Thoughts on buying a townhouse?

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I look at it this way. The wedding is going to be expensive, no... REAL expensive. I don't know if you guys have also disclosed to the other any financial issues or all financial issues yet. If so do it now and you'll be one step closer to understand what your next move is.

Second....

Looking for a small 450k 2,2 with taxes, fees and everything else might be around 3500 a month. Rent a decent 2b for around 2300-2500 and you'll easily be 1000 ahead a month. Add to that the nominal depreciation of 10% for the rest of the year (on said condo) and you'l be nearly 60k down. Are you ready for a nearly a 9-10,000$ a month negtative equity burn? I'm not!

But that's just me....

good luck and congradulations on the plans. I say live a little while with each other, its educational.... I can't understand how people would not do it anyways!

good luck

-bix
 
ScubaSteve said:
hs_teacher said:
I have many friends who are planning to go straight from living with their parents to buying their own home. I think that's a bad idea. If you can rent for 2K and buy for 3k, I suggest you rent for a year together first. With the RE market the way it is, there is no rush to buy. I have lived in so many different cities in Orange County that I am now ready to settle down. Personally, I think it's important to live close to a freeway for commuting/traveling purposes. I don't like the 22, the 5, or the 55. I live in Tustin now, but hopefully will move to HB, FV, or IR by the 405 within the next few years. I guess my only point is... are you VERY certain you want to live in AV? You can rent a place for a year or more, but it is much too costly to own a place for less than 5 years. And 5 years is a long time to live in a place you don't like... especially when you're trying to establish some roots. Don't be too quick to be excited by the amenities of the property. Location really is the most important thing. And unless you have lived in an area before, it's very hard to know ahead of time if you would like it. Just from your comment, I can see that you prefer living in Irvine. Have you ever tried living in AV before? Maybe you should rent there first.
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I have been renting from a buddy of mine in Ladera for the last 5 years commuting to Irvine (about 40 minutes during rush; 15 minutes on Crown Valley), so AV seems like heaven for me (commute-wise), since both of our jobs are near the 73. I'm not too familiar with AV but it seems like a nice scenic place whenever I drive by. I definitely prefer Irvine over everything of course (but who doesn't?). Yea its a tough decision. Both our families think we should do it but, co-workers and forums are so anti-buy! Again I do plan on staying at least 7 years.
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If by "families" you mean parents inter alia, then here is my 2 cents. The baby boomer generation largely does not understand what's happening in the OC (especially if they live elsewhere -- my folks are on the East Coast in a non-bubble market). For example, I've had to explain to my own father (a college-educated, very rationale man) MANY times why my wife and I are still renting. He just couldn't wrap his head around why his son and daughter-in-law (both with professional degrees) are not "building equity." I realized that my dad was making two primary (but understandable) mistakes. He was relying on the coventional wisdom of his time: (1) that owning is better than throwing money away on rent; and (2) you must be some kind of f*ck up if you don't own a place by 30. These 2 gems of conventional wisdom used to make sense, but exotic financing, crazy-low interest rates, and irrational exuberance changed all that. As we all know, anybody with a pulse could buy an $800,000 house during the bubble. Because of that, owning a home was no longer a litmus test for adulthood. My dad finally "gets it" now -- largely because my brother bought near the peak in Tampa, had to move for a job, let his wife list the condo for too much (despite my pleas to list below all comps and get the hell out) and is now paying a mortgage on a depreciating, vacant condo 100 miles away. So my advice to you is this -- rage, rage against the conventional wisdom offered by parents, but don't get angry about it because it used to make sense. "Now you know and knowing is half the battle" (thank you GI Joe cartoons).
 
biscuitninja said:
I look at it this way. The wedding is going to be expensive, no... REAL expensive. I don't know if you guys have also disclosed to the other any financial issues or all financial issues yet. If so do it now and you'll be one step closer to understand what your next move is.

Second....

Looking for a small 450k 2,2 with taxes, fees and everything else might be around 3500 a month. Rent a decent 2b for around 2300-2500 and you'll easily be 1000 ahead a month. Add to that the nominal depreciation of 10% for the rest of the year (on said condo) and you'l be nearly 60k down. Are you ready for a nearly a 9-10,000$ a month negtative equity burn? I'm not!

But that's just me....

good luck and congradulations on the plans. I say live a little while with each other, its educational.... I can't understand how people would not do it anyways!

good luck

-bix
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Wedding is going to be paid for by her family. I'm in charge of the house. If we rent, she is down to rent something small to save. Thanks for all the advice again everyone.
 
scubasteve,

congrats on your upcoming marriage!

In this market, if you really like that aliso viejo townhome maybe you can lowball them.

Friends of ours (a couple in their mid 20s) recently bought a house in mission viejo(SFR, 2600 sf, with pool, needs a lot of work) for 550K...so maybe waiting a bit longer and saving you can easily get a starter home.

I live in a condo in newport coast and love it but with HOA and lack of privacy we are definitely looking to move to a SFR within 2-3 years.
 
socalmd said:
scubasteve,

In this market, if you really like that aliso viejo townhome maybe you can lowball them.

Friends of ours (a couple in their mid 20s) recently bought a house in mission viejo(SFR, 2600 sf, with pool, needs a lot of work) for 550K...so maybe waiting a bit longer and saving you can easily get a starter home.
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I don't know Socal, Steve Thomas would have you believe it's a seller's market in Aliso :roll:

Seriously, though, there will be plenty more opportunities in Aliso Viejo. The amount of bubble purchases/cash outs/HELOCs now turned into short sales and foreclosures is large and more on the brink each day.
 
Well, just to give you guys an update, I went to sales release today. there were 4 homes for sale and 4 parties showed up including me. I was number 3 on the list. Everyone wanted the 2 story plan (2available) so basically the decision was made for me.

blessing in disguise I guess.
 
ScubaSteve said:
Well, just to give you guys an update, I went to sales release today. there were 4 homes for sale and 4 parties showed up including me. I was number 3 on the list. Everyone wanted the 2 story plan (2available) so basically the decision was made for me.

blessing in disguise I guess.
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so you decide to buy in AV?

2 story house is a good choice...3 story is a little too much stair...
 
four homes for sale. four interested buyers show up. that is just nuts. While many of the comprehensive posts on this main blog are compelling, I've noticed an upspring in these types of anecdotes... that is, while there isn't nearly the "buy a home" rush that existed 2-3 years ago, there appear to be an increasing number of fence sitters that are jumping off the fence, which makes me wonder about the impact on the ultimate housing decline. Eg., will a slow stream of fence sitters jumping in the market put the brakes on a steep decline... and maybe make it more of a slow and steady decline or level-off?

Sorry that you didn't get the townhouse. For what it is worth, the first time my attempt to purchase fell through, the next phase of homes were reduced almost 9%! which instantly made me grateful.
 
GrewUpInIrvine said:
four homes for sale. four interested buyers show up. that is just nuts. While many of the comprehensive posts on this main blog are compelling, I've noticed an upspring in these types of anecdotes... that is, while there isn't nearly the "buy a home" rush that existed 2-3 years ago, there appear to be an increasing number of fence sitters that are jumping off the fence, which makes me wonder about the impact on the ultimate housing decline. Eg., will a slow stream of fence sitters jumping in the market put the brakes on a steep decline... and maybe make it more of a slow and steady decline or level-off?

Sorry that you didn't get the townhouse. For what it is worth, the first time my attempt to purchase fell through, the next phase of homes were reduced almost 9%! which instantly made me grateful.
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Hi Guys,

I was already on the priority list prior to posting on this blog. I just wanted to show up just to see what type of interest these townhouses were generating. I went in 30/70 that I was actually going to go through with purchasing it (I was going to try to ask for an obscene amount of incentives, etc if no one showed up) after talking to more people and this blog. I'll keep waiting but hopefully I'll see decline in prices as more phases get released (here or in Irvine).

I also worry that when the time comes for everyone to buy, it may be much harder for me to actually get selected since we will probably see much more than 4 parties interested.
 
jbatzmaru said:
scubasteve- don't believe in that price protection plan because the builder won't release or lower the price until you or all the potential buyer have close escrow and move in. EXAMPLE..... savannah in irvine was finishing their second to last phase in dec 2007 close everyone's escrow by january-feb 14. and then they started on the last phase in march and that was when they release pricing. So in theory it sounds like a great offer of price protection but in reality the builder controls the next phase and pricing so you are really not getting anything. does that makes sense or did i ramble on?
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Another thing I noticed is that they are going to release phase 6 in about a month. It seems like they will release subsequent phases every month afterwards so doesn't that mean that the price protection plan might actually work (since escrow won't close until about 7 to 8 months after the purchase?)
 
caliguy2699 said:
I would not eliminate Aliso Viejo because of traffic issues if you work in Irvine, because I have found the 133 is a very good way to get to Irvine quickly, assuming you are close to the 133 onramp at El Toro. Obviously, it's different if you need to get to Irvine off the 5 near Tustin, but sometimes having to go from one end of Irvine to the other using busy streets can be worse and take longer than taking the freeway up from South County if you are close to the 133, or can deal with paying tolls on the 73.
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This place is actually under 10 minutes to Alicia PWY off the 5 so traveling to the 5 or 405 doesn't seem bad at all. It's also 5 minutes from the 73.
 
all i know is that time seem to slow down when you are waiting for something and the decrease in pricing will never seem to be enough. Waiting 1-2 years will seem forever. i am in the same situation. So to take my mind off of buying a house, i sign a new lease in an IAC apt today. new place. new city.

All the people who sign up and put down deposit.... doesn't mean that the place is sold. Some will fall out of escrow and you will see standing inventory at the end of the year. that is the best time to come in and see what you can pick up.
 
I agree, I think that there are still a lot of places falling out of escrow nowadays. I hear people at the office talking about trying to buy or sell, or hear from friends I know that are hearing that as well...
 
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