I truly love my new job (which of course is easy since I haven't started workin yet!) My position is newly created and highly interdisciplinary so I have a lot of freedom to chart my own path. The city is gorgeous--one of the nicest in the South--meaning--HIGH cost of living. I knew this when I applied but it is affecting my ability to do what I really want this year which is purchase a home. The major obstacle is the down payment--grad school stipends haven't really allowed me to save that kind of money. The state does have programs to assist first time buyers but of course my new salary is too high to qualify and just low enough to make purchasing a house in the areas I like difficult without a good downpayment. I'm still lookin into loan programs though but I wanted to get started looking this month because housing in this city goes FAST. So today I just focused on apartments and townhomes and found three I really like that I could see myself in for a year.
- Choice One is a brand new bi-level townhome with an incredible amount of space and an open floor plan which I love. The negative is that the rent is extremely high--I could afford it but it just feels like too much for something I won't own--and all of the bedrooms are upstairs, meaning my office would be upstairs too. They have single level units that are equally impressive, but they are all sold out! It is located in the area I like, but it is a little far from the interstate meaning that my commute could be longer than I anticipated.
- Choice Two is the largest two bedroom in town with a really nice sunroom that could serve as my office. It is very spacious and convenient to my school. I should note that my New School has two campuses in the same town and this place sits right in between them. That's good on the one hand, but this would put me right in the middle of the city--it's noisy and in a spot that could be very annoying to get out of in the morning. So while it is close to school the commute could be long depending on the traffic that day.
- Choice Three is a garden style three bedroom apartment on the way out of town. It is located off of a main drag, but unlike Choice Two, it is not RIGHT on the main drag--it is tucked away from the street in a quiet neighborhood and when you do come out to the main street, there is a traffic light (unlike Choice Two). The negatives however are that in terms of square feet, this choice is the smallest, the layout is not my ideal (the master suite is right by the front door), and it does not let in as much light as Choice Two--and after living in the mountains with little sun, light is very important to me. But the model unit I saw was not the three bedroom unit because that one was being redone so I'm going to go back and see it when it's finish.
Choice Two is in the lead because they main drawback is just location and I can get over that, especially since it's close to the interstate that takes me to work and also takes me back to my hometown. Although the rent is highish, some utilities are paid and the property features (like the gym, clubhouse, pool area) are REALLY nice. They even have guest quarters you can reserve in the event you have extra family or friends staying over. As a result of the overall benefits of the community (most people probably like living in this city location--it's really not that bad--nothing like Times Square of Michigan Ave in Chicago) there is a waiting list that I need to put my name and money on by March if I wanna move there this summer.
Choice Three is a strong back up for me in terms of rental property. My mother hated this property--solely because of the color of the paint on the outside of the buildings. It is a little bright but I don't really care about the outside (and it's in the same color family as Choice Two which she LOVED). The location is great--central but not right on the street--and it has three real bedrooms plus a nice patio. These units are going quickly as well so my plan is to see the model when its finished and make a decision between Choice Two and Three just so I can have my name on a waiting list ASAP.
We saw a lot of units that were just awful and a few that were possible but not really for me. One looked like it was falling apart and they had the nerve to have a high rent. Another was just way too dark--the windows were very small and just one per room. Location was a big issue on a lot of places as well as customer service. There is nothing worse than an apartment with a terrible staff so I crossed those places off my list even though the units were decent. It was truly a busy day and this is just Stage One. Hopefully I'll hear some good news from the folks at the loan office today, but if not, that will just give me more time to focus on rental properties and get my name on the waiting lists to increase my chances of getting a unit I like.
I am exhausted!! Tomorrow will be a clean up day because my office is a mess and I need to do laundry. Writing goal for tomorrow is just 200 words to get me started back to work.
6 comments:
I would strongly advise against Choice One since you know you want to buy a home. Take it from the woman who rented for far too many years before she could buy a home: you won't be able to save the money you'll need for a down payment if so much of your income is eaten up by rent.
Personally, I would go for Choice Three, but that's because location is a big deal to me! :) I plan at looking at houses within a two-mile radius of MSU. I just despise driving very far to work when I could use commute time for far more important things (like Pistola and BH). But it sounds like Choice Two would be good (unless the three bdrm unit you see tonight really wows you).
Thanks abdmom--I really appreciate the advice--I'll be sure to post an update when the Choice Three model is ready!! I know you are right about Choice One--I just wish it wasn't SOOO NICE--I keep trying to rationalize it but you're right.
I think I will probably take the drive to both campuses from both Choice Two and Three to see how long the commute really is next time I go to visit. [We have a main campus and a satellite campus where the graduate courses are primarily taught and I have one course on each campus in the fall.]
Location is a big deal for me, too, but it's hard to live in a place that isn't quite what you want. Then again, maybe that's incentive to save up for that house!
Wow! You got a lot accomplished in a short amount of time. I think I read where you Mom is a real estate agent, did she have contacts in the area? How did you go about finding the various places you looked at?
Ragey--My mom is a realtor--she is good at knowing the kinds of questions to ask--she hooked me up with a realtor in the area who has been shopping for homes for me, but not rental properties--that legwork I had to do on my own with my best friend the Internet and lots of apartment guides.
Both Dr. J and my best friend's families are from the area so they helped me identify the "good" parts of town. I've been to the area twice since the summer--once for the campus visit and once for a conference--both times I drove which also gave me an idea of the areas I liked and didn't like. Once I narrowed down the areas (from about 12 to 3) I just went online and starting going through all the apartment sites for prices, pictures when available, floorplans, square footage and amenities. Since I'd like three bedrooms, or two bedrooms with an office, that narrowed things down quickly. For the few properties I had information on but no pictures or floorplans, I just called and asked about size and also the date of construction. I like older homes but not older apartments so that helped me narrow things down as well.
I went to visit with a list of only 6 must see places, but since they were in the areas I liked, we just drove around the neighborhoods looking for other complexes that weren't advertised on line and scoped out for sale/for rent signs on homes. Although urban sprawl is a problem, the nice thing about it is once you identify the areas of new construction, you generally find more than one apartment complex/housing development in the area. So although I started with six at the beginning of the day, I had seen/visited a TON by the end!!
And of course, that's just me--I like to get a lot done in a little bit of time :)!
Good that you had that information and support. You had a really good plan!
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