![[SimGuy.net]](/shared/logo.png){kind=logo}
February 2007 Archive
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
[Comments: 0] 1:13 AM - discouragement
Well, the more I try to figure it out, the less likely it seems I am going to be able afford to finance this condo idea. My monthly income doesn't provide me with quite enough money to afford the payments I seem to be coming up with on a mortgage. I haven't actually talked with anyone yet, but even the ballpark figures I've found seem like they're going to cost me around $2000 - $2500 per month (mortgage, taxes, insurance, assessment) which would leave me with no money to live on. There's also no way I can afford to put down the 20% needed ($60K) to avoid mortgage insurance costs.
A roommate could help bridge this gap, but I'm not sure that I'm comfortable with the idea that any kind of span between roommates would leave me over my means for an indeterminate period of time. I don't like debt, and I don't ever want to be in over my head if I can avoid it.
I'm still going to talk with a couple loan officers, try to get more accurate numbers, and see how that goes. If not, then I'll move on and start looking at renting. If this condo isn't an option, I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to find much else for less that I'm going to want to make semi-permanent. However, perhaps I should try to drop by some sales offices and see if I can come up with anything that saves me $50K - $100K off what I've found here.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
[Comments: 0] 4:42 PM - condoified-apartments
It's about time I finally wrote a new blog post. It's been, what? Over 2 months! So, Merry Christmas + adjacent holidays, and Happy New Year.
The biggest news is that Karl recently started looking for a condo, meaning that we were thinking about separating our roommate arrangement. My plan was to seek an apartment, but shortly thereafter it was announced that the building in which I live would be converted into condominiums.
This was initially much to my distress, as I was not comfortable with the idea of settling upon an owned place to live quite so fast, since I am definitely not in a "settled" sort of state of mind. As I've been thinking about it, though, it is true that this area is growing rapidly, and I very much want to remain close to this part of the city. Due to the growth, anything here is going to only go up in value and that's going to mean that the longer I wait, the more it's going to cost me to buy a home here.
Considering how much I love this building, I've set my heart on owning a unit here. I don't want the one I live in... it really doesn't my perception of an ideal home for me. However, I've today spoken with a sales agent at the building and drilled down to two units that fit well for what I want. The damage will be in the order of $300K to $350K, so it's time for me to start trying to finance it. If I wait too long, the units are no longer given right of second refusal to the tenants and go up in price, so this is the right time to commit, if I'm going to do so.
As such, tomorrow I will plan to start hammering out some details about my mortgage and start to work toward a contract on one of the units. I still have yet to see one of them (I saw the first when we were first looking at moving to this building nearly two years ago, but it isn't likely it has changed much.), but the sales guy assures me the current tenant is willing to show his place, and he'll let me know as soon as that's a possibility. Once I see the second place, I will be able to decide and then I'll push to get the purchase set as promptly as I am able so I don't have to worry about someone else stealing it from under my feet.
This is exciting now. I didn't think I'd ever be this excited about owning a condo... :)
In other news... I went to see a hockey game in Rockford, IL in early January, mainly for something to do, with friends Joe, Steph, and Karl. This was a fairly long trip and the game wasn't that good, but it was still a fun time. The teams: Rockford Ice Hogs and Kalamazoo Wings. The visuals alone (and also having something to do on a weekend) made the trip worth it. :)
Speaking of hockey, Clarkson's hanging on to the #2 rank in their conference as the season winds down. The polls put them at about #8 in the division, so I'm really hopeful they'll make a run for the NCAA championship this year. It's probably still a long shot, but exciting enough. WCKN has supposedly been doing web video feeds of games, but I haven't managed to successfully watch one yet. There's a game coming up on CSTV soon too, but I'm not sure we get the channel.
We're moving our staff at work up to 5 people starting the middle of this month. The new schedule around this staffing change will reduce my hours to 44 per week and give me weekends off, about which I am ecstatic! The next step is for me to start doing something on the weekends... ;)
I'm starting to try to look for a new laptop, though with the upcoming purchase of a condo, I may have to defer a little bit. The features I want are hard to match in any case. I want the screen resolution of my current laptop, which is no longer built in 15.1 inch screens for some unfathomable reason. It's now required to buy a 17" laptop screen to get the WUXGA screen format. I also need an nVidia graphics chipset (for best results in Linux) and a 7200 RPM hard drive (for best results in performance), which in combination are almost unheard of or extremely pricey. My current laptop should last me long enough to hang on for what I'm waiting for.
I'm also excited about the impending 64-bit release of a product called Parallels Workstation which will let me run Windows XP inside my Linux installation so I have no more need to dual-boot the damn thing. I have to wait for the 64-bit release because the 32-bit version can't run on a 64-bit Linux installation due to the driver limitations.
Also, for anyone that uses me for tech advice: do not upgrade your computer to Windows Vista! I am not buying it myself, but I would like to play with it a little before I know whether anyone should justify the absurd expense to upgrade outside of buying a new computer.
I think that's a good enough summary for now. Here's hoping I blog more than once again in the next three months. ;)
