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One day, I just snapped. I was tired of my property manager sending me smarmy emails. Between putting padlocks on our dumpsters, emails about people smoking doobies or the fucking ants that took over my kitchen that they never took care of, I was sick of it. After finding out via a Craigslist ad for another apartment in our building that they were increasing our rent and pet fees for a third consecutive year (they never told us they were doing this but then admitted to their plans when we called and asked), me and the Mrs. decided to scrape together some cash and start looking for a new place to live.
I loved this apartment. But the original property manager left us with this trollish looking woman who would show up unannounced. The people that lived in our complex were mostly grad students or young professionals, so it wasn’t a complete shithole, but living with an adult version of an RA got very tired at 26.
Are you tired of paying rent? I know I was. Every day, I see statistics about our generation’s low home owning percentage. It really grinds my gears, knowing my parents and grandparents bought a four bedroom, two and a half bathroom house on a bus driver’s salary with four kids. My grandmother didn’t get her license until she was 47 because they could subsist on this. Me and the Mrs. make enough to be in the top 10% in our state, but between student loans and other bills, we had to take out our entire life savings for a meager down payment.
You know what? I’d do it all again. Originally, we were looking at getting a house. Anything in our price range was so antiquated it looks like the Brady Bunch was filmed there. I was poking around and found something I never thought I’d be into: the townhouse.
The townhouse gets a lot of flak. I held my nose up at it thinking I was above it. “It’s too much like an apartment” (sometimes I can hear one of my neighbors throw up from either drinking too much or from morning sickness because they just had a baby), “What if there’s a fire?” and “I NEED a house because society tells me I need it.” After curbing my attitude and checking the bank, I realized a townhouse isn’t a bad avenue.
If you’re tired of paying rent, have a snarky landlord or are sick of rent increases, look no further. Our mortgage is actually around $200-250 cheaper than rent. There is a first-time homebuyer assistance that lets you have around 3% of a down payment and you can waive the PMI insurance if you’re worried about not having the 20%. The peace of mind knowing that your landlord won’t come in mid-coitus or if you happen to create certain smells or leave anything suspicious in the open, the police won’t be waiting for you to return home. Nobody but the bank can evict you from your own house, and the only people who show up unannounced are the in-laws or our redneck neighbors.
Coming home and doing whatever you want without fear of losing a security deposit was more than worth it for me. Sometimes things get broken, spilled or are in need of general repair. It’s nice not being at the mercy of some lackey that will redneck engineer it, only for it to break and create a giant mess later and cause you to lose your entire security deposit. I wish this wasn’t based on a true story.
I don’t plan on being where I am forever, but it’s great knowing I have a backup plan for if my life fails down the road and an investment property. Buying real estate in a college town ensures you will rarely lose money. We can rent our place for much more than we pay for it.
It’s also a fun project for yourself, friends, spouses, etc. to work on a place together and make it your own. I’ve put in blueberry, blackberry and raspberry bushes as well as a grape vine at mine, and we’ve already recruited friends to help build and then enjoy a fire pit and garden this spring. The Mrs. repainted half the place because the people before painted half the rooms throw-up Tennessee orange that we couldn’t sit with. Making it your own is the name of the game.
I’ve lived in my townhouse for around six months now. Sure, it’d be great to have a house in the county with limitless land, a pond, a gun range and whatever else I decide I want in my dream home. Maybe one day; but as a postgrad balling on a budget, the #Townhouselife is what I live and what I rep. .
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Madoff
I specialize in damage control, being the drunkest at any and all functions and social assassination. Always appreciate a strong gif game. Follow me on Twitter. Sometimes I put up cool stuff about golfing at the local dirt tracks.
@BLMInvestment
And it probably makes a pretty solid rental property when you decide to move on some day.
I still have yet to paint anything in my house. PGP.
This gives me so much hope.
Great job Madoff! Glad to hear you are finally investing in something worth while.
You have a Mrs. so this may not be as important to you, but to all you other post grads, this could be a way to basically buy a house with only a 3.5% down payment. If you have friends who are currently renting and would much rather rent from you and you have a down payment, then go buy a house in the burbs or some where near downtown. Make sure it’s at least 3 bedrooms, preferably 4. Once you buy the house rent the extra bedrooms out to your friends for less than what they are paying in rent to live in an apartment and split utilities with them. Typically you will probably be looking at a $1200 mortgage depending on where you live (I live in Kansas City, so real estate is not too crazy expensive). If you charge $400 a month for rent then you will basically be having your friends pay your mortgage and all oyu had to do was come up with the down payment money. In 5 years, after you have hopefully gotten a promotion and are making better money, sell the place with all of that free equity and move in to a nicer place. OR keep it and continue to rent it out as an investment property.
I know plenty of investor clients of mine who said that when the market crashed in 2008 (way before I was out of college) and they were laid off their jobs that the only thing that kept them above water was that they owned around 5 – 10 rental houses that each generated an average of $1500 in rent for them a month.
Just some food for thought.
You said it better than me but ours is a 2 (was three but it was made into a master bedroom and smaller spare) bedroom townhouse in a large college town. I will never have an issue renting this place. I feel like people should be doing this kind of stuff.
Let’s be honest, you could rent an over sized cardboard box out in a large college town. Always told my parents when I was in college that they needed to buy up some rental properties in my college town, they didn’t listen. Between my freshman and senior year, home values went up 40% where I was at. and rental rates went up about the same. College kids will pay for anything for a decent place to live… hell, even a shitty place to live.
24 and just moved into my first apartment (PGP) in December and am already considering buying into a building when my lease is up in a year.
If I wasn’t planning on leaving this city in 2017, I was looking at buying. Main reason was a detached garage for a wood shop and something to spend my evenings fixing. I get bored
If Cliff Huxtable is still around those parts, tell the Mrs. to be careful.
On an unrelated note PMI is the bane of my existence. The thought of paying it each month makes writing the check for student loans seem enjoyable.
20% down on anything is unattainable for a large majority of the population. It’s brutal. But you can get rid of it once you’ve got 20% vested into it. Or you can forego PMI at the cost of higher interest rates. There are options, but its more or less how you want to get fucked, not if.
I had 25% and I was still forced to get PMI because ownership in the building wasn’t over 80%. Was able to get rid of it the following year but still bullshit.
Now that is a loophole of I have ever heard of one…
As long as you are in an area you can easily rent it out, Condos/Townhouses are a good deal. But they are the first to shit the bed and last to recover in the housing market. I just can’t bring myself to pay monthly fees some of the places charge and still be butts to nuts with my neighbors so Mrs. and I waited it out till we could afford a down payment on a house. In the process of shopping now, nerve-racking…
Me too, Cush…me too. Of course I’m between a house in a neighborhood I like and townhouse in the neighborhood I love (all there really is since the area is all houses built in the 1800s and a standalone house there goes for $400k+).
Buddy from high school will probably end up being my beer/house repairs money.
In a college town, renting a townhouse would take me less than 30 mins. My neighbors pay $900+ for their places to my $600 a month in mortgage and we have a lot nicer shit than their redneck ratnest.
Just bought a condo and I’m in the the same boat. My mortgage payment will be less than what I paid in rent and I get more square footage, a deeded parking space, and it’ll be a great little rental property in the future.
What about the HOA fee? In my area, that’s at least another $300+ a month, which when added to the taxes makes a condo less affordable than a house.
It’s about $280/month which covers water/sewer among other things. I was able to move into a county with low property taxes though so it kind of evens out.
Some of the townhouses in my area are really nice. And being a homeowner is a good investment. If you want to upgrade to a house in the country in a couple years, you can use the equity from your home as a down payment. In a year I plan on being able to afford a lake condo with a boat slip included.