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Lazy moochers (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/memes@lemmy.ml
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[–] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (9 children)

I just found an article (from 1955) by my grandma where she argued that she prefers renting over building a house because she has more freedom that way. She can move more easily because she doesn't have to find a buyer for her house, she doesn't have to worry about something breaking because that's on the landlord to fix and she doesn't have to go into debt to live somewhere.

As far as I know she never owned a home, always rented. But all her kids bought houses.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago* (5 children)

    I had a coworker liked that. He enjoyed renting because it meant having fewer responsibilities.

    I disagreed, and countered that renting means being more dependent on somebody else. Some landlords are excellent at responding to repair calls, but there are so many more that will leave you hanging for an indetermined amount of time, while leaks continue or appliances break. Personally, I'd rather not have the quality of life in my own home be dependent on someone who doesn't really care about me.

    Sadly, I don't have much of a choice. I would prefer being able to pick my own repair people or just fix simple things myself. Alas, like so many others, I work full time but remain stuck in the rent trap. So much for freedom.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    One of my coworkers said the same thing. After the third time they were forced to move they caved and bought a condo.

    One of my big concerns is that access to psychological benefits of keeping a pet gets to be gatekept by the whims of someone else.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    I'm also that coworker. Bought a 1995 build house in 2013, and sold it last year. Holy cost of maintenance. Roof, foundation, HVAC, plumbing, gutters, siding. We upgraded the windows too, so that was a choice, but nothing else was. Didn't have money for professional interior upgrades because we were maintaining the structure itself instead.

    If I ever buy a house ever again, it will be a condo so I'm only responsible for the INSIDE. As of right now, after all that, I'm happy renting. I'm so disinterested with painting and whatnot, that it doesn't bug me to have white walls.

    I do agree that the pet situation sucks though. We have 2 "aggressive breeds" that were strays we picked up off the street years ago (2016 and 2020), a Pit mix and a Dobie mix. Finding someone to rent to us with those was a chore. And for the few years we rented out our home (military. Lived in it while we were stationed there, rented it out for a few years, moved back in when we returned to the same duty station), we didn't have a breed restriction.

    We're about to move across the country again, and I'm STOKED to be moving into an apartment. Rn we're renting a SFH and it has been so nice knowing that money we had saved up isnt about to disappear because the water heater broke or whatever.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (2 children)

    FYI: You might "only" be responsible for what is inside your condo but you are 100% on the hook for the costs external to your unit.

    Surfside in Miami has forced all of the Condos to re-imagine their finances. Some units are being hit with $100,000 Special Assessments to repair the foundation, or facade, or just keep sufficient balance. There is no way out of this except to sell. They can charge you whatever they want, whenever they want.

    Also "external" problems are also yours. One of the 5 units above yours flood into yours? That's a civil problem between you and the whichever unit it is. Good luck finding them, and getting your money. Even if you get it. You still have to deal with the trouble.

    Had condo suffer water damage 11 times in 8 years due to various reasons caused by units above. Basically on your own. Condo board is not getting involved. You get all the problems of someone else's lack of maintenance, and none of the benefits of your own maintenance.

    Condo Fees went from $110/month to $930/month because 'fuck me' I guess. No control over that either. You can petition the board but it's full of old nosy fucks.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Oof, glad I read this so we know what questions to ask/red flags to look out for if we ever do pull the trigger on purchasing a condo!

    COA fees going from $110 to $930 is fucking wildly crazy work. Did they at least tell you WHY it shot up like that?

    And its also crazy that special assessments cab be billed for that high per unit. We'd be fucked! I thought the point of paying COA fees each month was supposed to spread the cost of maintenance around/ensure there are savings in the bank to cover major repairs!

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Sure, but it sounds like she’s never been evicted for no reason.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    That does sound like a regulation problem in the capitalist hellacape that is the USA more than anything. I live in The Netherlands and evicting someone here is very difficult. A landlord needs to make his case in front of a judge and everything. There's one reason with which they can evict a tenant with a bit more ease and that's to use the property themselves, but they need to prove why they need it all of a sudden. And even then they need to pay the tenant roundabouts €7000 to help with the move.

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