Author Topic: Move apartments to save $2k  (Read 2466 times)

noviceatinvesting

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Move apartments to save $2k
« on: November 06, 2014, 01:19:59 PM »
I am currently locked into a contract until July 2015. Current rent is $2388. I can pay a $500 fee to change to a slightly smaller apartment but the new rent would be $2000 and a new contract would be in place until end of 2015. Essentially we would be saving $2k (after subtracting all costs) until the end of July 2015 if we switched apartments. Is it worth it? There are some costs to move and the headache involved with moving, of course. The option to buy a house when our contract on the current apartment ends is always there, but house prices are very high here. But if we don't buy in 2015 and interest rates go up, we might regret it. Are houses usually cheaper in the fall/winter? If we changed apartments we could buy next fall/winter. Sorry this is a dumb and perhaps needlessly complicated situation but I am tired of making bad financial decisions!

SunshineGirl

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Re: Move apartments to save $2k
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2014, 01:23:01 PM »
Can you find another place to rent that is even cheaper?

innkeeper77

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Re: Move apartments to save $2k
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2014, 02:24:04 PM »
Wow.. that's pricey. Where is your general location? Also, why do you want to buy a house?

IF you have a good reason for buying a house, and you are financially ready for it, I would jump into buying a house. If you might not buy for another 4 or more years, or if you don't have a good financial reason for a house, stay a renter. Renting, even long term, can be cheaper

Again, IF you are going to buy, have you considered a fixer upper in a nice older neighborhood? That's what my wife and I are doing since Norther Colorado is so expensive. (And I get to learn a bunch of skills! New furnace, plumbing, electrical...) Then again, our rent was less than half of yours, and mortgage, taxes, insurance, etc for a larger house (3/2) is only slightly more than half of what you are paying for rent....

Fall/Winter: If you are ina  hot area, no. However, if it slows down at all it can make your negotiations go better. It depends on your local market.

clarkfan1979

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Re: Move apartments to save $2k
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2014, 02:50:11 PM »
On average housing markets are slower during the winter. However, I currently live in Southwest Florida and the housing market is hot during the winter. Many people from the north come down to Florida in the winter looking for a good time and a possible vacation house or retirement house. All real estate is local. I'm not sure if the same things happens in Miami.

Sid Hoffman

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Re: Move apartments to save $2k
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2014, 05:33:13 PM »
What part of Manhattan Island is this?  The math for the change fee is easy enough to calculate: the move will have paid for itself, so to speak, by early into the 2nd month based on a $500 change fee and $388/month cheaper rent.  However the catch is of course that you will be signed into the lease for 6 months longer.  I think the key question really is if there's other places that are genuinely practical that are cheaper, and if so, by how much.

For example if you're already in an area where you can talk to work and not have to spend a ton of money on subway tokens or cab fares or whatever, then perhaps it doesn't make sense to move somewhere else that's $1900 but further away from work where it's going to use up more money on transportation, or harder to get to good grocery stores or whatever.

I think the key here to checking the math is to know what other options are in the area near work and what effects it has on your transportation budget.  I'm guessing there's a lot of moving parts at work here, so to speak, so there may not be an easy answer without a lot more information.