No no you do the windows you don't know how to open here I show you no come back

[prog]

There's a cleaning lady in my house, at the invitation of my landlady. After a few moments of working around her and even helping a little with my own messes, like taking out the trash, it seemed wisest to just withdraw into my room and her do what she likes. I kind of hope she gives my room a pass; it's been a sty since I stopped using it as a workspace two years ago. It's been a little better lately but I am not proud of it yet.

The rough part is that my landlady is there with her, ordering her around. Neither are native English speakers but they're using it as a lingua franca, which I think is always kinda cool to see, but my landlady adds the extra stumbling block of being batty and cranky, so they're both getting frustrated with each other. Cleanlady is a consummate pro with her own system, and landlady is at her heels telling her that it's all out of order. Gah. I didn't want to be witness to that either.

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On the subject of housing: can any of y'all give me an idea of what I should have in the bank in order to obtain, let us say, a two-bedroom condo in the vicinity of my current location? Is doing this sort of thing as simple as paying a mortgage every month - just like I do now with rent - after dropping a single phat down payment? I don't know, I'm asking.

I passed the magic barrier not too long ago of wondering why I'd ever want to own property to wondering how one goes about this.

Comments

[magid.livejournal.com]

I got a 30 year mortgage that wasn't fixed because that's what I could afford, but there's nothing keeping you from paying extra towards the capital and paying it off sooner. I refinanced a decade later into a 15, and in the end it looks like I'll be out of debt in under 20 years.

If you get a condo, there's not only the mortgage payment (usually with escrow money to cover the taxes, and this isn't included in any mortgage calculator), but the monthly condo fee as well. Depending on how the association works, you may pay monthly or less frequently, but it's also a noticeable expense. In my association, whenever there's not enough money for a major repair, there's a special assessment, so it's good to have a cushion. (Not that this happens frequently, but it does happen.)