Buy a condo in Seattle (Downtown/Cap Hill/SLU)?
I’m a guy in my mid twenties and single. Plan to be in Seattle for the next 2 years and keep the condo/house for at least 5 years if I buy one. Below are my options and some reasoning based on what I’ve seen: 1) Go for a one bed condo. The cost is more affordable now that prices are correcting. HOA sucks but may be able to find something where mortgage is almost equal to rent. No hassle of maintenance. Easy to rent, hard to sell, less appreciation. 2) Buy a townhouse. It’s much more expensive and I don’t need the space and also don’t know if it will be easy to rent out (as compared to a condo) in the future. However it will probably appreciate more, easier to sell, etc. Finding one near Amazon is hard though. 3) Continue renting. Looking for some advice and clarity from folks who have more experience allocating their money well. Budget is 450-750k. Can make a downpayment up to 150k. TC: 200k, YOE: 2yrs
Buy and then call me
Buyyyyy. Then Airbnb or rent when you inevitably discover that Seattle is the worst place for a 20-something single guy.
Lol I already discovered that 3 months in. Any insight on which type of house to buy?
Lol sorry about your social life. I recommend a condo with a view or easy access to the Space Needle. If you Airbnb you will make bank renting it out on NYE. If you choose to become a landlord, renters will love not worrying about extra stuff the HOA covers like trash etc.
Try to get a townhouse. Something in the Central District should be within the high end of that budget. You could immediately find roommates to help offset cost. And as you note it’ll be easier to rent/sell when you leave.
The areas near central district where I found townhouses were around yessler. Some parts seem a bit sketchy though. Is that a good enough location? Also any insight on the time/effort to maintain a townhouse especially if I move out and put it on rent?
YMMV, but I’ve lived in that area for the last 6 years without major incident (some petty property crimes every now and then but nothing out of the ordinary for a city). For your timeframe maintenance should be fairly easy: HOA covers the exterior and because they tend to be newer it’s unlikely you need to do much to the inside yourself. For brand new construction there’s typically also a year’s warranty from the builder where they’ll come fix any build quality issues.
Most condo HOA will not allow you to ABnB. Some even have rental caps so watch out for those! Oh and condo with parking spot is way easier to rent out.
If you’re planning to stay a while, I’d buy. Buy the one you most prefer to live in. I’ve owned both in Seattle and both worked well for me at different points in my life. Markets are dynamic and unpredictable; don’t try to time the market.
House always, condo or townhome no.
If your rent is about the same as your new mortgage payment, then BUY.
Buy!!!!!!!!