Time to Consider Becoming a Home Owner
Posted on August 31, 2007
Filed Under Personal |
I think I’ve figured out why the company that owns my building was so willing to cancel the rent increase they had announced back in the spring. My building manager said she complained to them about it, and they backed down. I believe her. But, I couldn’t figure out why they would back down until today.
While the manager was under the impression that they wouldn’t be raising the rent until at least next spring, this has turned out to be untrue. Instead, they’ll be raising it in January (which, under the new “you can only increase your rent once a year” law, may be the only time that they are legally allowed to raise it). The rent for my apartment will be going from a very reasonable $650 a month to a completely ridiculous $975 a month.
This apartment is not worth $1000 a month. I like my apartment a lot, but it really isn’t worth that much money. That’s damn near a mortgage payment! I find it difficult to justify spending that much money on a rental unit. It’s an average rental unit, not a luxury suite.
Unfortunately, due to the housing shortage, I likely don’t have a choice, unless I buy a place. There are simply no apartments in the city, so I either have to find a roommate, or buy my own home.
I’ve been considering buying a home for quite a while now, and this impending rental increase have only increased my motivation to do so. I guess this means that I’m on the market for a house/condo. I’ll head to the bank to see what I can get for a mortgage (after I’ve paid off my credit card debt), and go from there.
In the meantime, if anyone wants to move in with my come January, let me know. If I’m still living here at that time, I’m going to need a roommate. Unless I get a new job, or a huge raise, I simply can’t afford to be paying $1000 a month on rent, even if I wanted to.
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4 Responses to “Time to Consider Becoming a Home Owner”
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I’m in the same boat and looking at condos now. My rent is going to $855 on December 1st and a condo near me is $139,000 so I may buy it’s about $100 more for a condo and I’ll own it.
I hear that all of a sudden the market is flooded with sellers in Edmonton at the moment and that sellers are taking 10-20% off their original asking prices just to get the property off their hands, or so I hear - so now would be a very good time for you to buy… I’d definately try to take advantage of the opportunity if I was you.
@Rose: That’s the way I see it, too. A mortgage payment will still be a bit more than renting, but at least you’ll own it. Even if I buy a place, I may still need to rent out a room or something (only to a friend, though, I think…I don’t want to deal with the headache of being a “true” landlord), but at least I will own the place.
@Michelle: That’s correct. The market is flooded right now, and no one seems to be buying. As a result, prices are dropping. They’re still not what they were before everything went crazy, but they’re comparatively reasonable now.
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