this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
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That's one of the main reasons why I don't understand my younger friends' insistence on starting with a single family house! I'm very handy, I built an extension to my mother's house, redid most of her plumbing, I know my way around a house electricity and so on... My first property was a condo so I wouldn't have to take care of most of that bullshit and could just enjoy having my own place and setting most of my housing budget "aside" instead of giving it all to a landlord or paying for upkeep that wouldn't increase my property's value.
But when I tell my friends that complain about not being able to afford a house that they should look into buying a condo as their first property instead? Yuck! That's out of the question! Paying condo fees? Are you crazy?
As if a house didn't come with the responsibility to put the equivalent to condo fees aside, just in case!
I'm guessing it's mostly about building equity. The average net worth of a home owner is $225k, while the average net worth of a renter is $6k. You can usually get a lot of the money you pay for your mortgage back if you really need to (and likely much more long-term, if the housing market isn't down). And you can do whatever you want with a house you own (change flooring, remodel, make garden beds, install solar panels, build a workshop, etc).
Renting makes sense if you plan on moving again within the next 5 years, or if you are very high income, can build significant equity while also paying rent, and just want everything taken care for you.
That's why I'm saying starting with a condo makes a whole lot of sense, it's the compromise between the two, but it seems less and less people want to start small to be able to afford something bigger later... My friends are just staying at their parents' or in their authentic instead, even if they have more than enough money to afford a condo, but not enough for a house 🤷
Having owned a condo - I can't honestly recommend them.
You're beholden to an HOA in every way that can charge whatever they want.
I was paying $600/month for a green pool, a broken grill, and an 'unassigned' parking spot.
My place flooded 7 times in 6 years due to 'unforeseen circumstances' with no recourse because there is no way of knowing which of the 15 units above me leaked, or if it was a central pipe.
It sucked dick
You realise the HOA is... the owners...
And I call bullshit on the no recourse, insurance companies would never have let it fly because the owner responsible is the one who's insurance would have had to pay for the damage.
If you don't have the means to buy a house now but have the means to buy another type of property that will allow you to buy a house at a later date, why would you continue living in an apartment where you're already living next to a bunch of people instead of just becoming an owner of something equivalent that you can sell at a later date to get most (if not all) of your money back?
Nothing in my message is about my friends not being worthy of ownership, it's about them wanting to go from nothing to everything in one step and not being willing to compromise in the meantime since they can't afford to make the leap.
Do people expect to start their first job out of school as a manager or they expect to have to go up the ladder and learn their trade first? Why wouldn't they expect that their first property won't be their dream house?
Otherwise people can live somewhere far enough that they can buy their dream house for cheap as a first purchase and they deal with the other compromise, which is that professional opportunities are scarce and services are far.