Condos can be really expensive. But condos that are actually duplexes? It's a terrible idea.
We spent $162K for our house, and the county estimated $90K of it is the 4K square feet of 30° hillside with no view, no sewer access, no parking, no southern exposure, and worse, our only redwoods trees are to the south of us, which means we don't dare cut down 48" diameter trees just so we won't actually get sun.
I don't know how or why people pay so much for houses in the suburbs; a house like ours in Cupertino (near Apple) would be nearly a million dollars... Most of it the land, again. And people who buy those, don't leave them with cheap appliances.
You're reminding me of the people I knew in Scranton - they were children of th '40s and earlier and couldn't imagine $5,000 being only a down payment (had that discussion more than once - they insisted it had to be greed to be buying a house that cost more than $5k.)
We paid $129k for our place in the City of Durham, NC.
Told you that, didn't I? After fifteen years together Angela and I have finally bought our own place, and the timing was such that the deed got entered with my name rather than His. :)
With the bubble down, more of us can dare to dream... Assuming we retained our jobs. I know more than a few who haven't. But those who have... I dared not believe we'd afford a house in these hills, ya know?
That is a concern for us as well, but we played this one the best we could. Our monthly mortgage payment is less than we were paying for rent (ignoring the increase that would have happened had we renewed.)
We could have easily afforded to buy in Pennsylvania but didn't because we wanted to eventually move. Thirteen years later we did. We knew that had we bought we'd never have been able to afford to move. We'd have had to sell fairly quickly to make a move and the market there never supported that - 90 days was a fast sale in that region, even in the height of the bubble.
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We spent $162K for our house, and the county estimated $90K of it is the 4K square feet of 30° hillside with no view, no sewer access, no parking, no southern exposure, and worse, our only redwoods trees are to the south of us, which means we don't dare cut down 48" diameter trees just so we won't actually get sun.
I don't know how or why people pay so much for houses in the suburbs; a house like ours in Cupertino (near Apple) would be nearly a million dollars... Most of it the land, again. And people who buy those, don't leave them with cheap appliances.
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congrats!!!!!
i hope you love it!
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~800sqft indoors, and three flights of stairs from the street ^-^
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We paid $129k for our place in the City of Durham, NC.
Told you that, didn't I? After fifteen years together Angela and I have finally bought our own place, and the timing was such that the deed got entered with my name rather than His. :)
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With the bubble down, more of us can dare to dream... Assuming we retained our jobs. I know more than a few who haven't. But those who have... I dared not believe we'd afford a house in these hills, ya know?
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That is a concern for us as well, but we played this one the best we could. Our monthly mortgage payment is less than we were paying for rent (ignoring the increase that would have happened had we renewed.)
We could have easily afforded to buy in Pennsylvania but didn't because we wanted to eventually move. Thirteen years later we did. We knew that had we bought we'd never have been able to afford to move. We'd have had to sell fairly quickly to make a move and the market there never supported that - 90 days was a fast sale in that region, even in the height of the bubble.
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