Anonymous wrote:

AroundTheBlock wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Condo fees are small potatoes compared to SFH maintenance/repairs you'll likely need to pay for. What do experts recommend to budget for home maintenance (not upgrades!)? Is it 3%?

Disagree. This person is paying $5,040 a year for condo fees. Depending on the condition of the house, a home owner will not pay out more than $5,040 a year for maintenance.

Maintenance, utilities and insurance? I'm pretty sure on our SFH (2011 build, +/- 3,500 SF) we pay at least that for those 3 items. Heck, yard maintenance (and I do most of that myself) is probably close to $2,000. Insurance is $600, water is $250, water filter replacement is a couple hundred, HVAC filters are $50 each. And that's assuming we never have a plumber or repair person over for anything.

Any given repair in the house will likely set you back at least a few grand. Roof leak, AC issue, basement flooding, chimney, sewage back up, you name it. And these things do happen regularly.

AroundTheBlock wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Condo fees are small potatoes compared to SFH maintenance/repairs you'll likely need to pay for. What do experts recommend to budget for home maintenance (not upgrades!)? Is it 3%?

Disagree. This person is paying $5,040 a year for condo fees. Depending on the condition of the house, a home owner will not pay out more than $5,040 a year for maintenance.

Maintenance, utilities and insurance? I'm pretty sure on our SFH (2011 build, +/- 3,500 SF) we pay at least that for those 3 items. Heck, yard maintenance (and I do most of that myself) is probably close to $2,000. Insurance is $600, water is $250, water filter replacement is a couple hundred, HVAC filters are $50 each. And that's assuming we never have a plumber or repair person over for anything.

Anonymous wrote:Condo fees are small potatoes compared to SFH maintenance/repairs you'll likely need to pay for. What do experts recommend to budget for home maintenance (not upgrades!)? Is it 3%?

Disagree. This person is paying $5,040 a year for condo fees. Depending on the condition of the house, a home owner will not pay out more than $5,040 a year for maintenance.

Before you compare how much you will save or can afford, you need to find out how much you're willing to spend on a SFH. Currently, Arlington has a very tight SFH market and good houses are flying off the market within 48 hours.

Considering you are on a budget I would look at the area where you want to purchase a home and find out how much it will cost.

In the end both rent and condo fees are the same as tossing money down the toilet. Buying is the way to go.

Condo fees are small potatoes compared to SFH maintenance/repairs you'll likely need to pay for. What do experts recommend to budget for home maintenance (not upgrades!)? Is it 3%?

I think condo fees are often higher than they need to be, but I also think it's as much about the lifestyle/specific housing as the fees.

Makes sense if you can afford it, and you prefer the things that come with SFH -- yard work, separate walls.
But be aware that you may need to pay a HOA fee (although likely much less than your condo fee). And that your condo fee often times covers utilities that you will now need to pay on your own (i.e. water, sewage, trash).
Run the number, and you'll know if it make financial sense.

We currently live in a condo townhouse in S. Arlington. condo fee is $420 a month, mortgage is around $1400 (recently refinanced and took a slightly higher rate to avoid closing costs because we would like to sell within 2-3 years, possibly sooner). We think that if we we sell we will walk away with around $160k. Our thought is that we could afford a SFH and pay more mortgage since we would be losing the condo fee. However, I realize that we would need more $ for insurance and for taxes (especially if we stay in Arlington). We are also hoping to have another baby in the next 2 years. Does it make sense to sell? Should we try to lose the condo fee?