As many of you know, for the last two months I've been looking at condos. When my apartment lease re'ups, my rent will increase to about $2,000/month. This is for a 2BR / 2Ba for godsakes!
Here's a slideshow of the 40+ places I've looked at:
(they all run together after awhile, eh?)
In other words, my decision to buy a place isn't motivated by a dream to have 1,000 sq. feet in a people farm to call my own. I'm doing it because a mortgage is cheaper than my damn rent. My wonderful and fantastic roommates have agreed to stay roomies with me and help me pay the mortgage. They are the most kind and generous people who have ever lived.
I'm running into a big problem though: a lot of condos are short sales. At first I thought, "sweet, I'm going to score a great deal." Unfortunately, the banks don't like FHA (first time home buyer) loans.
I put an offer in on a place this weekend - the third offer I've put in. The prior two were turned down because the bank found someone who could put 20% down (FHA only requires 3.5% down).
It's like that conundrum that new college grads get stuck with: they have no job experience and can't get any job experience because no one will hire them. Same same with being a first time homebuyer: I can' t get into a place because I can't afford a 20% down payment. I can't afford a 20% down payment because I pay all my money in rent! Arrrrgh!
Well now that I've bummed you out, here's a link to
the place I'm hoping to buy. There's a virtual tour if you click "read more."
UPDATE: I put an offer in on the 21st and have started escrow, WTF? The link above doesn't work anymore because the place is off the market. Click the Read More link below to look at the virtual tour.
Take a virtual tour and keep your fingers crossed!
