Buying A House: C or D?

so sad out here

haha holy shit

http://p.rdcpix.com/v01/l37443045-m9xd-w640_h480_q80.jpg

http://p.rdcpix.com/v01/l37443045-m16o.jpg

http://p.rdcpix.com/v01/l37443045-m32o.jpg

i thought boston was bad, jesus christ

yeah, but the desirable neighborhood!

http://p.rdcpix.com/v01/l37443045-m3xd-w640_h480_q80.jpg

ah, a fixer upper

;_;

lol i just now read an article about nyers heading to los angeles for the cheaper housing

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/style/los-angeles-and-its-booming-creative-class-lures-new-yorkers.html?fb_ref=Default

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/05/03/fashion/03LANY/3LANY-master675.jpg

"we have our own studio in that burned out living room!!!"

following these last two winters it's sounding like a good idea anyway

Not a bad little azalea bush.

http://i.imgur.com/IHdh8Oo.png

The $80k pile of mildew from above is, shockingly, still on the market.

The house across the alley from mine in Seattle just sold for 135K over asking and I thought they were crazy for what they listed it for to begin with.

new plan: move to idaho, cook the potatoes in a pit like the master chefs on netflix, live off of the potatoes

Not a bad little azalea bush.

bougainvillea?

i only move to places that have water

yeah, water that freezes in the air before reaching the ground for two thirds of the year. burn.

Location, location, location, people.

Yeah, tbh, that parking lot next door could use a little expanding.

I'm still up for pooling resources and finding a cheap castle in galway for whoever wants in

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2921-Livingston-Ave_Fort-Worth_TX_76110_M76143-54808?row=1

Feeling this

I can't imagine having $25k for a 20% down payment ever, do realtors help people navigate down payment assistance and all that kind of stuff?

I believe that you can sometimes put 10% down and then get a higher-rate loan on the remaining 10%

you could talk to an agent, but you may want to just go talk to the bank that you'll use. They are the ones who'll tell you how much they'll loan you and at what down payment. I've never bought a home, though.

i put down like 6% i think including an interest free down payment assistance loan from the state. lender should help you find down payment assistance. they helped me find that and another thing for state employees that had a lower rate. my PMI is only $45/month.

We went through FHA, and were essentially 'assigned' a realtor who specializes in first time homebuyers & FHA loan sales. She came with a loan officer who worked with us on establishing a source of funding and a preapproval amount. With FHA loans at that time (2010) we were able to up 3.5% down. We were saddled with mortgage insurance of course, though luckily got in before the premium percentages on mortgage insurance went up.

That Fort Worth property is selling for twice what it sold for less than a year ago

yeah FHA mortgage insurance is way expensive now. i was steered away from FHA and am glad.

couple long-term things on my house need fixing and wouldn't clear FHA inspection also

http://www.highrises.com/fort-worth/listing/13104329-fort-worth-condominium-one-montgomery-plaza-residence-2600-w-7th-street-w-1833/

This building is really cool - they took an abandoned Montgomery Ward department store and created an opening in the middle for 'mixed-use' on the first floor. But I can't imagine who pays $1.6mn for a condo with a Pei Wei and FroYo on the first floor and which overlooks a giant parking lot leading to a Dollar Tree, Ross and Target, with a Chik-Fil-A in between.

Which may be why so many of the properties are still available.

otoh, $1.5mn for those same amenities AND it looks like a divorce lawyer's office so maybe that one's a steal

http://www.highrises.com/fort-worth/listing/12181915-fort-worth-condominium-one-montgomery-plaze-res-condo-2600-w-7th-street-w-2840/

I am moving to Dallas

I can cook potatoes in a pit in Dallas

We've got something like that too. $1500 a month to live in the parking lot of a Target.

http://i.imgur.com/JvV3Sfa.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/mg6cGDE.jpg

That tall red building in the back of the second one is the hospital... ya know, in case your slumber has been missing the sounds of MedFlight™ every night.

I would love to live in the parking lot of a Super Target

I might pay that much to live inside the Target, but c'mon.

Having a lot of existential angst about next housing decision. Don't want to overextend on an overpriced place in SoCal but rents are completely untenable even if you're completely flexible as to what you're looking for.

Weirdly, the most logical plan seems to be living in a van until the housing collapse but that seems like so much unnecessary adrenaline.

I can't imagine having I can't imagine having $25k for a 20% down payment ever, do realtors help people navigate down payment assistance and all that kind of stuff?5k for a 20% down payment ever, do realtors help people navigate down payment assistance and all that kind of stuff?

Check your county's housing authority. They should have a list of downpayment assistance programs and may even offer a class to ease you through the process. The class I took was super beneficial to me, because I had no idea what I was doing before it.

Some years ago we looked at apartments here: http://www.themarketcommonclarendon.com/index.aspx

From $2,500 to $4,000 a month for smallish yet glitzy apartments... upstairs from an Apple Store, Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, Crate & Barrel, and Barnes & Noble. Merely across the street from Whole Foods.

So we'd have paid twice as much to live there as slightly larger apartments slightly further away - so we'd have even less money left over to deal with the temptations of living above a bookstore, as well as divers other purveyors of yuploid objects of desire. We backed slowly away and thanked them for their time.

In many respects I like New Urban design and planning: Vastly better to live in more density and nearer to transit, stores, restaurants, and other amenities than be relegated to the sprawliest of exurbs and have to drive every time you need milk. But I also wish this type of development weren't so often reserved as a boutique luxury product for a tiny few rich people. How about a branch bank, a post office, or a dry cleaner instead of Penzey's Spices and the Gap? Or even in addition to those.

That house on Livingston is dope. Looks like they did a really good job with the renovation/updating.

On paper, I'm all for urban planning with people living within walking distance of shops, entertainment, necessities. And in areas like that one - that were built up in the age of the automobile - being so close to those amenities is definitely on the right track.

But that said, good lord, building up condos across the 20,000-SF parking lot from a box store is just a tacky way of going about it.

This sorta killed me today:

http://i.imgur.com/WFonuVI.jpg

The other thing about those million-plus condos is that there's very little that's easily walkable aside from the aforementioned Target. Across the street there's an Urban Outfitters, some bars, one great restaurant. It just adds insult to injury to spend that much and still have to drive for so much of your life.

The idea of transit oriented development is gain popularity around here. In the past, Chicago's zoning restrictions have required large amount of off street parking spaces for large residential buildings. Because of that, we've gotten a lot of single family homes or 2/3 flats where there could have been much larger buildings with more units. A TOD ordinance was passed in the last few years that lightened those restrictions if they are built within a certain distance of a train station. So we've had a few of them pop up (like http://www.1611westdivision.com/) and many more planned. Unlike the ones mentioned above that are just residential buildings built in the middle of some big box retailers, these are in very desirable locations, in vibrant neighborhoods, close to transit and tons of bars, shops, conveniences that make city living without a car much nicer.

The problem is, at least for me, these, and many of the others that are planned, are complete luxury items. Just at the one of Division, studios are almost 2K and 2 bedrooms around 3K, just to rent. Don't even talk to me about buying. As a parent of a toddler and no car, I would love to live in one. But a two bedroom one just ain't happening with my current income.

And yes, I could live in other places relatively close to these for cheaper. But once in my life I would like to live in a newer construction that has hardwood floors that don't squeak, central air and heat that works well, nice appliances, and everything else that a new construction offers over the cheaper vintages.

I'll never go back to a place with only two-pronged outlets. Sorry, been spoiled.