Should I close on my condo at Toren?

waistd, that's a tough call. It does depend on what the contract price was to a large degree, and who's paying closing costs. Will you need a 2BR within 4-6 years? That's a relatively short period of time, but if you're paying less than you would to rent, this is definitely a tricky thing to work out.

My household is in a similar boat with a new development that will be starting closings shortly. So bump!

waistd, I've said this a few times... factor in your cash position.
If you have cash for a dow payment somewhere else, let it go. Take a 10% loss over a locked in 20% is not a bad move, if it doesn't erode your cash position.

If that is your down payment money, and you can't really get more otherwise.... and you want to settle down, then perhaps it might be worth it even at the loss.

> Carrying costs on the apartment would be less than what I'm paying in rent

Is that factoring in just the deposit, or would you need to put down more downpayment to get the mortgage?

I'm a little surprised that you can't rent something cheaper given the Toren prices at peak.

>Is that factoring in just the deposit, or would you need to put down more downpayment to get the mortgage?

No need ot put down more downpayment, the 10% deposit will suffice for the lender (benefits of locking in the mortgage before everything went hay wire).

>I'm a little surprised that you can't rent something cheaper given the Toren prices at peak.

I could probably optimize the rent situation a little, but probably couldn't lower carrying costs by more than $100 (I didn't get in at peak prices, probably somwhere below 10% where they really peaked).

>If you have cash for a dow payment somewhere else, let it go. Take a 10% loss over a locked in 20% is not a bad move, if it doesn't erode your cash position.

And there's the rub... Today's downpayment rules would make it very difficult.

Barring the super-luxe stuff in Manhattan, Toren is a heck of a lot better (and less cookie cutter) than a lot of what is on the market (e.g. Scarano / Karl). This would be a much easier decision if it was a bad building, which it is not...

Ask LICComment - he knows everything.

Yeah, I could see just going ahead with it. If you got at 10% down, and you already paid 10%, you're talking about getting it 20% off peak price vs. if you bought somewhere else. If you're happy and you dig it, then at least you have some math supporting you.

But, then you come to the bjw point... if you're going to have to move anyway in 5 years, that erodes the buy/rent math anyway with closing costs. If you figure you're not staying at least that time, perhaps not taking it makes sense.