Planning to move to Mason/Greenville

[Kat Kanning]

Sorry to hear you had to be delayed. 

[Jacobus]

On December 9, a new anarchist was born: Caleb Daniel Halbrooks. 

[Pat K]

Congrats! 

[Kat Kanning]

Oh what a sweet face!  Congrats to you all. 

[Lloyd Danforth]

Even looks like Caleb!

[Jacobus]

After about 1.5 years of having our condo on the market (with a few months break last winter for our new arrival), someone was actually going to submit an offer. 

As with many buyers this year, they were pursuing an FHA-guaranteed loan. The FHA is a federal bureaucracy, and they subsidize low interest, low down payment loans by insuring them. This means lenders can provide capital for a loan but not bear the risk of default, which is transferred to the FHA (of course, taxpayers ultimately bear the risk).

According to mortgageloan.com, federally-guaranteed loans accounted for 36% of all mortgage applications in June. In our segment of the market (low to medium end condos), I suspect this number is much higher.

So the government offers taxpayer-subsidized loans at below market prices. There is a huge incentive for anyone who qualifies to get one of these loans. Perhaps the only reason that the number of FHA loans is not higher is that there are a few restrictions on what they can be used for. For example, they cap the value of the loan, so most very-well-to-do homes would not qualify.

Another limitation, as we recently found out, is that to be used for a condo, the association must have at least four units.  Ours has three.

So to recap, here is how the government takes control of a market:

1. Offer a taxpayer-subsidized product that "competes" with what's on the market.
2. Set the price below what the market offers for similar products (which the government can do since the true cost is borne by taxpayers).
3. Voila! Now the bureaucracy gets to decide who gets what since everyone is channeled through their product.

Obscure, arbitrary FHA rules now decide which properties sell and which ones do not.

So between the fact that we had already lowered our price as far as we could go  (2/3 of what we paid 5 years ago), and the fact that this FHA business makes it highly unlikely we could sell anyway, we took our condo off of the market.  We will stay in Massachusetts for the time being and continue to save money for our next home.

[Kat Kanning]

Stinkin' government!

[Jacobus]

We closed today on a little log home in Mason!

A big thank you to Mark Warden for being a great realtor and wonderful to work with through the whole process. 

We were able to do this because an in-law is moving back to Massachusetts and we will rent our condo out to her. 

Our boys are now 5 years and 19 months.  Our "big issue" will be homeschooling, and my wife has started to network (particularly on Relaxed Homeschoolers).  If you know any liberty folks around Mason, and particularly anyone homeschooling with young children, please PM me.

We'll probably do one of those moving in parties and supply pizza and beverages.  We might also do a yard sale in the Fall.  We have some updating we want to do first and are looking at a mid-August move.

We're excited!

[Pat K]

 

[Kat Kanning]

Awesome news! 

[brycen]

Just read this thread today.

If you're still commuting to Mass for work, I highly recommend an FM transmitter with an MP3 player for listening to audio stuff. I found this very helpful on my long drive to and from Denver for my recent trip to NH for Porcfest. The FM transmitter doesn't cost much, but makes it so you don't have stuff on your head, probably a red flag for any overambitious cops.

[Kat Kanning]

Thanks for the tip, Bryce!

[Jacobus]

Yes, I'll definitely look into that to help mitigate the long commute!  Maybe I'll start off with FTL podcasts.