Today was the day to actually visit the condo. It was nice compared to some of the homes I have seen in the city, two summers ago. There were many things I learned from a fantastic realtor. Here are some of the things I learned in a few conversations with the people selling the condo and the realtor.
It is so important to know what the condo fees include. Searching on Google may not help you, but the condo fees are quite important. They do not include many of the apartment’s niceities. They will cover the outside f the condo and the roof. Everything within the walls are not covered by the condo association. The condo fees are $125 and it just includes water, sewage, snow removal and landscaping outside the condo. All small things, but its work that I do not need to do. There are homeowning purists out there that this is all part of home ownership.
The people selling the condo also allowed me to bring in a home inspector without having a contract. Typically, you have to have a contract out before bringing in a home inspector. I am still learning the intricacies of the closing process. But the major issue that is still confusing is that the sellers want a down payment of $5,000. What would happen if I take out a mortgage for the full cost of the condo? I will still be doing an 80/20 mortgage and feverishly paying the second mortgage off. I suppose the down payment will be included in that. I will have to come up with the closing costs, but that is a given.
So, all in all, I am now ready to put a bid in on the condo and have it inspected in the next week. There is another potential buyer interested, but I think I have a pretty good chance to purchase my first property. Let’s see what happens.
