First-Time Homeowner Regrets and Resolutions
photo credit: Nieve44/La Luz
I finally admitted to myself that I don’t really like our new neighborhood. The house is great, so are my neighbors, the community etc. But I hate where we are located. While we were sure to choose a home near the metro and 495/95 and got more house for the buck, I miss our old neighborhood. Someone please tell me that this is temporary! I get nostalgic every time I visit where we used to live, and I’ve even asked hubby to consider renting out our current home while we go back to renting in our old neighborhood.
The Old Stomping Ground
If there ever were a perfect place to live in DC metro this would have been it. The metro was across the street, night life and restaurants a 2 minute walk away, good schools, great residential neighborhood with young couples and established older folks, Costco, Harris Teeter, Target and the shopping center and the mall are within walking distance and the highway is but 4-5 blocks away. It was perfect.
But the reality was that we weren’t going to pay $650k for a 3-bedroom condo or the same for a 2br older home. While our mortgage is the same as what we were paying for rent, I would happily rent out our home and move back there to rent a 2BR apartment. Happily. In fact, I’m drafting up a plan for hubby to consider later this week as I put a tester ad on Craigslist to see how many people bite.
Our Current Diggs
Again, the house and community are great. But I really miss the convenience of our old neighborhood and lifestyle. I dislike the county government because they, well they suck. No organization, taxes are being raised even as our property values are going down, utilities are going up even after notifying us of the first increase when we closed last summer and the schools are horrid. We knew about the schools but the other issues are still playing out which has really turned me off from the area as a whole. I hate having to drive to another county to go to Trader Joes and Whole Foods and frankly, I’m over the “area”. Folks tout where we live as being where all the upwardly mobile black folks live and frankly I’m over it. Talk to me when the county government has all my files in front of them and I’m not waiting for things to show up from 30 days prior and government workers answer the phone as if you are bothering them at home.
The Plan <insert evil laugh here>
I’ve already consulted with my attorney/real estate agent girlfriend about the ins and outs of land lording specifically in my state. I know that the landlord tenant laws favor the landlord and how much time I’d have before I can kick a non-paying tenant out. But this is where researching tenant employer, rental and backgrounds come into play. During these hard times, I need to make sure that we get someone with a clean history.
If hubby agrees to this we will also have at last 3-4 months of mortgage payments saved, we already do but I’d want this to be a separate account from our emergency fund.
The Numbers
I crunched numbers briefly last night and we would still come out on top and at the very least break-even. Our mortgage is $2400 a month including taxes and the rental unit in our old neighborhood ranges between $1500-$1800 depending on if we catch them on a special or take over someone else’s lease. Craigslist is good for this as this is how we got our first lease on the cheap by taking over someone else’s lease while they were still on a promotion. So at the high end we would still save $600 per month and if we had to go low because the average rents for our home are around $2200 we would still save $400 per month.
I’m still mulling this over and plan to talk with a CPA/Financial Planner this coming weekend to help us figure out if this would be a good move for us. So if you’re in the DC metro and know a really good CPA that can file our taxes and give us personal finance advice then please contact me. This would be our second consultation with a financial adviser but the first wasn’t a CPA, but an attorney.
I know some of you are gasping and clutching your pearls about giving up our home in exchange for renting but the fact is all homeowners are paying rent to the bank. That home isn’t yours until you pay the last dollar back to the bank 30 years from now. Besides, we still get to claim the interest on the home while saving at least $400-$600 a month and being totally happy with the neighborhood and lifestyle we value.
Should we have bought in the first place? I honestly don’t know, we just knew that we didn’t want to continue to pay so much money for a one bedroom apartment with no real benefits. So its a trade off and perhaps this new arrangement will be the silver lining as we try to make the best of the situation.
I’m sure I’m missing a few things that I haven’t considered, feel free to address any concerns in the comment area and tell me what you think. Do people normally give up their home in favor of renting? I know that Millionaire Mommy Next Door has but I’d love to hear from others who took this route.
About the Author: Girls Just Wanna Have Funds is for the woman that wants to take charge of her personal finances. We value budgeting, investing, frugality and remain mindful of our spending habits. Move over and make way for women who are in control of their financial destinies and not afraid to say it. We're armed with a positive net worth and not afraid to flaunt it while breaking financial ceilings one stiletto at a time!
