I'm going to be a homeowner

[Alex]

Well, maybe. I'm in the process of it.

Been renting in a condo for 1.5 years and I'm going to be purchasing from landlord (person, not business). 77k, 20% down, 10 year conventional mortgage.

I already went over condo association financials/minutes, getting an inspector, and I am getting a real estate attorney to manage the paperwork (since I don't need an agent) for a flat fee.

Already did the rent vs buy calculations, and buying comes out on top after 2 years even if the place deprecates -3% YoY. Also, it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay under what I can afford, so that's nice. And I like the place (obviously, I've been living here 1.5yrs and want to purchase!).

My first home! Any advice?

[Joel]

77k is the full price?! Damn, this is when moving out of California sounds great!

Congrats. What's your rent for the place? $770 or more? If so, that's a good financial deal based on the 1% rule.

[Alex]

$840 and I pay utilities separately anyways, so it works out pretty good!

Yeah, even for Madison, WI 77K is pretty low. I'm very happy with the place I am in -- It's a unique, south facing loft. And not sketchy. Also has a wood burning fireplace

[Alex]

I should also mention - I split with my SO, so I only pay $420 per month.

Since she's not on the mortgage or anything (we're not married) she is planning on continuing paying $420 to me instead as 'rent'.

[Joel]

That's great. Congrats!

[Sunflash]

Wow congrats! Good luck. I've never gone the condo route but it sounds like a great deal.

[asromzek]

We are just starting the process of looking for a home, and I'm looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. Our student loan debt was eliminated last year, and that sort of crushed our savings. We've been slowly rebuilding our reserve, and without any other debt (beside a small car loan) we're not in terrible shape. I really wish we had enough for a 20% down payment, but we're going to have to get creative. I just scheduled a meeting with our credit union to talk about our options, so we'll see how that goes...

[godlo]

WTF! 77k? how many rooms/square feet?

At the end of 2009 I spent 200k € for an apartment in Italy (860 square feet).

US is that cheaper?

[heyboots]

I bought a 2 bed 1 bath house in Michigan a year ago for $85k. It's well enough for just me, but I'd like to work up to getting a place with acreage in like 5 years or so.

I bought the house with the express requirement that it'd be about as expensive as renting and if something catastrophic happened, I wouldn't be bothered too much if it was a total loss and I had to just walk away from it and give it to the bank.

There's always something to do though. My water heater is running out of hot water when i shower after like 5 minutes lately and now I gotta deal with that.

[Sunflash]

@heyboots probably a bad heating element fyi. I just dealt with this. I fixed it DIY, it was cheap, but a pain.

[heyboots]

Yeah that's what I figured, I was gonna get the multimeter out tonight and test some shit. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

[Alex]

WTF! 77k? how many rooms/square feet?

At the end of 2009 I spent 200k € for an apartment in Italy (860 square feet).

US is that cheaper?

It's pretty small. You enter on the first floor, immediately there are stairs to second floor, then kitchen/bathroom/living room, and then there are stairs to the lofted bedroom.

The good news is it's small but since I've been living there I know that it's a good size for me. There's just enough space for my skydiving gear, scuba gear, hiking gear, electrics etc.

It's also not normal for the US. West coast in large-ish cities would be triple, at least.

According to the interwebs it's ~720 sq ft, but it 'feels' bigger because of the high ceiling/loft.

I might post pics later...