Geoarbitrage for sure is the way to go if you have / can get a remote gig. The limiting factor there seems to be that people with that option also have desires to live in the places that everyone else wants to live too. If you're willing to move a few hundred miles east to timbuktuu, kansas, I'm sure you could find something cheap.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/715- ... 1892_zpid/
AE's Journal Round 6 - Navigating the Liminal Space
-
suomalainen
- Posts: 1263
- Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 12:49 pm
Re: AE's Journal Round 6 - Navigating the Liminal Space
Yep, concur with what everybody is saying here. I explicitly bought the place I owned in Boulder because it had a low HOA cost at the time of purchase. My HOA was $275/month in 2020, including trash / water / exterior insurance / snow removal.
Almost immediately after buying, it got bumped to $350/month, and in 2023 when I moved, we were looking at needing to raise it again since we could see the actual numbers of rebuild costs from the Marshall fire (and the cost per square foot was insane, so we needed to essentially double our insurance coverage). This was all in addition to the special assessments for deferred maintenance because the HOA was basically just covering the services mentioned above (and also a management company, which is basically legally required to run the financials of an HOA these days).
So yeah, $450 / month for HOA, then another $400 or so for taxes, then another $70-100 or more for interior insurance, basically just 1k a month in recurring fees, just like you are saying. Then just throw in a "small" 5-20k every few years when the roof needs refinished / parking lot needs redone, and its hard to understand why you should hold onto the thing.
Almost immediately after buying, it got bumped to $350/month, and in 2023 when I moved, we were looking at needing to raise it again since we could see the actual numbers of rebuild costs from the Marshall fire (and the cost per square foot was insane, so we needed to essentially double our insurance coverage). This was all in addition to the special assessments for deferred maintenance because the HOA was basically just covering the services mentioned above (and also a management company, which is basically legally required to run the financials of an HOA these days).
So yeah, $450 / month for HOA, then another $400 or so for taxes, then another $70-100 or more for interior insurance, basically just 1k a month in recurring fees, just like you are saying. Then just throw in a "small" 5-20k every few years when the roof needs refinished / parking lot needs redone, and its hard to understand why you should hold onto the thing.
-
AnalyticalEngine
- Posts: 1027
- Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:57 am
Re: AE's Journal Round 6 - Navigating the Liminal Space
The condo was built in the 1980s, so the building is about getting to the age where major stuff could go wrong and need to be replaced. Stuff like sewer lines, parking lots, etc.
When I bought the condo circa 2017, it was only $180k. Now I could probably sell it for $375k, and given my networth is $900k now, that's about 40% of my NW tied up in this property. Given how badly the HOA has been running lately, (see electrical line debacle last year), I think the risk of something going wrong and costing me a lot is too high, especially for $1000 a month in reoccurring.
So yeah, the place is best sold.
Geoaebitrage is a real possibility because my current job is remote. The tech industry is a little volatile right now, although I work in software in the tax industry which is unlikely to go anywhere. It's possible I could get laid off and have a hard time finding another remote job because that's how tech is currently. However, given my NW and years of experience, I'm not too worried about layoffs. So I can live pretty much anywhere.
When I bought the condo circa 2017, it was only $180k. Now I could probably sell it for $375k, and given my networth is $900k now, that's about 40% of my NW tied up in this property. Given how badly the HOA has been running lately, (see electrical line debacle last year), I think the risk of something going wrong and costing me a lot is too high, especially for $1000 a month in reoccurring.
So yeah, the place is best sold.
Geoaebitrage is a real possibility because my current job is remote. The tech industry is a little volatile right now, although I work in software in the tax industry which is unlikely to go anywhere. It's possible I could get laid off and have a hard time finding another remote job because that's how tech is currently. However, given my NW and years of experience, I'm not too worried about layoffs. So I can live pretty much anywhere.