this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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A Boring Dystopia
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3% is super low, not sure what country this is in but even if you can put up 3% can you afford the monthly payments?
For example for lets say a 1 million $ home (normal for a HCOL city) you have a $30,000 down payment and a monthly $5500 (based on about a 4.7% rate). This still seems hard. The down payment is not the only limit to home ownership.
Forgot to add the extra 300 a month in shitty HOA fees that all places seem to have in HCOL areas.
Urgh, HOAs are the devil. Condo fees are also bad, some people pay about the same in fees as on their mortgage.
There are not many here in Seattle aside from condo or townhouse HOAs. The condo dues are generally around that but they cover the maintenance of the whole building. In the suburbs the HOA dues are generally $50-100. That gets you a sign and maybe a small park. I don't need a sign and I already pay money for parks in the form of taxes. Although those developments probably do not have homeless campers down the street. The ones down the street from me are fairly clean and don't cause issues.
The US allows only a 3% down-payment.
You are right about being able to afford it monthly. Your numbers seem like they may be closer to what they are in Canada. The median price here in Seattle is $800k which would be a $24k down-payment and a $6000 monthly payment with the average 7.1% interest rate, insurance, and taxes. Don't know what the mortgage insurance would likely be for that but that is likely another couple hundred. That is over $72,000 per year just in housing costs.