Hi, everyone - My boyfriend and I rent an apartment right outside of DC, since it makes more sense to live there at the moment. We were thinking about saving up money to get a condo or a townhouse inside DC - perhaps in a neighborhood that's up-and-coming. We would live there, fix it up slowly, etc. If we end up having children, we would move out of DC as soon as they are old enough to start school - we would rather use the Maryland school system than have to find ways to afford DC private schools. The DC property would be up for rent and that would be somewhat of a passive income. We would obviously not begin a family unless we can absolutely support one, of course. Do you think this is plausible? We are 23 and 24 now, but we think that this is a great idea. What do you all think? If you think it's a good idea, how should we start saving? How aggressive do we need to be? We obviously have not started saving and we did not do any research on how much we would need, how much it is to maintain, what neighborhood we'll be in, etc. But, the more we put it off, the less likely we'll actually do it. I thought I'd ask the friendly people here for any suggestions or ideas. Thanks a lot!
Living in DC is very expensive. You will need to save money any which way you can. You will need to get and maintain a good paying job and maintain A1 credit in order to qualify for the mortgage that you will need to get a condo in the city. In any event, think it through because if you plan to have children in the next few years and move, you may find that you don't have the resources to buy a new place...
Thanks for your advice. We definitely will need to do our research and start a real journey on saving a significant amount of money. Looks like I'll need to do more research on home ownership, since I do not even know what an A1 credit is! The apartment we're living in now is actually a condo. The owner/our landlord was here for 9 years before she and her husband started a family. This year, they put their condo up for rent and bought a townhome. I assume this will be a very similar route - but I, of course, would need to begin saving up enough money to maintain this lifestyle as it will not pay off right away. Ah, lots and lots of thinking to do....
It would be nice if you had a wealthy family member who would be willing to float you an interest free loan for a down payment. The best idea in home ownership (anywhere really) is to put down at least 20%, but if you can swing 33%, you are doing really well. In NC anyway, putting down at least 20% on a home allows homeowners to bypass an additional (required) insurance, which is definitely worth it if you can do it. Our current mortgage payment is only about 2/3 of what the cost would be to rent a house of the same size in our current area, so the idea of using such a property later as a passive income is really smart. What you need to save for is that initial downpayment. That would get you over one very large hump and you'd be in a better position to move (with a family) to someplace equally nice without breaking the bank.
