Hearts in Hawai'i
The Move--Sep. 15
9/15/2010
The numbers I crunched for possible home ownership (at least, for this house) worked out much better than I had originally thought. After talking the situation over with my sponsor, we decided we wanted to look at the house one more time and then make an offer. Viewing the unit we had first looked at was no longer possible as Messina had sold it subsequent to our first visit. The unit we were to look at was totally unfurnished (the initial unit had been outfitted with some furniture by Messina to give us an impression of what it would look like not totally empty) and was at the other end of the building. Otherwise, it was an exact mirror image of the first house, same size, same features, same everything.
To say we liked this place was an understatement. Other than the stairs, the layout was perfect for us. Having the kitchen appliances included with the house would mean one less hassle to deal with prior to moving in.
The finances, as it turned out, weren't nearly as much of an issue as I had initially thought. Owning this house would cost us only $500-600 more per month than our apartment had been costing, including everything; property taxes, all utilities, mortgage, association fees, home owners' insurance. It was a far better outlook than I had previously believed to be the case. Financially, we could easily afford this place.
The issue of having neighbors on the other side of two walls was effectively offset by the realization that we would be saving significant heating costs by having two common walls. This could potentially make the difference between owning this place and owning a traditional house in the event of a spike in energy costs. Also, I wouldn't be dealing with anyone smoking below us, which had been a major problem in our apartment. Not to mention not having to listen to the thundering feet of an upstairs neighbor who, since retirement, had taken to coming home late at night and staying up past midnight on many nights. Trying to sleep while listening to that crap had been more than a small inconvenience. Owning this townhouse would solve both problems.
While I had initially (after the first viewing) stated there was a "20% chance" of buying this, that percentage seemed to grow every day as our attachment to the townhouse grew. Before I really knew what was happening, we were securing a real estate agent and were preparing to make our initial offer!
Previous: 9/3/2010--The Move--Sep. 3
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