Recently considered buying a house instead of renting as lease was up - after looking for a bit I honestly can’t see why you would ever do it. Here is what we looked at, for example: Downtown Bellevue newer luxury apartment, 1500sqft - 3300/mo (see picture) New build Kirkland rose hill, 1300 sqft, no garage - est 6800/mo payment (https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7537-126th-Avenue-NE-UNIT-B-Kirkland-WA-98033/2058414785_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare) Last time I checked downtown Bellevue is far better location than Kirkland rose hill - apartment is even next to google Bellevue office. The tiny cottage is not walkable to anything. The space is less, you have to maintain things yourself, and cost is more than double (so no “equity” argument). So why are people buying these? Honestly confused what people are thinking Tc 410
You're comparing homeownership to renting an apartment?
Uh yeah? We are considering where to live and they are places to live?
But even houses rent are not that expensive in bellevue compared to monthly payment of the bought equivalent
Aren’t folks and private equity companies invest SFH as bet the house price only go up. Some of my friends buy a second one as Airbnb
They were, it will be interesting if investment firms unload these assets since their values are declining and they can get better yields elsewhere now that interest rates are much higher.
To each his own. For many, owning a single family home with a yard and a two garage is the “American Dream.” It means you made it! Like you, I don’t get it. I hate the burbs. I hate driving everywhere, even for a coffee. I really, really hate yard work. I love urban living. My two bedroom/two bath condo where my husband and I can walk or take public transport everywhere is perfect!
This one don’t even have a garage…
I live in a three bedroom apartment with my family in New York. We are one train stop from Manhattan, we have a car for weekend trips but we walk and take public transportation during the week. I also hate the suburbs and find them depressing. I also hate yard work, house work, going to Home Depot, etc. Renting is freedom.
Its next to nothing. One day you will realize what is the value of that lol. Btw not saying its worth it. But comparing rent to emi is dumb.
This place has been bought and sold 30 years ago and now NIMBYs are doing whatever they can to block ownership feasibility for newer folks. Don’t raise your hopes.
If you are asking “why suburbs instead of cities”, the entire idea of living so far from everything with a terrible environmental footprint has its basis in white flight from the cities in the US. The same politics is maintained today with how the suburbanites here talk about cities in the PS area.
White flight, huh? I remember talking to a guy in work about why we moved out of Manhattan into the suburbs, because my wife wanted to be near her parents and we wanted to get into an A rated school district without any guesswork. However nothing I could say would convince my coworker that it wasn't because we wanted to get away from non white people. Because he was fucking insane and spent all day reading stuff like Occupy Democrats until his head was exploding. He himself was also as white as a glass of milk, of course.
If you can rent for cheaper it’s probably better short term. But long term, you lock on your monthly payment (eventually rents will go up) you can use the equity in your home as a low interest loan/collateral. I own only because it is the same cost to rent, but if it is significantly cheaper to rent I understand the argument to rent. Burbs tend to also be better for folks with families who prefer quiet.
Why not buy a condo in Bellevue? Maybe get the best of both worlds?
Condo is actually looking extraordinarily worse than either option right now - look at this one nearby, est payment 14000/mo for 1700sqft - https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/10650-NE-9th-PL-UNIT-2320-Bellevue-WA-98004/2106738884_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Damn 14k/mo is crazy
If you buy a place you need to look at it like an investment with a medium-term goal to sell it when you can make the most profit.
Most places didn’t have sidewalks because a lot of this area was farmland and distant parcels of land and they didn’t make it a part of plans to build sidewalks until they started to do build neighborhood planning. That’s why a lot of suburbs are having to put sidewalks into neighborhoods now. It wasn’t to prevent people walking in. People walked or rode horses before that, especially in Bellevue/Redmond. 😆 There is definitely the NIMBY group, though. The original owner of Bellevue Square fought against bus stops any where near the mall because he only wanted people who could drive there to shop there. And yes, not a lot of choice. The bus system sucks in a lot of the Eastside. I’m looking forward to the Lightrail.
For the most part people /aren’t/ buying them
There are sales though, I saw a similar cottage pending at 1.2M
That’s what Amazon meant, “people” aren’t buying them, corporations are.