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Anyone doing any investing in Charleston, SC
Condo insurance recommendation?
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Paying $1900 for rent nulls that worry (being on visa and local market could crash) if your mortgage is same or less, or even more (dependent on what you count).
If you do nothing, you pay ~23k in rent next year, if you buy, you pay ~23k towards ownership. You can also always hire a management company and rent if you have visa issue, and sell when the market stabilizes or continue to rent.
Now more tactically, things to do:
1. Buy a value property- one that is conducive to selling/renting- think location, location, location, floorplan, finishes, age of property, etc
2. Optimize down payment and interest rate to ensure you have extra cash in hand to support additional responsiblities/emergencies that come with home ownership. (Maybe 10-15% instead of 20%)
3. Flexible mortgage terms. Can you rent the property while on mortgage? Can you chose to move to another country while meeting loan obligations? etc.
4. For condos, check on HOA fees, health of the HOA, and typical restrictions, etc (I.e. can you rent? can you airbnb? is the mgmt team/HOA balance strong? etc)
If you cover these things, you should minimize your risk, and be able to fund an investment/home.
It makes sense for you to buy, then save some more money and buy another condo. Rent the other one out and create cash flow.
Why are you nervous?
One thing I tell people often is this: if you bought a condo today, and the market drops by 30%, how much did you lose? The answer is nothing, if you don’t sell on the loss, you lose nothing. The goal is to buy when you can and hold on to it as long as possible, thereby allowing your property to increase in value— the great thing about real estate is that it comes with a lot of options including renting it out or living in it, allowing you to keep it while you avoid ‘down times’. The other thing is, so long as you are where you are, you’re going to need a place to live so might as well pay down towards something you own, if your plan is to stay in that location long term.