It's time for the b a q a A to b a q a? Would you say the b a q a A?
Hey?
Manjer, how you doing? Hi?
Goudgeous? If this is how you look in a room that has no A C like, I just don't understand how your jeans work. J I just said j e any.
I was thinking. I was like, I feel like that's not what she meant.
Oh my god, lord, hey did you even you didn't notice too? I have on my T shirt? Can you recognize her?
Oh?
Is that y'all say? It's Oh my god. If she ever sees this, which why ever should would she? She would be so happy that you thought that was Yonce. I've had people ask if it's me, which I'm like, where it's blonde? This is Nicola Cochlan aka Penelope Feather.
From Where did you get that from?
I made it?
You know what, at the time, we don't even have the time to dog.
People to what I'll tell you. I'll tell you off. I was going through it okay, and it makes me happy. And did you know you can make custom T shirts on Campa?
That's upfair, I do now.
I didn't go ahead. Welcome to the b a q A. Everybody.
Yes, where you have questions, we might have the answers, although we are not you a doctor, your attorney's financial minds, or anybody that you pay. So you're going to take our advice, not even advice. You have to take the coming out of our mouths with the small screens of salt, and you're going to lean into the people that you pay for information from. Okay, Okay, so you're granny, not us.
I make my own T shirts to be a fan on campus, so definitely don't trust anything I have to say. What have we got today? Some many questions? So this is a juicy, juicy question from listener Tanya, who sent us a question on ig Would you like me to start? Are we doing this as a two parter?
Yeah, because we've got to split her into two parts?
So like yeah, so okay, like magicians. Okay, let's go. Tanya says, Hi, ladies, I love listening to your show and I have learned so much along the way. I currently transition from a nurse to a nurse practitioner. I really don't like my job and I feel burnt out. I currently work two jobs to keep up with all of my bills. I want to start working less to open up my schedule for more activities that make me happy. Okay, so I think that's like one part of this. So
she wants to work less be more happy. Got it? Then she says, I feel stuck because last August, which is about a year ago, I purchased a condo. It is beautiful, but so costly. Two months after moving in, I was notified of an upcoming assessment. I have to pay eighty six thousand dollars over the next six years. Even if I sell before six years, I would have to pay off the total assessment. Also, my HOA fees already went up ten percent from being here less than
a year. This purchase was definitely a mistake. How can I maneuver to get rid of this expense besides going bankrupt? It's one bedroom, so I can't rent a room, and if I were to rent the entire unit, I could probably get twenty eight hundred per month when the mortgage in HOA is actually forty two hundred What how does this happen?
The assessment? I'm confused, But she's saying that she has to pay the assessment whether she sells it or not. I'm not really certain about what that means.
Is this one of those things that you get in line to buy a new unit in a condo, like two years before it's actually built, and then is it like you agree to a price and then they build it, you move in and uh oh the price is actually a lot higher now, so now you got to pay us this amount? Is it like that?
Well, here's what I would say. That it sounds like, yes, you sound like it's your bit underwater or I don't even know if underwater is the right word, but it sounds like you're a bit overwhelmed financially, and that it sounds like the best option is to sell. It's still very much a seller's market, depending especially on where you live. And even if you had to pay the eighty six thousand, my assumption is would that come from the sale of the condo? You know? But because I'm not familiar with
you have to pay an assessment. I'm not really sure what you mean. You're having to pay the assessment Eveil eighty six thousand over six years, Okay, I'm here now. The assessment is typically payable in installments over a set period, which can range from several months to several years. Depending on the size of the assessment, condo owners may have to pay it in full or spread the payments out.
What are special assessments? Oh okay, so these fees are a maintenance fees and are usually paid on a monthly basis. An association can also be reserved.
So it's it's the monthly maintenance. Is that what it is?
That's what it seeming like.
But you have to pay monthly that I'm familiar with, you know, definitely in New York when you own a when you buy in a building that has a co op like a co op board you tip, or any building really, you typically have yeah, maintenance fees because you're getting the perks of being a renter without renting like you own. But trash removal, maintenance of the place, that kind of stuff. So I just did the quick math.
That would be eleven hundred dollars almost twelve hundred dollars per month for the next six years.
So I can see excuse about why you have to pay that either way if you sold the place.
Oh, oh yeah.
That's what That's what it seems like, right, isn't it seem like what she's saying that she has to.
Pay in that email before six years, I have to pay off the total assessment. Whatever. What source are you getting your information from right now? What are you reading it from?
I'm looking at some like urban Turf. I mean, I'm sure it's not DC real Estate Real Time because I understand like the moment you read, I guess I'm just really confused because it is my understanding. Like I have a condom. I do pay a monthly assessment fee. And maybe I didn't do Maybe I didn't do my new villages where it's like I pay while I'm there and if I'm not there meaning to the condo, then that is said because the person who sold me the condo I did did what her monthly fee was, Like what
she was paying is what I'm paying? Asked, I said, obviously, what's the monthly fee for the assessment, the monthly of HOA or whatever fee? And I also asked once the last time it went up? And how often does it go up? So that was a question I asked, and I found that mine doesn't really go up at all, and the last time I went up it was like fifty bucks.
But I think the best thing you can do, Tanya, get some clarify cation on what is all of this, Like, I actually want to see a copy of your contract, in fact, send it over. I'm just very curious. But maybe even have a real estate attorney to take a look at it and give you some advice, or a realtor or whoever sold you the property in the first place. Going bankrupt cannot be the solution here. It's either you sell it or you do some more research to see
what other solutions there can be. I just want you to feel empowered to find some solutions. I don't want you to feel like, Okay, got this letter, this means I have to do this. There must be or there
might be. I would say there might be a way that is just more like you know, negotiating that you can do with the HOA or with your condo or just like a candid conversation so they can understand where your confusion is and maybe clarify it and maybe it's something that has been misinterpreted or yeah, I hope it turns out okay. But I just want you to not stress in silence, ask some questions and kind of get to the bottom of us.
Yeah, And I would just say Tanya that I just want more clarity on what you mean by this eighty six thousand dollars assessment that it has to be paid no matter what. I'm just not familiar, you know. I know typically my assessment is monthly as long as I'm the owner of the condo, and then if I sell the condo to whoever they take over, whatever, those monthly, like you know, assessment fees are, but it might be different,
maybe in different states it's different. So I'm curious. So if you can help to edify and clarify, that would be excellent, so we could be like, okay, because my initial knee jerk suggestion would be to sell the condo and then if there is this assessment that you know, ideally that the sale of the condo would help to cover. Tanya, I'm so sorry that this is happening to you. Please give us more information about this total assessment. I've never heard that before. What state do you live in? Is
there a link you can give us? Because I play my assessment monthly. We're going to throw the break, We're gonna come back and we're gonna to actually talk about best practices. Are you ready to buy our home? Doesn't make sense for you? So you do not end up in a situation where you kind of regret home ownership.
Okay, alr aba fan, we are back. So we just heard a very challenging and disturbing question from new condo homeowner Tanya in the first half of the show, And yeah, we just wanted to talk a little bit about best practices for when you're purchasing a home so that you don't end up regretting it, because Bebee, it's hard to get out once you're in. All right, signed, yours truly stuck in a starter home? Yeah, well, I.
Mean tell me and Mandie have both we know. An episode earlier, we talked about our money mistakes and I bought a condos. I'm in a condo. I just recently bought a condo, but my first home was a condo. And one of the mistakes that I made, you can kind of trade mistake. So mistake one money that I made was not really understanding the whole housing market, like not even like looking. I didn't know to look. I was in my twenties and I just bought. I did not know that I was buying at the top of
the recession. But maybe just getting a better understanding of the housing market, and so mistake number one not taking into consideration what's happening in the housing market nationwide, but specifically in your area, in your state. That was my mistake.
What about you, Mandy, Oh, well, you know, I my mistake was buying a house based on my emotions about the place I'll never forget and I still, I mean, it's hard to call it a mistake because it just felt so right. And I am very much like I go on my feelings a lot, which is not the greatest strongaging all the time, and especially with the biggest purchase of life. But when I walked into this house, it just felt like beautiful people lived here, They had
a beautiful like. It was just a good energy, It was sweet, it was cute. I was young, I didn't have children yet, and I thought, this is the kind of house that I would like to raise a family in. And I know that they had had kids who were grown up, and it just felt right. It felt really right, And I think Husbie, bless his heart, I think he was so happy that I just agreed. Not only to the day like that was. We had such a big fight about wanting to buy a house. I did not
want one. He wanted one, and I, you know, acquiesced to him by saying, okay, fine, get your friend from college and take us around look at some property in Westchester, and I just, unfortunately I fell in love with it. I think that he was so amazed that I was down and that I was saying yes, that he was just like, yes, I love this house. Let's get it now.
Six years seven years later. Yeah, we have some regrets, like no garage in the We're the only house in our entire neighborhood with no garage, and it is not big enough for our growing family, and there are some
challenges there. But how can you predict that? I think if I could go back, I would go back and I would just say, you know, really think about what kind of life you like, what kind of life you want, Go see some more options and think about all the think about how you're going to live in the house and what you want the house to give you, and make sure that it can give you all of that, and maybe don't watch so much HGTV and overestimate what
contractors can do. I mean, I think honestly, between Tiffany and I, the big takeaway is to think things through, say things out loud, talk to the experts. Don't make big home ownership decisions based on your gut feelings and what you think you should be doing. It's okay to take your time. It's also okay to not purchase anything in general and rent instead. There's no shame in that. So for those of y'all who are wondering, like should
I buy? Do I need to buy? What you need is to feel financially stable, have a roof over your head, and there are more ways of doing that than the cookie cutter American dream of let me get a mortgage and buy this house. It does not have to be that way. So thank you to Tanya for your question, and Tiff, thank you for sharing your experience in BA FAM. Always we love you. If y'all have a question for
the show, do not hesitate to reach out. We are Brand Ambission Podcast on ig or you can email us Brandambission Podcast at gmail dot com.