My parents went to see these small condos near the Nassau Bay area. They told us about them, and these are something I might actually consider buying.
The reason I am not too keen on home ownership is because the main reason I always thought you should buy a home is so that when you pay off your mortgage, you will no longer have monthly housing payments. At least, that's why *I* wanted to buy. This past January, we looked at homes to buy, and learned a lot of stuff we didn't want to learn about the process. Main thing being is that there are all these extra fees with owning that no one ever tells you about. Once you pay off the mortgage, there are all these fees lingering that cost as much as renting an apartment anyway.
These small condos seem like a better deal, though. They do have an association fee of about $250 a month. *However*, this money includes water, electricity and cable. *No* other housing development offered that. The association fees were about the same, $250 a month, but utilities and definitely cable were extra. I was against paying association fees, but I would pay a $250 one if it meant all that was included.
Secondly- the property taxes were only about $1200-$1800 a year. That's a nice drop from the $5-10K of houses here. $5-10 K a year is what people pay per year for rent for apartments. For houses, this is property taxes alone.
But, the 12-1800 a year is a lot more doable. That's what, $100 or a little more a month?
And, the condos themselves were cheap. We could put 10% or 20% down on an average one right now if we wanted to, and the amounts that they cost are low enough for a payoff to be a realistic goal.
Mom was preaching to me and John about it yesterday when John came home for lunch. Then, mom mentioned that when making a down payment, you pay $1000 in "earnest money". John got this look on his face, and said, "What's earnest money?"
Mom said, "Money you pay them when you make the down payment, so that they know you are serious about buying the house."
She went on to say, "Then in a couple of months, they might want a couple thousand more..."
Me and John LOOKED at each other.
Yet another home buying term we never heard of before, that involves a lot of money we didn't know we had to have for this. Ugh... how much more of those will there be? I am not going to drop three grand "just to prove" I want the house. The fact that I am making a down payment alone should tell them I am serious about it. Wtf is wrong with people?
It seems like the further we delve into this process, the more hidden terms and fees pop up that we never had to deal with renting. And we aren't even delving that far!!!
When talking about owning, though, John and I do get hopeful about owning making us approvable for an adoption someday. That was always one of our dreams, to adopt, (although me and John want to for different reasons). I just have a really strong feeling that there is an older boy out there waiting for us, about 4 or 5 or so. I have dreamed about it several times, and I just have "that feeling". We'd most likely not be approved renting, not even in the super classy area that Nassau Bay is. And besides, will social workers think the same about condos that they think about apartments, even if it is owned instead of rented? They are still attached, and still small. Even if they did like our place, how would we explain meeting on the internet, John being an auto tech, etc, etc, etc. We are not sure it's worth it to buy a home, *just* to be able to adopt someday, because it isn't the only thing social workers would look down their noses at.
It's a little premature to be thinking about all of this right now. We'd be best off if we just sat on everything for at least a year. Then again, that's what I am doing right now by typing all of this out. Sitting on it. None of what I am saying right now is part of any kind of serious plan.
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