Longtime home to highrise condo, comments

[Zoocat]

Check out the HOA restrictions before renting one. Often they are more restrictive than a rental apartment.

This confuses me. How could the HOA restrictions on a tenant be more restrictive than on the owner? Could you provide an example?

 

[DangerMouse]

I agree before buying you do need to read the HOA rules and regs. It was informative for me, I was able to find out that there have been no foreclosures in our association, and only 1 owner had been late paying their monthly fees. I also found they changed the house rules on pet size and minimum rental periods. In the minutes they detailed how many infringements they had and I think it had been 1 in the last 2 years or so.

For those who are in love with their things, I would suggest for a barrel of laughs you spend a weekend packing up the contents of one room, taking them for a drive in your car, carrying them up a random hill then come home and unpack them again. You might be surprised at how much stuff you have and how long it takes you to deal with such a small portion of your stuff.

 

[Nords]

Edit to add: There was a poster here years ago (OldAgePensioner) that basically did what you are talking about (well, except for selling the mult-million dollar house). After coming back to the states after a career as an expat, he lived in a nice high rise apartment for 6 months to a year at a time in a number of different large US cities (Seattle was one I think). Very little possessions, more of a vagabonding lifestyle.

I've always wondered what the real reason was behind those frequent moves. The more we learned about that guy the less truth there was.

We've been happy with San Diego and the highrise lifestyle.

But I think we are currently looking at this simply as whether we care to continue owning a home that neither of us really want to go back to.

Well, clearly you seem to be tilting toward selling the house. What a sweet deal, especially if you can sell it to your tenants.

You also sound like you're familiar with being hostage to elevators, restrictions on pets/children, and other aspects of hi-rise living. Right now spouse and I aren't willing to deal with those issues just to get rid of some yardwork.

You might not have to make any decision at all. Sell the house, pay the taxes, put the rest in CDs or Treasuries. (If you think you're a long-term investor of this after-tax equity then put it into something like Wellesley.) Live the high-rise life of your dreams for a decade or two and then reconsider what type of residence you favor when that lifestyle begins to pale. You may be priced out of NYC, LA, & Chicago, but no doubt there are plenty of places in smaller towns that are just as suitable (and a lot more affordable). The Terhorsts and the Kaderlis are doing just fine with their own housing arrangements.

Hawaii condos tend to go vertical and to charge a huge premium for the maintenance services. At this point in our lives, yardwork & home repair serve as essential exercise programs and vital mental stimulation. We still haven't sorted out our preferences, but at this point it looks like we'll do another 20-30 years here and then move back into our single-family single-level rental property. One block from the grocery store & restaurants and across the street from a gargantuan city park. 25 minutes to surfing. Less yardwork, perhaps less maintenance, and no elevators or $450/month condo fees.

20-30 years of landlording doesn't seem like much fun but it has a huge potential payoff in terms of convenience and security.

 

[haha]

We just sold our home on Bainbridge Island and purchased in a co-op in Portland. The location is great, the building & its finances are rock solid, the cost of living there very reasonable. A number of owners have homes elsewhere. The kind of place people buy into after the kids are launched, then leave the move out to their heirs.

We considered stick framed condos, conversions, and even recently constructed high-rises. The co-op met our lifestyle needs the best.

In the Pacific NW many buildings recently constructed as condos are now entirely rentals. That may be the way to go if you are new to a community, however, almost all the developers assert that status as a rental building is temporary. Buying in a building constructed during the bubble has construction defect risk, a building that is 'seasoned' has fewer unknowns.

Looks like even before the so called bubble there might have been shortcuts.
25-Story Apartment Tower Built in 2001 Now a Teardown • Seattle Bubble

and similarly

http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2010/04/30/shifty-llc-shoddly-construction-82-owners-up-a-creek/

 

[kcowan]

This confuses me. How could the HOA restrictions on a tenant be more restrictive than on the owner? Could you provide an example?

There is an HOA here that has a rule about teck furniture on the balcony. If you rent one on that buidling, don't try putting an alluminum web lounger out there.

 

[utrecht]

Zero,

My wife and plan to do just about exactly the same thing you are talking about. We are five years away from retirement but the wife is constantly on the web searching hire rise condos for rent all over the country and overseas in our price range just to see whats out there.

Our plan includes moving to Fort Lauderdale where we have many relatives and renting a house there and living like "normal" people for a year or so. Then when the lease is up, we then plan to store our stuff and rent furnished condos for 3-6 months at a time depending on the size of the city and the amount of interesting things to do and see there. We don't plan to maintain a homebase back in Fort Lauderdale at all during the "traveling period". We plan to go back "home" every year or so and rent a house or condo for another year or so and then rinse and repeat.

We both love traveling, exploring and taking road trips so I suspect we will love this lifestyle. If / when we get tired of it, we can always settle down later.

 

[Brat]

I think there are a lot of advantages in utrecht's plans. The one thing I have observed is not to keep anything more than family treasures and store those in a climate controled enviornment. Much can be replaced at resale and thrift shops, storage costs can add up quickly.

 

[W2R]

I think there are a lot of advantages in utrecht's plans. The one thing I have observed is not to keep anything more than family treasures and store those in a climate controled enviornment. Much can be replaced at resale and thrift shops, storage costs can add up quickly.

I think that if I wanted to live utrecht's planned lifestyle, I would rent furniture or furnished condos at each successive location (so that I did not have to store or move furniture). Other than furniture I would keep my possessions down to what could fit in my SUV, or in an SUV plus a small trailer (and I would buy the trailer if I planned to use one, to make the moves more stress free).

As you point out, storage fees can add up quickly. I have known so many people who rented storage, and then left their stuff there for years. After 4-5 years they realize they will never need it again, and dispose of it. So, the storage fees are wasted.

 

[Brat]

One of my classmates asked what to do with all the excess 'stuff' when downsizing. Two suggestions were worthy of sharing: offer it to friends and family and then 'visit it' at their homes; the other was to put it in storage for 6 months then abandon that which you haven't needed enough to retrieve during that period (one could reasonably extend that to 12 months).

 

[Zero]

I'm looking forward to DangerMouse's comments after viewing her possessions that have aged like a fine cheese for 15 years.

Utecht, I think your plan sounds great and that is exactly the kind of conversation that we are having right now. We just got some quotes from Cort for 1 bedroom, a living room and dining and were surprised that it was $135/month for the "Manager's Special" We also just went up to Ross for Less on C St. and looked at a "starter kit" of linens, kitchen, bath, pots/pans, utensils, etc. Gosh, dirt cheap if you are not into top end brands. In a 6 month rental, I think it would amortize out at less than $100/month. The more we look at your plan, the more we like it. We are thinking no automobile during this phase of life. Large cities and local activities/investigating.

I can see the desire of some to have a more permanent existence and the fun of tending to yard, flowers, gardens, etc. We've done that for quite a while, and as a couple have said, try something different, you can always change back later.

Anyway, going over to Denver on Monday to look at the Ritz.

 

[Zero]

I think there are a lot of advantages in utrecht's plans. The one thing I have observed is not to keep anything more than family treasures and store those in a climate controled enviornment. Much can be replaced at resale and thrift shops, storage costs can add up quickly.

This brings up a good point and I agree, almost everything we own could be replaced in a few quick stops at Goodwill. The small (foot-locker sized) collection of memorabilia could easily be stored in a 4'x4'x4' locker for hopefully about $40 a month.

But even that brings up the question, is the actual item memorabilia, or would a photocopy or photograph suffice. My DD has suggested we do that to the pile of "I Love Mom and Dad" drawings we've kept. She confided that most of them were forgeries where a teacher held her hand and formed the handwriting. Else she might have written, "I love my dog".

After seeing the many, many natural disasters that have wiped out folk's lifetime collection, one has to wonder whether it's better to just make digital memories.

We are inclined to look for a downsizing that includes the "treasures".

 

[Brat]

I believe there are scanning services out there. This is not an area in which I can claim and expertise but... some formats are more stable than others - .tif being among them (as I recall). Then store them on back-up services such as Carbonite. There are folks who believe in having two back-up vendors for the irreplaceable.. the old belt and suspenders approach.

 

[kcowan]

One of my classmates asked what to do with all the excess 'stuff' when downsizing. Two suggestions were worthy of sharing: offer it to friends and family and then 'visit it' at their homes; the other was to put it in storage for 6 months then abandon that which you haven't needed enough to retrieve during that period (one could reasonably extend that to 12 months).

We heard a storage facility owner say that most of his clients rent for years before finally facing the challenge of getting rid of stuff.

When we have home swapped, we encountered people who had a double garage and spare bedrooms filled with unused stuff. It seems to be a sickness. They marvel at our frugal nature having empty closets and drawers that they could use. We had to convert a spare bedroom at their places into a walk-in closet.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I did a home tour this Saturday in Pittsburgh(the historic South Side). My favorites were the one bedrooms in converted factories and Catholic schools. I could easily have moved into one provided I had a parking space. I would have to get rid of lots of stuff including one of my cars, but it would be great to live in a building that is close to all the urban things that I like to do. The architects did a stellar job with contemporary design, and it didn't hurt that most of the places had great decks with panoramic views of the city and the river. As an old lady I think I would want a concierge building, if living in a city, for maintenance and security.

 

[Brat]

I did a home tour this Saturday in Pittsburgh(the historic South Side). My favorites were the one bedrooms in converted factories and Catholic schools. I could easily have moved into one provided I had a parking space. I would have to get rid of lots of stuff including one of my cars, but it would be great to live in a building that is close to all the urban things that I like to do. The architects did a stellar job with contemporary design, and it didn't hurt that most of the places had great decks with panoramic views of the city and the river. As an old lady I think I would want a concierge building, if living in a city, for maintenance and security.

I am not familiar with Pittsburgh but I agree with you on all counts.