Moving back into an apartment

[lockd-97]

So the and I are thinking about selling our house and moving back into an apartment to pay off some debt. We could possibly clear around $30k if the house sells for what it suppose to worth. This would be a temporary thing untill I finish school and we are in a better place financially. Anyway, it's been ten years since I lived in an apartment. What are some things I may be overlooking that I need to look for / watch out for (as far as apartments go.)

[D'Animal]

Search for a thread by TCB on putting his house on the market.

I would recomend that you list your house and do not move into an apartment until it is sold. You could end up paying a house payment as well as a rental payment. You will be deeper in the hole.

[tcb]

and "suppose to worth" is highly subjective in this market. My house was "suppose to worth" more than I paid for it 6 years ago, but I was willing to take a $20k loss on it and still couldn't sell it.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

[Skillet]

Originally Posted by D'Animal

Search for a thread by TCB on putting his house on the market.

I would recomend that you list your house and do not move into an apartment until it is sold. You could end up paying a house payment as well as a rental payment. You will be deeper in the hole.

Dan is a wise man.

Some friends of mine moved to a "better neigborhood" about a year and 1/2 ago thinking their old home would go quick... The old house is still sitting on the market, vacant.

Awesome home for an awesome price, sits on a private lake with it's own dock. Waterskiing, etc, etc.

NO BITES.

Be careful in today's market.

[lockd-97]

Oh yeah, no way we would move before the house sold. Fortunately we're in an area that is not affected by all the mortgage mess as much....not saying it wouldn't be a factor, but, we'll have to see. I guess the next step is to find a realtor.

[D'Animal]

Originally Posted by lockd-97

Oh yeah, no way we would move before the house sold. Fortunately we're in an area that is not affected by all the mortgage mess as much....not saying it wouldn't be a factor, but, we'll have to see. I guess the next step is to find a realtor.

What country do you live in?

[gmarshall7]

At the end of your paying rent phase, you're probably not going to be able to buy any house or get a low interest rate for what you could presently.

Have you looked into refinancing?

[LoveTractor]

Originally Posted by D'Animal

What country do you live in?

And on what planet? I want to move there.

[lockd-97]

We live in Grapevine, Texas. Right next to DFW airport. Refinancing isn't going to help. We need to access the equity.

[gmarshall7]

Originally Posted by lockd-97

We live in Grapevine, Texas. Right next to DFW airport. Refinancing isn't going to help. We need to access the equity.

The price of beer and pizza is outrageous. For to bribe your friends with...

[60wag]

So is the rent on an apartment going to be substantially less than paying the mortgage? Be sure to include the interest write off on your taxes. Do you have a home equity loan yet? If not, that would be the best way to access the equity at the lowest possible intetest rate, (and its tax deductable.) by the time you've paid the broker fees to sell the house, it might make more sense to simply borrow against it.

[Hilux]

Originally Posted by 60wag

So is the rent on an apartment going to be substantially less than paying the mortgage? Be sure to include the interest write off on your taxes. Do you have a home equity loan yet? If not, that would be the best way to access the equity at the lowest possible intetest rate, (and its tax deductable.) by the time you've paid the broker fees to sell the house, it might make more sense to simply borrow against it.

There's also a flip side to that, keeping it longer. He might wind up with a even move DEvalued house, in a market that it's even harder to sell in...While he's making payments....


I donno...

But it would be a hard sell for me to move into anything w/ payments....

How big is the family?

[lockd-97]

It's just me and the wife. The thing with a home equity loan is that it's only robbing peter to pay paul. We figured we would save about $3-400 a month by going the apartment route.

[sprocket3]

Originally Posted by 60wag

So is the rent on an apartment going to be substantially less than paying the mortgage? Be sure to include the interest write off on your taxes. Do you have a home equity loan yet? If not, that would be the best way to access the equity at the lowest possible intetest rate, (and its tax deductable.) by the time you've paid the broker fees to sell the house, it might make more sense to simply borrow against it.

I don't think Texas likes home equity loans for some reason. I'm sure a local could tell you more about it though.

[calphi27]

Be prepared to get way less than you want for your home if you are serious about this. I work at a real estate office in Colorado and all of our offices homes have dropped price. One has dropped over $150k in the past year and a half. Why not buy a small condo. Rents can be the same as a mortgage payment. Watch out for those damn hoa dues though.

[Jetboy]

What would your house rent for? Could you rent the house for significantly more than the appartment payment? From what I've heard, Dallas area is still a decent investment and might be worth keeping. If it's similar to Utah, the markets are still doing OK at least for certian areas. The difference in rent might help pay off the bills if you don't need a big lump sum right away and you can keep the investment if you think it's good.

[Hilux]

Originally Posted by lockd-97

It's just me and the wife. The thing with a home equity loan is that it's only robbing peter to pay paul. We figured we would save about $3-400 a month by going the apartment route.

Don't take this the wrong way, but couldn't you buy a "broom closet" I mean a VERY small house and be better off? That way you're paying toward equity, and it's not "pocket money" for the owner...(money that you can't make work for you is another thing I can't comprehend)

.......I just can't wrap my head around payments? But in a sellers "market" you're right, rent. And it's in a buyers market you buy....

It's just the nature of the beast

[atoyot]

I personally like to live down stairs. Don't have to worry about being noisy to the people below and you don't have to cart groceries and furniture up stairs. Just watch out for the crack heads (and Meth heads spook) trying to crawl through your ground level windows.

[fsusteve]

you're doing what you gotta do, stick to your plan, it's temporary deal.

[Cruisin'Carolina]

Originally Posted by D'Animal

What country do you live in?

Originally Posted by LoveTractor

And on what planet? I want to move there.

The community I live in has had a fawked housing market for over a decade.

The community I moved from, the Charlotte metro area, has reported 6% gains routinely before AND AFTER the crash.

The media would have you believe the hype is the whole country's problem. IT is, but only to the extent PMI and less access to mortgage money.

Not everywhere is as fawked as the communities the flippers infiltrated

[fsusteve]

Originally Posted by Cruisin'Carolina

The community I live in has had a fawked housing market for over a decade.

The community I moved from, the Charlotte metro area, has reported 6% gains routinely before AND AFTER the crash.

The media would have you believe the hype is the whole country's problem. IT is, but only to the extent PMI and less access to mortgage money.

Not everywhere is as fawked as the communities the flippers infiltrated

Charlotte's doing well, I'm in one of the worse areas but we were also one of the hottest in '05. You can't have 20-30% gains a year without fallout.

[DallasFJ40]

I guess it all depends on what you are paying, what you need and what you can reasonably sell your current house for. DFW area is not 'doom and gloom' like a lot of areas, but it depends on your price bracket. You could prolly buy a smaller house that can't move in a tight market and call it an 'investment.' However, an apartment only makes the landlord rich.

[sprocket3]

If you are going to buy in a few years again when you finsish school why would you bother. You are going to pay up to 7% to sell and may have to drop your price or pay closing costs of the buyer to get the deal put together. Then when you buy back in housing prices will be higher and you will have to get a new mortgage which requires closing costs.

Will you realy "save" money. Or just improve you cash flow by a couple hundred a month after the loss of the tax deduction.

I would try to squeeze the budget and stay there. If you like the place and want to keep it???

[WristPin]

apartments are like people zoos

sometimes you gotta do stuf that sucks to get stuff thats cool

[dfmorse]

If u do move to the apt route, look for apts made out of brick and block. Get the largest u can afford on the ground floor only. Check out parking and the storage.

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