Rant on!

[geekchick]

I just got the price list of "resident only" pricing (where they're supposedly cutting us a break on the price if we buy our apartment); any small, fleeting desire I might've had to buy this place and avoid the headache of moving and coming up with another $1800 in security deposits is now long gone. Our garage is apparently worth $20,000. The base price on our unit without a garage is $264,990, the price for the unit with a garage (the one we have) is $284,990. Plus $190 a month in condo fees for a 2-bedroom unit, which includes $12 a month for having a garage. Why the fsck should I pay an amenity fee for my freakin' single car garage? It's not like my car is going to use the pool or that you'd have to shovel snow that much more because I'm parked in a garage and not the parking lot. If this is the price they're giving residents, how badly are people who don't already live here going to get boned? I've lived here since 1999, and I can tell you for a fact that this shoddy construction is not worth nearly that much; I can buy a single family house in the surrounding neighborhood for somewhere in the $300K range, why would I spend that much on a place that was built by contractors who couldn't even be bothered to install outlets and wiring correctly and has little ventilation, no storage space and no parking for visitors? electriccat, guess how much they want for the three bedroom unit we lived in? $365,000. I realize that I live in Fairfax County, where home prices are charitably described as "on the high side" for the area, but still... Maybe if I wasn't completely unimpressed by the quality of this place I wouldn't have quite the same reaction.

Comments

[gsh]

Its good to know that the house Pam and I have is now about 300K or so, at least untill it comes time to open the tax bill.

Re: holy crap, yo!

[geekchick]

Yep, condo, period. Your lease is up? Buy it or get out. Luckily since our lease is up in mid-March we had plenty of warning; people whose lease was up in November or December were not quite so lucky.

you could probably rent a single family house in Wheaton or even Kensington and have more space and better quality than what you're dealing with there.

True, but I work between Gainesville and Warrenton, which is 22 miles west of where we are right now. I can't realistically move to either of those places and not have a two-hour+ commute. =/ I might be able to tolerate Rockville if I lived on 28 and could take that over to 15; it would still be a long commute, but not involving 270 and the Beltway in the wrong direction.

Re: holy crap, yo!

[geekchick]

Actually, scratch that. I just did the math and it would be close to a 100-mile-a-day commute round-trip. Rockville's out until I'm working somewhere that's not Warrenton. =/

Bottom line...

[happypete.livejournal.com]

there are economic pressures on the housing market--namely cheap money (low interest rates) and tight supply of available housing--that are driving housing prices upwards...our house in Fairfax County has gained over $100,000 in value just for sitting around and being a house.

Yeah, I know--it's great if you already own property...not so great if you're trying to buy.

Re: Bottom line...

[geekchick]

True, and it's actually even worse (or better, depending on one's perspective) if you live out towards Gainesville; someone I know sold her townhouse there for $25K more than she paid for it something like ten months previously. If we were talking about buying a house for $290K here, I'd find it reasonable or even cheap for the area; unfortunately this is an apartment complex that was sold and is going condo. They might have a shot at selling it to me if I hadn't already lived here for two years and didn't know that the workmanship on this place is really, really shoddy and details like "the only storage available is two closets, one in each bedroom". Oh yeah, and if I could tolerate the idea of owning a condo. =)

Re: Bottom line...

[happypete.livejournal.com]

Heh...details, details! Yeah, they'll find someone else to pay their over-inflated prices.

Want a good buyer broker? We have a family friend who's a realtor that has always been great for me and my friends.

Re: Bottom line...

[geekchick]

they'll find someone else to pay their over-inflated prices.

Yeah, I'm sure they will. I'd be really interested in seeing what sort of conversion rates they're getting from people who have been renting here, but I suspect they won't tell me that unless the numbers are really favorable to them. There was an article in the Post yesterday that mentioned that the numbers they were throwing around were just above the median price of condos in the DC area, so maybe it's just my anti-condo and anti-this-place-specifically bias showing through. ;)

Re: the realtor: thanks, but we're not in a position right now where we're mentally or financially able to buy anything. I might just hit you up for that name though when we are. =)

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Our complex is about to have some rentals available - no garage and I don't know how you feel about moving to MD, but at least you wouldn't get gouged.

[geekchick]

The garage is C.'s thing, he need someplace to work on his car. For me, the issue is more that I'd have to commute to Warrenton every day (it would be a 100-mile/day round-trip commute, going the wrong direction on 270 and the Beltway). If it weren't for that, your complex is definitely something we'd consider; it would make C.'s commute to Germantown that much less hellish.

[macropixi.livejournal.com]

Total Non-Sequitor: But was reading your journal entry and was realizing that I realy missed you and was wishing I could hang out with you again... which of course won't happen anytime soon. Sigh

[geekchick]

Yeah, I was toying with the idea of going to Arisia this year, but that got stomped on when I found out I had to go to San Jose instead. No immediate plans to come up to Boston, but if that changes I'll let y'all know.