Transitions sure aren't cheap

[primsong]

Hubby's new job down in San Diego is going well and he managed to get his car registered, set up a PO Box and find his way around the fancy-schmancy coffee machine at this work ("It even grinds the beans! I love this thing!").  Now we get to the super-expensive part of this and that means housing.  He's now shopping for a small condo that we can re-sell later on to try to get some of our money back out after this southern adventure - and YOIKS housing is predictably expensive no matter what you do.

We have one likely one he's going to try for tomorrow, a one-bedroom in a reasonable neighborhood with the bonus of a small garage that can be closed and locked instead of only a carport, I really, really, really, really hate going into debt with another mortgage but it is still way cheaper than trying to rent.  Bleah!  On the good side, he's content with a classic Guy place - he doesn't care what color the carpet is, is happy with whatever window coverings it comes with and needs only minimal furniture which he plans to get cheap or free where he can.

Now we have to learn how the government views it taxwise - is this a "vacation home" or a "second home" or what? It's not a "rental" I should think unless we are renting to ourselves?   How large of a bite will they be taking from it so we can make sure we can afford the taxes?  Time to research the taxation labyrinth.  :-p 

Comments

[linaewen]

I hear you! We now are the proud maintainers of two mortgages, and I was very worried about it prior to buying the second place. But it is seriously cheaper for us to pay a mortgage in Chicago than to keep on renting -- even with Chicago's wicked taxes -- and we actually have room enough to live for a change! Fortunately, our other place is in Wisconsin and very cheap as far as taxes go (and our son, who lives there, is paying us rent for it, so that helps, too). We might be able to pay off that mortgage fairly soon if we manage our investments properly.

[primsong]

Thanks for the encouragement, I hate debt SO much but sometimes there's no way around it, and for you at least your other place is helping out by giving your son a place to stay. Rents both here and down in CA are skyrocketing so even with taxes also going up it's still better to buy. He's got the paperwork and pre-approval stuff done so we'll find out today if the offer works, if not then at least that part is done so he can jump at whatever comes next. The days when rent was supposed to only be a quarter or a third of what you make are looong gone.