Last summer, I bought a house. I put my name on the mortgage at the precise moment the market crested, apparently. Yay me.
Earlier this week, I accepted a job in Seattle. Housing there is even higher than it is here. We’re hoping to sell our house… but it looks like we’re going to lose about $35k if we do so, thanks to the state of the market. Even if we sell the house here, we won’t be able to afford to buy a house in Seattle for quite a while.
I wouldn’t mind holding onto the house, and using a property management company to rent it out while we rent in Seattle ('til the housing market improves a bit). However, I don’t think we’re going to find a place to rent in Seattle that’ll cost less than what we can rent our house out for. In other words, we’ll be losing money if we rent the place out- we’ll probably lose more than the new job’s salary increase will give us.
Crap. I’m starting to wonder if it’s a good idea to take this job.
On the exact day my friend signed the $200K agreement for renovations to their house, his wife got hit with chemical poisoning at work and was unable to go back. But they’re doing OK now!
More importantly, talk to a Real Estate attorney to understand the tax ramifications and other considerations (such as the possible need to refinance your loan if the property is no longer owner-occupied, notifying your insurance carrier, etc.) when converting your primary residence into business property, before you do anything else.
Huh. My best friends moved there almost ten years ago and they love it. They have a nice house in a quiet neighborhood and the value of their home has doubled since they bought it. I’ve been out to visit several times and think it’s a really cool city— I always have a great time and would love to live there (were it not so expensive and if my wife consented to tolerate the frequent rain). I’m going in a couple of weeks, in fact. Can’t say I’ve ever encountered any of these marauding gangs (self-styled lumberjacks? caffeine-crazed espresso freaks? proselytizing vegans?) or felt this ominous “vibe” you speak of.
You have a point about the crowds, though. Unlike most other major U.S. cities, Seattle has quite a large number of people living in it. During peak hours, it’s rumored the downtown sidewalks are literally teeming with them.
I also love Seattle, Turnip. But, that said, if you’ve never felt the “vibe,” you should be pissed. Start demanding the “B.C. Bud” instead of that sad home-grown shit.
My experience with the place was for two-years back in the late '70s, though I’ve heard that it hasn’t gotten any better. (And if you were to ask Kristopher Kime’s loved ones they’d probably agree, though admittedly one Mardi Gras mob-murder doesn’t make the whole place necessarily bad, I guess.)
I remember it being SUPER congested there and the people not all too friendly, though there were a few that were nice. Basically, I have a problem with all of those “most beautiful cities” rankings as well as those “most livable” rankings that too often put the place at or near the top because the city itself IMHO is anything but beautiful.
I also didn’t care for all those very modest homes (with fantastic price tags) that were crowded into one another like sardines and which had little green patches for lawns. That and how over the course of time the gray skies work on one’s disposition. And, of course, that guy a year or so back dying due to getting his anus perforated by a horse didn’t exactly add to the prestige of the area.
Weird. I was there for two days only and the ‘vibe’ still made neough of an impression on me that it ranks among my top North American cities.
Good luck, Lightnin’. It’s hard to remember sometimes, but money is just something to facilitate the other stuff we want. Like, you know, more fulfilling jobs.
Not where I lived for 15 years. I’d describe it more like an incredibly beautiful, soggy, misty, mountainy place with scads of entitled yuppies who drive poorly. I’d live there again if the opportunity arose and I could convince Mr. 'addi that rain isn’t such a bad thing.
Lightnin’, the conventional wisdom is that Seattle is two years behind the housing bubble curve. If you can stick around there long enough, prices might well come down. Good luck to you.
koeeoaddi,
from the crowded, gang-ridden desert (with an blazing hot vibe)
I’m glad you had a good time there. But honestly, do you really think Seattle is a “beautiful” city?
Lightnin’, you should know before going that MANY Seattle natives will dislike you once they find out that you’re not from there. Not all, just a lot. They especially have it in for people from California.
One thing I did enjoy when I was there was stopping at those seafood joints on (super congested) Aurora Avenue. I’d go to those places and load up on a pound or so of raw shrimp and gorge my pie hole instead of doing the fast food thing. The shrimp were very tasty.
I don’t know what you have been hired to do but if you are significantly high up and the company is big enough, check out your relo package. Sometimes they offer a significant period of free rent (in corporate housing) while you’re looking for a home. You can take advantage of that for as long as you can.
Most good corporate relos also do what is called a “guaranteed buyout” of your home. This enables you to receive your equity immediately upon a signed offer on your home, or if the home doesn’t sell in a set period of time, the relo company will buy you out.
So do some checking into your relo package, Google “guaranteed buyout” and see what you can take advantage of. You can also negotiate that stuff into your deal if it isn’t already in there.
But the city itself, well, let’s just say that Gary Indiana could give it a run for the money.
When I lived up there a song came out called “Baker’s Street.” And some of the words were, “This city’s got a lot of people but its got no soul…” and I remember thinking, “That guy’s talking about this place!”
Of course, it didn’t help that on twice occasions I woke up only to discover that someone had tried to steal my car; smashed the driver’s window and ripped off the ignition housing to try and hotwire it both times.
I once had a friend fly out to visit me for a few days and he couldn’t wait to get back on the plane and get out of there (but then again, now that I think of it, maybe it was me ).
Oh yeah, memories of the Emerald City; ancient history so far and long ago in the past … Dixie Lee Ray … Cliff Lense and the hot and sexy Shirly Hudson (going braless on that early TV show! … Don James and the mighty Huskies … Heart … .
Okay, I’ll admit it, maybe the place wasn’t such a crap hole after all.
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