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I've been looking at condos that are in brick buildings, have hardwood floors, and have that nice 'old' style. Needless to say, I've been looking in the city, not the burbs. But, the issue that I seem to run into quite frequently is that they are all on the opposite side of the suburb I work in. This means I would have to drive through one of those congested "junction" knots to get to my employer. Given the severe congestion in these areas, I would face up to a 30+ minute commute as opposed to only a 15 minute commute being on the other side of downtown. I'm not sure what to make of this. I really don't want to buy a house because they are too expensive right now and probably more expensive to maintain long term. I could continue renting as there are plenty of old brick buildings you can rent out of in the side of the metro that I'm on, but I don't see that as a good long-term strategy. Has anyone been in this pickle before? What direction did you choose?
Are there condos on the "right" side of town of the type you like but none available now, or do they not exist there? If there's none, E4U hit it on the head...decide which is most important. If they do exist but you have to continue to wait, personally, I'd wait. I hate sitting in traffic.
Get pre-approved, get an agent who will let you know the moment the right type of condo in the right area becomes available, and (if applicable) talk to your landlord about going month-to-month on your lease once it ends so you aren't tied up and don't need to move twice.
I've been looking at condos that are in brick buildings, have hardwood floors, and have that nice 'old' style. Needless to say, I've been looking in the city, not the burbs. But, the issue that I seem to run into quite frequently is that they are all on the opposite side of the suburb I work in. This means I would have to drive through one of those congested "junction" knots to get to my employer. Given the severe congestion in these areas, I would face up to a 30+ minute commute as opposed to only a 15 minute commute being on the other side of downtown. I'm not sure what to make of this. I really don't want to buy a house because they are too expensive right now and probably more expensive to maintain long term. I could continue renting as there are plenty of old brick buildings you can rent out of in the side of the metro that I'm on, but I don't see that as a good long-term strategy. Has anyone been in this pickle before? What direction did you choose?
The way I see it is that you would be adding a mere 15 minutes to your commute to get the condo that you want. IMO, that's not a bad trade off.
Are there condos on the "right" side of town of the type you like but none available now, or do they not exist there? If there's none, E4U hit it on the head...decide which is most important. If they do exist but you have to continue to wait, personally, I'd wait. I hate sitting in traffic.
Get pre-approved, get an agent who will let you know the moment the right type of condo in the right area becomes available, and (if applicable) talk to your landlord about going month-to-month on your lease once it ends so you aren't tied up and don't need to move twice.
There are none of the type I like. If I set the price high, and the 'year' built below 1950, pretty much nothing shows up unless it's south of the wrong interstate.
Are there condos on the "right" side of town of the type you like but none available now, or do they not exist there? If there's none, E4U hit it on the head...decide which is most important. If they do exist but you have to continue to wait, personally, I'd wait. I hate sitting in traffic.
Get pre-approved, get an agent who will let you know the moment the right type of condo in the right area becomes available, and (if applicable) talk to your landlord about going month-to-month on your lease once it ends so you aren't tied up and don't need to move twice.
That's my question as well. Are there none available at all or just none at the moment or none in the price point you want to pay?
All of that makes a big difference to what I would do.
As for the "mere 15 minutes added to your commute" - that's not something I'd personally do. While recognizing that people do change jobs, of course, I would not buy a house that was on the other side of town from where I worked. 30+ with traffic can often turn into much longer than that due to a bad accident or weather conditions. And when I went from that 30-45 minute commute to a 15-20 minute one, it was life changing. So I personally wouldn't give up that time to a commute, unless I was considering it temporary and was also going to start looking for a different job on the same side of town that I lived on. But obviously, your tolerance for a commute is a personal decision.
I commute 1.5 hours each way, every day; because I moved into the house I love.
I've been here 7 years and do NOT regret it.
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