Wife and I Are At Odds..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:3 person family does not need a 6 bedroom house. Yikes.

+1. A 3bd condo will be plenty for you, a baby, and a guest room for when family visits. You can always put a crib in the guest bedroom when you have a second baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With your future plans, definitely the house. Condos are generally a terrible investment and with a recession on the way, you won’t be in a position to buy a condo now and upgrade later unless you get some sort of cash windfall.

Also, for the type of condo that you’re describing, what is the monthly maintenance fee? Generally fees are astronomical in large buildings, making that 670k condo more in particular with the larger house.

OP here. It’s a 10 unit building and the HOA’s are $254/month. My wife wants to buy a house in the suburbs with a large yard 4-5 years down the line. Moving to the suburbs isn’t possible with our jobs in the city right now. Both of our jobs are within 15 minutes from the condo, and 20-30 from the house. She doesn’t want to have to clean sand furnish such a large house either.

One of my closest friends is a real estate broker. He too agreed condo is best option. Condos in our area have been selling faster than houses. Some of the houses have been sitting for 2-6 months, but most condos listed are selling within weeks. Another condo unit in the same building sold within two weeks. All 5 units of a condo building a block away sold within a week.

Both your realtor and you need to do a little reading up on the last housing bust and how well condos fair in economic downturns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same troll poster who wants his wife to stop breastfeeding? Is it not? Your thread title (all caps and two dots..) gave it away.

Wife and I Are At Odds..
Want Wife To Stop Breastfeeding..

OP here. Lots of other posters use the “ ...” mark which is why I did. I’m not that poster and I don’t see any breastfeeding topic on this forum. My wife and I are expecting our first child in May. She is not 38 and I’m not an MD.

Expecting your first? Definitely condo!

[Anonymous]

skip the condo.

waste of transaction fees on the buy and sell, and HOA fees.

if you like the schools situation and commute and amenities situation I'd go with the house. a few years will fly by, so will 5 or 7.

most married with kids people we know who got a condo or townhouse, regretted that move. unless they got some kid of timing right and doubled their home equity.

just show her some numbers on 2% recordation tax, 6% all in real estate fees, HOA fees rising 5-10% a year and appreciation minimal.

two real estate transactions are a lot of fees if you can just do one final forever home purchase.

[Anonymous]

The most financially sound solution is to rent is to rent a suitable condo if you can find one with a rent at or near your estimated mortgage/HOA cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With your future plans, definitely the house. Condos are generally a terrible investment and with a recession on the way, you won’t be in a position to buy a condo now and upgrade later unless you get some sort of cash windfall.

Also, for the type of condo that you’re describing, what is the monthly maintenance fee? Generally fees are astronomical in large buildings, making that 670k condo more in particular with the larger house.

OP here. It’s a 10 unit building and the HOA’s are $254/month. My wife wants to buy a house in the suburbs with a large yard 4-5 years down the line. Moving to the suburbs isn’t possible with our jobs in the city right now. Both of our jobs are within 15 minutes from the condo, and 20-30 from the house. She doesn’t want to have to clean sand furnish such a large house either.

One of my closest friends is a real estate broker. He too agreed condo is best option. Condos in our area have been selling faster than houses. Some of the houses have been sitting for 2-6 months, but most condos listed are selling within weeks. Another condo unit in the same building sold within two weeks. All 5 units of a condo building a block away sold within a week.

You are moving to the suburbs, man. Buying a six bedroom house in the city isn’t going to change that. No one thinks they want to move to the suburbs, has three kids, then realizes they actually want to live in the city.
You would be better off spending your time looking for new jobs that offer telework or have offices in the suburbs rather than looking for houses/condos close to your current jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a child coming, why buy a house without a fenced yard?

OP here. Neither place has a yard.

I can see buying a 600K condo without a yard, but spending 1.5 million on a house without one is silly.

I have an idea: Hiw about a compromise? You guys could buy a 2000 square foot townhouse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With your future plans, definitely the house. Condos are generally a terrible investment and with a recession on the way, you won’t be in a position to buy a condo now and upgrade later unless you get some sort of cash windfall.

Also, for the type of condo that you’re describing, what is the monthly maintenance fee? Generally fees are astronomical in large buildings, making that 670k condo more in particular with the larger house.

OP here. It’s a 10 unit building and the HOA’s are $254/month. My wife wants to buy a house in the suburbs with a large yard 4-5 years down the line. Moving to the suburbs isn’t possible with our jobs in the city right now. Both of our jobs are within 15 minutes from the condo, and 20-30 from the house. She doesn’t want to have to clean sand furnish such a large house either.

One of my closest friends is a real estate broker. He too agreed condo is best option. Condos in our area have been selling faster than houses. Some of the houses have been sitting for 2-6 months, but most condos listed are selling within weeks. Another condo unit in the same building sold within two weeks. All 5 units of a condo building a block away sold within a week.

Just a general thought but you don't need to furnish the entire house immediately. For example, you can leave the bedrooms empty except perhaps a guest bedroom and the cleaning will be very easy (quick vacuum every so often). Similarly, there may be rooms downstairs that you don't need to use immediately and do not need to furnish as soon as you buy the house.

Did you say how much you guys make? I might have some concerns regarding such a high purchase price. In any event, I would not buy a condo that you intend to move out of in 4-5 years, transaction costs will kill any potential profit. Try to buy something you can live in for a longer period of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That house sounds absolutely stupid.

+1 6 bedrooms and no yard? It's like a B&B or something. This is not a house a family grows into, OP. When you actually have little kids you won't want 3 decks you'll want a yard.

[Anonymous]

Your wife is going to have a baby.
Your wife wants a condo.
Your wife will do the cleaning.
Your wife doesn't want to make big decisions (decide how to furnish a house).
You presumably love your wife, who will be the mother of your soon to be arriving child.

Get a condo.

What you (the man) gets out of a condo: your wife is happy, which is priceless

What will happen if you get a house: your wife is unhappy, your baby is unhappy, she outsources everything so your bank account is unhappy, etc. You see how this plays out?

I repeat, this is an easy decision, get the condo.

Signed,
A man who no longer lives in a condo because my wife wanted a house

[Anonymous]

Happy Wife Happy Life

[Anonymous]

Read the threads on coronavirus and kid activities.

All of the families doing activities are going to do them in the
back yard.

Don't buy a house without a yard.

[Anonymous]

Neither seems like a good choice.
Do you absolutely need to move right now?

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why those are your only choices? Could you not find a smaller house in your desired neighborhood?

If forced to pick between the two, I'd pick the condo. Better commute, close to everything, much easier to maintain, and much, much cheaper than the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Happy Wife Happy Life

to add, if you get the house, pretty good chance you're not going to be having regular sex with your wife anytime soon, thereby your chances to have 2-3 kids is going to go waaayyyy down