• TheFlopster@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          If you buy a home in which an HOA is already established, then yes, it’s required. And good luck finding a neighborhood where one isn’t already established. If you get a small enough town or cheap enough neighborhood, maybe.

          • bleistift2@sopuli.xyz
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            7 months ago

            It’s funny that the ‘right to work’ exists to dismantle unions, but somehow no-one has thought of a ‘right to live’ to combat HOAs.

            • Test_Tickles@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              The really shit part about HOAs is that most of the US NEEDS them. Most of the US has little to no zoning laws, and most of the suburbs are in unincorporated areas outside of the cities. This means that without an HOA, there’s nothing stopping someone from buying the house next door and turning it into a business, methadone clinic, a literal salvage yard, crawfish farm, or gator zoo.

              • n7gifmdn@lemmy.caOP
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                7 months ago

                WTF is wrong with that? My neighbors have 0 rights to do what happens on my property.

                • Test_Tickles@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  You live in a society. You only “own” property because enough of your neighbors agree that you do. Society gets together and agrees on the rules, and by being part of that society you agree to the rules. If you want to live somewhere with minimal rules, then go ahead and do it. Just don’t come crying to the rest of us when your new neighbor decides to do something that makes your land uninhabitable and worthless.

                • Test_Tickles@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  I’ve been keeping track of it, because of my deep guilt caused by the insane number of crawfish that I have damaged beyond the point of any salvage.

                  Also I like to get gators hooked on opioids.

                • Test_Tickles@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  So, you know nothing about zoning laws nor HOAs, but you still have very strong opinions on them…
                  And at the same time you have these incredibly naive beliefs about your fellow humans. Like somehow these institutions and systems of rules you despise sprung into existence not because of, but in spite of, these fellow humans you hold in such high esteem.

                  Like I told the other guy, there are plenty of places you can go to live without much in the way of law or other rules, you go on and enjoy them to your heart’s content, just don’t come crying to the rest of us when you realize what a hellish existence it is to live without laws or rules.

    • Paradachshund@lemmy.today
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      7 months ago

      Mortgage is just rent with another name (I know it’s not quite that simple, but it feels that way sometimes)

      • PlaidBaron@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Nah. Pay off your house and its yours.

        When do you pay off your rent? When you die.

      • jj4211@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Mortgage ends one day. Paid off my mortgage 10 years ago.

        Even if you don’t stay long enough to pay off, when you do sell, you get to have more proceeds from the sell than you owe.

        If you only are going to stay in a place 2 or three years though, probably not worth it.

  • Lasherz@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    HOA gonna pop that bubble real quick.

    PSA to homebuyers: Even if the HOA has reasonable rules now and is run by your neighbors, don’t expect that to continue when they get older and want to pass off management to a company who will make life a living hell.

  • TomMasz@piefed.social
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    7 months ago

    It’s cool right up to the day something breaks and you realize that you are the landlord now.

    • bcgm3@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      My landlord will fix any problem I point out to him, as long as I am willing to wait somewhere between 2 weeks and however long I hold the lease.

    • jj4211@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Then you pay for it and still come out ahead.

      It have a home maintenance plan for more predictable cost and renting like experience, and coming less ahead than renting, but still somewhat ahead.

    • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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      7 months ago

      I’m currently working through getting everything fixed and sorted following an intense hail storm and it’s become very apparent that I’ve taken on the role of property manager by daring to own my own home. Honestly a pain in the butt at times. Long term it’s worth while but yikes!

  • Lucky_777@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Just a quick example here. Mortage payment I make (or did make, we sold) was 6k a month.

    Now sure, I’m getting equity, but it’s by no means quick. The bank is making a killing. Of that 6k, we are bringing down the principal by something like 800 bucks a month. The bank is taking 3k and the rest escrow and PMI.

    If you buy a house. Be sure to be able to put 20% down. This will bring your payment down a ton.

    Try for the best interest rate you can. It’ll be a shitty 7 or higher % for now, and at least until the bubble pops again. Because it will and it’s getting close.

    Then, you get an endless list of repairs and improvements. But if things start to break, make cheap repairs, then save up to replace. Update your kitchen and master bathrooms. These things sell houses. Never keep your house out of date or you won’t get the return you want.

    Good luck out there to home owners. It’s a good asset to have, but only if you keep up with maintenance and updates.

    • Agent641@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I just bought mine this year. I got in by the skin of my teeth as a single person in a ridiculously expensive capital city.

      In Australia we have things called Offset accounts. This is a regular bank account that you might get your salary paid into, but it’s linked to your mortgage loan. The interest you pay on the mortgage is based on the mortgage principal minus what’s in your offset.

      So if my mortgage is 500,000, and I have 50,000 in my offset account, interest is only calculated on 450,000. I still have access to my $50, 000 to do with as I please, but the more I stack up there,the less I pay in interest, and the less that interest compounds.

      So for these first few years it’s really important for me to stack as much cash in my offset account as I can, because it will save me huge amount of interest over the life of the loan.

      I’m working two jobs, 7 days a week for the first couple years to do that, and I have a couple other side hustles to help reduce cost of living as well. But the bank is still making a killing off me in interest.

      I would rather die than be a landlord though, so I have an agreement with my partner. Instead of contributing to the mortgage or paying rent, she loans me a set amount each week, say, $300. This builds up in my offset account and helps reduce the interest I pay. After 5 years, I’ll repay this loan to her at the same rate, $300 a week.

      This benefits us both hugely, she will effectively have a rent-free period of 5 years AND be getting a boost to her cashflow, while I will have been able to offset my mortgage by up to 78k extra over the course of 10 years.

      Yes, she will effectively ‘lose’ the opportunity to earn interest on her savings by saving that money herself for 5 years, but she won’t lose the principal amount, and together we will have robbed the bank of far more interest than she would have earned from saving it.

    • Delphia@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I own a home and its insane how people who have never owned underestimate the cost of actually owning a property. “I can pay $1500 in rent, but apparently I cant afford a $1500 mortgage”… like… you probably cant. Banks arent not lending to you because they dont want to make an assload off interest. They tried lending out money to everyone who swore they could keep up the payments and 2008 happened.

    • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      7 months ago

      Better to work off that debt over 10-30 years (which is what mortgages usually run for, not 40) and then be able to sell the house and get your money back than paying rent for 10-30 years and have nothing.

      • salty_chief@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        True, also best to not pay off your mortgage. It is a line of credit if worth more than you owe. Once you pay it off that credit line is gone.

        • jj4211@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          If you have a HELOC, yeah but the rate isn’t great. If you do pay off, you can always open a new HELOC.

          Funny story, I had a HELOC as part of buying a house with no closing cost on it I paid the balance off but kept it open. They called me one day and asked if I would close the account. I said that I don’t think I should, because I’d suddenly owe the money for closing costs for paying off early, and they confirmed I could either sit with a zero balance for two years for free our pay a few thousand dollars for the privilege of choosing the account…

          • salty_chief@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            I paid my Car note and owed like $250 more for it to be paid off. My lender sent me a bill for $250 + $50 late fee. I called them and explained I just paid $430 and was going to pay the remaining next month. They said my 72 month contract ended is why. Okay but a late fee? I told them I will never do any business with them again.