The Shrine

Anyone have good tips for websites or other places to look up apartment listings?

Offhand, not outside of L.A...

What city are you looking in?

apartments.com, rent.com, and craigslist for the cities/areas you're interested in.

Looking in Northern VA.

My roommate informed me yesterday that he's planning on moving home so he can save up some more money. This is viable for him. It's viable for most of my friends, given a lot of them are doing just that.

Unfortunately, I no longer have that option, given our house was sold a few years back after my dad moved out of the area.

One of my friends MIGHT move in, the main issue being really bloody horrible timing (events at his job as of late has made him strongly consider going to grad school soon - adding another expense by moving out of his parents' house may not work for him). I'm not holding my breath on that, though. I'd also rather not room with someone I don't know moderately well, and given my general hermit-like nature, is also problematic.

So there's a strong chance I'll have to find a new apartment (cat friendly) sometime soon. It's not a situation I'm looking forward to.

I'll explore my options before I start packing things up. The finances work out that even if I have to live alone in my current townhouse for a few months, it's not going to hurt me; staying alone here long-term is simply not financially viable, though.

Have a woman move in with you, then you get other benefits as well (as in the chores and cooking......get your minds out of the gutters, boys :-).

Seriously, though, aren't you working? Wouldn't it be best if you got a house? NOt sure what the housing prices are like, but it's better than paying rent for the rest of your life. At least you're building equity this way

Housing prices in this area have moved to a plateau far, far above "obscene".

I'm still unsure what the fuck I'm doing with my life, so until I have a better idea and can map it out, I won't be making any purchases of that magnitude.

Zeus wrote: Wouldn't it be best if you got a house? NOt sure what the housing prices are like, but it's better than paying rent for the rest of your life. At least you're building equity this way

That's a myth that needs to be squelched. Buying a house and building equity is *not* always better than renting. Like many things, there are no absolute rules here and the situation changes from person to person. But you should only buy a house if you plan on living in an area for a while and want to live in a house, NOT because you're building equity, getting tax breaks, etc....much of this turns out to be a crock for many people anyway.

Agent's advice is good. I hear craigslist is really good, but I expect the others are probably good too, especially for an area as populated is NoVa.

Obviously, i live in NoVa now and i also obviously know you know the area well. (Tort and I went to same high school in NoVa, tOWS is a total coincidence). Where do you live now? What you need to figure out is if you like the cityishness of Arlington or the burbs out here in Fairfax/Centreville. There are some great places out by me in Fairfax, but even the one bedrooms can be a little steep. If you like the city then maybe moving all the way into DC would be an awesoime change of pace, but with familiarity.

As to buying a house, everyone, the prices here are nuts. Me and Kim bought a 3 bedroom multi-level condo for 320 last year and things in our neighborhood go for 400 now. A decent single family house is easily a minimum of 450-500+. Next year we are thinking of cashing in and moving out of NoVa where we can get a plantation mansion

I'm currently out in Centreville. My office is in Fairfax, so I'd like to avoid going far enough away to make the commute unbearable. This kinda limits things.

We'll see.

Don't get an Interest Only loan. The sole reason why housing prices are so goddamn high in some places are because a good chunk of people are getting Interest Only loans and getting sucked into buying bigger houses. This drives up housing rates through the roof, and the people who buy them will definately get proper fucked in about 5 years.

It's a fucking death trap created by the banks.

SineSwiper wrote:Don't get an Interest Only loan. The sole reason why housing prices are so goddamn high in some places are because a good chunk of people are getting Interest Only loans and getting sucked into buying bigger houses. This drives up housing rates through the roof, and the people who buy them will definately get proper fucked in about 5 years.

It's a fucking death trap created by the banks.

In our area, it's all location, location, location. The houses in my parents area are not huge, but they're going for $650,000 on the first day. (This is in Annandale, Fairfax County.)

Kupek wrote:

SineSwiper wrote:Don't get an Interest Only loan. The sole reason why housing prices are so goddamn high in some places are because a good chunk of people are getting Interest Only loans and getting sucked into buying bigger houses. This drives up housing rates through the roof, and the people who buy them will definately get proper fucked in about 5 years.

It's a fucking death trap created by the banks.

In our area, it's all location, location, location. The houses in my parents area are not huge, but they're going for $650,000 on the first day. (This is in Annandale, Fairfax County.)

It's like that in MD too. House prices are ridiculous right now. They are so much higher than what anyone should be able to afford. I am glad I bought my house when I did because it's already gone up about $40,000 or so in a year. I could never have afforded the same house now.

The housing market in MD is beginning to slow down. My fiancee works (well she did until 2 weeks ago...new job) in real estate and we were just talking about that last night.

Its sad. Most places sellers get numerous bids on a house and they pick the highest.

Here, buyers always give offers lower than the asking price. We bought our house for 110k, it was listed for 116k and we live in a decent house. 2100 sqft 2 floors, 5 brs 2 bas, small rooms though. And it still needs a lot of work.

The same house would prolly go for 250 to 300k elsewhere

I couldnt imagine paying a mortgage like that!!

I was showing a friend of mine in CA, who is wanting to buy a house there, pictures of houses for sale here in the 300k range. He was stunned at these "mansions" going for a measly 300k.

My mom recently sold her modest, one-story, two-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom house in Los Angeles for $750K, and the guy promptly tore it down and built a bigger house on the lot, which means he was willing to pay $750K for the lot...

Mental wrote:My mom recently sold her modest, one-story, two-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom house in Los Angeles for $750K, and the guy promptly tore it down and built a bigger house on the lot, which means he was willing to pay $750K for the lot...

thats crazy

Ishamael wrote:

Zeus wrote: Wouldn't it be best if you got a house? NOt sure what the housing prices are like, but it's better than paying rent for the rest of your life. At least you're building equity this way

That's a myth that needs to be squelched. Buying a house and building equity is *not* always better than renting. Like many things, there are no absolute rules here and the situation changes from person to person. But you should only buy a house if you plan on living in an area for a while and want to live in a house, NOT because you're building equity, getting tax breaks, etc....much of this turns out to be a crock for many people anyway.

I agree, to a point. If you plan on staying in a place for 3 or more years, it'll be worth it. Less, it's not. My uncle is buying homes for his three kids through loans (no money down) while they go to uni and by the time the 3-4 year programs are done, he's got at least $5k built up in equity, once you factor in the interest, not including the increases in the values of the homes. So it works that way, at least you're getting something back. And since you've got other renters, it's basically costing him nothing as the additional rent above his kids pays for the mortgage.

If you're living in the same place for 3-4 years, you're often paying roughly the same if you can get yourself a roomie as you would renting, so you'd see the equity build up that way while paying the same for rent. That's how it can work up here, anyways.

But if you move every year, it's dumb. I agree about that.