A bit of a relief...

[missroserose]

Adam did indeed have appendicitis, but he's gone through surgery and come out just fine. We took him some flowers this evening, and he seemed pretty okay. Worn out, but very relieved to no longer be in pain.

Prior to visiting, Brian and I went and looked at some of the condos in our price range here in town. It was fun, but also frustrating - it seemed like every one of them was almost perfect. There was one in a very nicely located and well-run complex that was beautifully remodeled and a very good deal financially - but the second bedroom about two feet too narrow to comfortably fit our home theater. There was one in a somewhat run-down and not-so-well designed complex that was the exact size and layout that we wanted with a fantastic view, but looked like it hadn't been updated since 1991. (That in and of itself would be okay since it's fixable - after all, it's much simpler to renovate than to change the layout - but combined with the reservations about the condo association's effectiveness and the fact that the asking price was $20,000 more for it than the other places we were looking at, we're having a hard time imagining paying $400 more per month and renovating.) And there was one place that was just stunning: vaulted ceilings, skylights, giant picture window with deck over the most amazing view you can imagine, nicely painted and well kept up...and it was 600 square feet. It almost would've worked for us nonetheless - the skylights and huge windows did a fantastic job of making it feel bigger - but there was nowhere to put our home theater. Literally nowhere, since there was only one bedroom and to put a 62" television in a living room with a picture window like that would be a sin. Right up there with adultery and idol worship.

So I guess we're back at square one - none of these places (short of possibly the first one or the second one if they dropped the price by twenty grand) really feel like they're what we're looking for. Our agent is keeping an eye out for us, though, and our preapproval letter is good for 90 days, so we'll see what comes up.

Comments

[errant-variable.livejournal.com]

Hm. I'd like to get a floorplan of the 600-sq-ft place, and photos if possible. There's gotta be a way to make that work. I feel challenged. And it sounds awesome and I appreciate awesome in architecture.

Did you have any luck negotiating the place that needs renovation down on the basis that it needs renovation?

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

'Fraid I don't have a floorplan handy, but pictures are up here (http://www.alaskarealtynetwork.com/content/featuredprop.html/52106895?proppos=4&ag_id=689307&featuredproperty=1&startpos=1&endpos=10&ids=53624681,53748456,49564537,52106895,49564533,47115776&propertyCount=6). Though really, they don't do the place justice. It's that stunning. (And only 550 square feet, actually. *sigh*) You would appreciate it, I think - it's small, but a very efficient use of space, and very nicely updated.

We decided against trying to negotiate, mostly because we were so unimpressed with the Forest Edge condo association - the dues were similar at all the places we looked, but so far as exterior maintenance and such went with this particular set, we were extremely unimpressed. As for the condo itself, although we loved the layout and view, they'd have to knock about $20K off the price for us to be able to comfortably afford to live there and do all the renovating it needs. So we decided to pass on that one.

[skellington.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a treasurer for a small townhouse association, do take a very careful look at their books.

Our association, when I moved into a 5 year old townhouse, had neither reserves to pay for some major routine maintenance (i.e. painting / exterior work) nor was really collecting enough to pay for doing it piecemeal over several years. (Three years later, and a 50% increase in dues, we're mostly on sound footing, but probably still need to accumulate another $3000 per unit over the next 6 or 8 years for eventual roof work.)

Good luck!

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Sound advice. I fully intend to do so, should we find a place we're seriously interested in buying.

In large part, our decision not to try refurbishing the second place was influenced by how poorly the exterior of the condos looked. Admittedly, we might've caught them just before repainting or something, but considering that the first set of units were charging roughly equivalent fees and were much better kept up, it didn't really take looking at their books to see that something was fishy. (The fact that, according to the property disclosure, there was an assessment in progress for a new roof - something like $54 a month for ten years - didn't help matters.)

Good luck with your association...

[skellington.livejournal.com]

The assessment in progress for the new roof is not actually a bad idea. (The other alternative being to hit you for $6k all at once in 10 years.)

The "good" association is either building up a reserve for their roof in the standard dues or perhaps has their head in the sand. Breaking it out as a line item is not necessarily a bad thing.

Anyway, I think our association is heading in the right direction (barring unforeseen expenses), and we should be able to build up enough of a reserve to handle that eventually.

But I'll be much more careful if I ever buy into another situation with shared responsibilities.