Buying a Condo in Northern Virginia

After nearly two years in Northern Virginia (for those of you outside the D.C. Metro area, that’s Northern Virginia, or NOVA, as opposed to the Rest of Virginia, or ROVA. Really they should be two separate states seeing as everything about the two areas is completely different. Many Northern Virginians have been saying this for years, but since many of them have never lived in ROVA, I never really considered that they knew what they were talking about. Now having lived in both ROVA and NOVA, I can agree that yes, they should indeed be two different states, and it’s quite a shame that it will likely never happen) I have decided to attempt to buy a condo. Now, everyone probably knows that it’s a better idea in the long run to buy than to rent (therefore, you’re not throwing your money directly into someone else’s pockets, but are indirectly sliding it into a pocket you may or may not possess in the future assuming that you keep the property long enough to both build up some equity and take advantage of said equity). But two years doesn’t sound like an unduly long time to live somewhere before deciding to buy, right? However, I lived in Blacksburg for 10 years, and the entire time kept saying that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay so I should keep renting. Well, I am not even going to do the calculations to find out how much rent money I threw directly into someone else’s pockets during those 10 years because it’s way too depressing, but suffice it to say that it was a lot. As such, I decided that since I do like NOVA enough to stay for at least a few more years, that it was high time for me to get myself in gear and take the home-ownership plunge.

Several things in my life reached a favorable conjunction in order to cause me to actually consider this. First, my current lease is over at the end of October. Second, my roommate is only paying me through the end of September ’cause she’s moving out then. Third, I got to thinking about my future pockets and how I’d like to be sliding a bit of money into them rather than throwing it unabashedly into some stranger’s current pockets. So I started looking into it.

I’ve already done a few steps prior to this writing (sorry, but I didn’t want to jinx it by announcing to the whole world before things started moving) so this is a belated attempt to catch my readers up and keep on top of things. So as of now, I have a realtor (a really nice Christian guy who I’d be happy to give props to if I had a website for him. As it is, all I have is an email and phone number and I don’t hold too kindly with passing out that kind of information, especially without permission. But if he tells me he wants props on my blog, I’ll come back here and update this post for all of you who are looking for your own really nice Christian realtor guy in NOVA) and have been pre-approved for a nice chunk of change (not a great one; I can’t for instance afford to live in the area I currently rent as a home-owner, but I can afford to go out a little ways and get a quite cute little place). Unfortunately, the bank guy I was first working with could only pre-approve me if I could put a significant chunk of change down, and I hadn’t been planning this long enough to have a down payment saved up. So, I talked to a friend of a friend who thinks they can get me 100% financing at a pretty good rate. If so, I’ll be a happy girl. If not, very sad, cause I’ve already got my heart set on having my own place.

But in any case, I have now shifted my plans anyway. My original plan was to buy at least a 2BR/2BA place and rent out one or more of the bedrooms. However, now that I’ve decided it would be quite nice to live alone (I am getting to the age where a girl likes to have some independence after all) my price ranges have dropped. Not sure yet whether they have dropped enough to where I can actually afford to live alone, even if I can qualify to live alone (a difference that many people do not understand, which is why we’re currently seeing such a huge influx of foreclosed homes recently) but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. In fact, there are a couple of places that are priced low enough that I should be able to even put the 5% down if I use my 401K as my down payment (or maybe as collateral toward it somehow if that’s possible. Anyone know if I can do that?). Granted I’d have to go from driving 20 minutes with no traffic to 45 minutes with no traffic (easily 1.5 hours when traffic gets bad) but I think it will be worth it to be able to both have my own place (as in I own it) and have my own place (as in live alone).

So, for those of you who wonder why I suddenly have been a busy little bee with everything except my art, now you know. Buying a home (even a condo, which I equate more with an apartment search) is not something you can do quickly or easily. It’s quite exhausting in fact. But exhausting in a good way. So for those of you that pray, please be praying that I’ll be able to recognize God’s will and know if this is the right time for me to be doing this. And check back often for updates on the process.