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We are in the process of selling our house. Going to pay thousands in closing and realtor fees, painting the entire thing is going to cost 4000, grouting and caulking and on and on. We paid about 15000 a year in property takes and HOA fees for the past 10 years. We might break even when all is said and done. Our home is beautiful, large, 3 and half baths, gorgeous hardwoods, high end appliances, granite, jetted tub, 13 foot high ceilings. A total dream house... and I cant wait to unload it and move into a 800 square foot apartment!!!!!! I hate the endless maintenance and worries that go with home ownership in a humid climate. Some of my neighbors have had issues with black mold and more. I feel like we are lucky but also very aggressive with prevention. My husband is already looking at new homes in another state. He always goes along in the end with whatever I want and I am seriously thing of just renting at a nice 55 plus community and maybe moving to a different state each year. We have sold and given away 80% of our belongings and I have no desire to start accumulating again. I want to live as minimalist as possible, travel and pursue interesting activities instead of blowing money on property taxes, HOA fees and home maintenance. My husband almost tumbled off a 8 foot ladder while changing a light bulb on our 13 foot high ceiling. Also I think it is stressful for him in general to deal with home ownership issues.
I would like all the amenities of a 55 plus apartment community without being tied down. We would like to try living in different parts of the country. I was looking at Affinity communities but am open to others.
one of the reasons for owning a home was so we "wouldn't throw money away each month" but with the taxes and fees I don't if that is true anymore.
Last edited by desfleurs; 07-23-2020 at 02:08 PM..
I’m with you. I love my home, but my next move will be to a 55+ rental. No more issues with replacing moldy decks, dealing with plumbing leaks from the second floor coming through the ceiling, a raccoon in the attic, and all the rest. I also love the idea of going on a winter vacation and just shutting the door without having to worry about frozen pipes.
If you want to enjoy a minimalist, travel life, why not just rent or do airbnb's wherever you want to go? Maybe have a cheap, home-based apartment where you can keep whatever stuff you want to keep?
We are in the process of selling our house. Going to pay thousands in closing and realtor fees, painting the entire thing is going to cost 4000, grouting and caulking and on and on. We paid about 15000 a year in property takes and HOA fees for the past 10 years. We might break even when all is said and done. Our home is beautiful, large, 3 and half baths, gorgeous hardwoods, high end appliances, granite, jetted tub, 13 foot high ceilings. A total dream house... and I cant wait to unload it and move into a 800 square foot apartment!!!!!! I hate the endless maintenance and worries that go with home ownership in a humid climate. Some of my neighbors have had issues with black mold and more. I feel like we are lucky but also very aggressive with prevention. My husband is already looking at new homes in another state. He always goes along in the end with whatever I want and I am seriously thing of just renting at a nice 55 plus community and maybe moving to a different state each year. We have sold and given away 80% of our belongings and I have no desire to start accumulating again. I want to live as minimalist as possible, travel and pursue interesting activities instead of blowing money on property taxes, HOA fees and home maintenance. My husband almost tumbled off a 8 foot ladder while changing a light bulb on our 13 foot high ceiling. Also I think it is stressful for him in general to deal with home ownership issues.
I would like all the amenities of a 55 plus apartment community without being tied down. We would like to try living in different parts of the country. I was looking at Affinity communities but am open to others.
one of the reasons for owning a home was so we "wouldn't throw money away each month" but with the taxes and fees I don't if that is true anymore.
While I never owned a house but only condos, I thought to myself of costs/concerns of owning vs. renting, and it is not a straight answer. For me it boils ultimately down to the fact that I am not a major investor, a lot of my retirement income will be annuity-based, and the only way for me to weather an unlikely but possible 1970s-style (or worse) hyperinflation would be to own and have available to sell an asset whose increase in value would correlate with hyperinflation. In my case, pretty much the only such assets are my condos. Plus, while I hold them as a hyperinflation hedge, I can also use them, which can be done with very few other types of assets.
That is also a possibility. It would work for me but my husband will be working remotely and consulting so we want a upscale apartment community. It is hard researching them because it is all about buying a home in one and we are only looking to rent.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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We essentially did this. I think that a 800, 2+2 is a bit small. A place 950-1100, 2+2, is probably a nicer size. We bought a condo but a rental would have worked too. We also have investments in a condo and a townhouse. Our location is urban with amenities within walking distance. Smaller condo building with a mix of ethnics, single, couples, and ages.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
13,078 posts, read 7,543,778 times
Reputation: 9819
Quote:
Originally Posted by desfleurs
That is also a possibility. It would work for me but my husband will be working remotely and consulting so we want a upscale apartment community. It is hard researching them because it is all about buying a home in one and we are only looking to rent.
Keep looking, zillow rents and other sites are good. Our rental townhouse may become vacant this Sept. New 2018, minisplit AC/heat, gas, gas hotwater & heat, roofdeck, minutes to downtown Seattle, train station, lightrail, blocks to library, hospital, cafes etc.
We are looking at 55 plus communities because we want the amenities. Most include all utilities including internet and cable. I like this idea of just sitting back and have everything taken care of and using the onsite gym, yoga studio as well as taking part in the weekly activities. Just renting a regular apartment or townhouse is not appealing. We can afford 2000 a month.
I’m with you. I love my home, but my next move will be to a 55+ rental. No more issues with replacing moldy decks, dealing with plumbing leaks from the second floor coming through the ceiling, a raccoon in the attic, and all the rest. I also love the idea of going on a winter vacation and just shutting the door without having to worry about frozen pipes.
My next one will be an apartment as well.
My one draw back is I wanted to get a dog and wanted to be able to get out easily for poop breaks.
When I got this place I thought I was being smart getting a condo association but they never fix anything and their answer is always no to maintenance requests. I got on the board to avoid that but ended up doing way more work for ungrateful residents than it would have cost for me just to pay privately for anything that went wrong.
Tired of worrying about bats making it into my home.
Tired of worrying about bees and bees nests
Tired of worrying about mice nests in my compressor
Tired of worrying about leaks when I am not home.
Tired of worrying about severe storms
Tired of worrying about too much snow on the roof.
Tired of feeling trapped in the winter (as Rachel said) because I worry about heater failures and frozen pipes if I just left.
From the moment I moved in it seems I don't have more than 6 weeks peace before there is another problem.
I first leaned toward a dollar and cents answer as I started reading.
If you were going to move and buy I would suggest renting first.
Since you might want to move each year renting is the only way to go.
I would rent as you can always buy latter.
If you move to a fairly large over 55 community you will probably find many trades people that you can hire and avoid all of the home maintenance tasks. Where I live if you buy the battery the fire department will put it in your smoke detector for free thus avoiding the high ceiling problem. A handyman could change your ceiling lights every few years if you use LED's etc. etc.
The 800 sq ft sounds small. Figure out the rooms you want. Bedroom, kitchen/dining area, living room, hobby room/guest bedroom etc. What about a garage. You can probably find a small home to rent to test how much work you have to do vs renting an apartment so no reason not to experiment with the apt first.
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