If I stay in the city we live in now and try and get our same neighborhood, a pet friendly 2 bedroom is going to run us around $2,000 - $2,100 a month (even checking through craigslist)... and i'm not sure i'd pick on of those places to actually live in.
So, I checked in on my old apartment complex from pre 1 bedroom condo time.
Yes, it's in a different city... but within the same commute distance to our jobs. AND its in the city our day care is in, making a move there, pretty darn practical. It's where we would live if we weren't living here most likely since hubs likes to leave these decisions to me.
I can get a 2 bedroom there for $1905 ($400 deposit) + $35 in pet rent ($400 deposit) making it the cheapest option -- and it would be closer to daycare... I can say in all honesty, we'd move to a city that wouldn't lengthen our commute, if it saved us on rent, and i'd rather be in an apartment, then rent from a land lord, especially with a kid in tow to make sure things got fixed on time.
So we have a comparable rental unit we will use for math! Plus it helps that I know about the area and what is and is not included in rent and that the security deposit is full refundable if you live there at least 2 years... plus we'd get a garage.
We will also assume our now 5 year old washer and dryer (that we hypothetically purchased at the beginning of in 2012) will continue to function, thus eliminating the need for the coin operated laundry rooms at the apartment complex.
Costs Associated with Apartment for 6 months 2017
We don't include electric bills below since we'd have to pay for those at either place, but my HOA fee includes water, gas, and trash so those will be listed in the apartment costs.
Initial costs:
- Deposit: $400.00
- Pet Deposit: $400.00
- Trash: $15 a month
- Water: $60 a month
- Gas: $35 a month
- Rent: $1,905 a month
- Renters Insurance: $11.00 a month
- Pet Rent: $35 a month
Costs Associated with New Condo for 6 months 2017
Monthly: $1,439.94
- Mortgage: $763.86
- HOA: $350.00
- Property Taxes: $280
- Homeowners Insurance:($33.33 a month) $400.00 Year
- Earthquake Insurance: ($12.75 a month) $153.00 Year
6 Month Total: $8,639.64 (includes Homeowners ins, even though we ran it through escrow this year).
On a monthly basis, our condo is $621.06 cheaper each month then an apartment without factoring in the security deposits. The apartment would cost us $25,532 over the course of a year, the condo $17,279.28... giving us the wiggle room to spend $8,252.72 each year on improvements while STILL saving money, since this doesn't factor in the tax write offs or the equity we will gain in the property by paying off the mortgage.
A note to new readers:
If your wondering how our mortgage is so low, its because we put $164,000 down from the sale of our first condo. I bought a fixer upper 8 years ago as a bank owned foreclosure and lived in it and made it our home through marriage, pets and our toddler. If your new to the blog, you can read the full financials on that property (including all the purchase, remodel and sale history here in our re-cap post). Our decision to buy this new condo, is in part because of the smart decisions we made about our first condo.
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