overall safe. i let my kids walk home from school, which i would never have done in CA. now that we've moved away i miss it a lot. stores, banks, hospitals are all convenient in auburn. i also liked their library and they have awesome second hand stores!

thank you, this is super helpful and reassuring.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

Are you sure? Our "normal" combined HOA's are $500/month (includes water though...)

Yes, we're averaging over $2K/mo in repairs over 2.5 years. I expect that to continue for another 2 years before leveling off. Utilities over the winter were running $500+/mo before some of the energy efficiency updates.

[DutchessCottonPuff]

Originally Posted by sincitysg

mostly so we aren't just throwing our money away every month on rent. we want to start saving, and that isn't happening right now.

I'll never own again . Its THE last thing I would do . I lost more money owning my own home from 1982 to 2005 and Ill never do it again .
I do NOT miss cost of maintanence , ins , HOA if it applied , taxes and ins . Not to mention the sudden replacement of major appliances . I am FREE . Love my apt . Plus out here I can rent WAY better than I could ever buy .. if you are poor do not buy a house .