Speaker 1: It's time for the b a q a A to
Speaker 1: b a q a? Would you say the b a
Speaker 1: q a A?
Speaker 2: Hey?
Speaker 1: Manjer, how you doing? Hi?
Speaker 2: Goudgeous? If this is how you look in a room
Speaker 2: that has no A C like, I just don't understand
Speaker 2: how your jeans work. J I just said j e any.
Speaker 1: I was thinking. I was like, I feel like that's
Speaker 1: not what she meant.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, lord, hey did you even you didn't
Speaker 2: notice too? I have on my T shirt? Can you
Speaker 2: recognize her?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: Is that y'all say? It's Oh my god. If she
Speaker 2: ever sees this, which why ever should would she? She
Speaker 2: would be so happy that you thought that was Yonce.
Speaker 2: I've had people ask if it's me, which I'm like,
Speaker 2: where it's blonde? This is Nicola Cochlan aka Penelope Feather.
Speaker 1: From Where did you get that from?
Speaker 2: I made it?
Speaker 1: You know what, at the time, we don't even have
Speaker 1: the time to dog.
Speaker 2: People to what I'll tell you. I'll tell you off.
Speaker 2: I was going through it okay, and it makes me happy.
Speaker 2: And did you know you can make custom T shirts
Speaker 2: on Campa?
Speaker 1: That's upfair, I do now.
Speaker 2: I didn't go ahead. Welcome to the b a q A. Everybody.
Speaker 1: Yes, where you have questions, we might have the answers,
Speaker 1: although we are not you a doctor, your attorney's financial minds,
Speaker 1: or anybody that you pay. So you're going to take
Speaker 1: our advice, not even advice. You have to take the
Speaker 1: coming out of our mouths with the small screens of salt,
Speaker 1: and you're going to lean into the people that you
Speaker 1: pay for information from. Okay, Okay, so you're granny, not us.
Speaker 2: I make my own T shirts to be a fan
Speaker 2: on campus, so definitely don't trust anything I have to say.
Speaker 2: What have we got today? Some many questions? So this
Speaker 2: is a juicy, juicy question from listener Tanya, who sent
Speaker 2: us a question on ig Would you like me to start?
Speaker 2: Are we doing this as a two parter?
Speaker 1: Yeah, because we've got to split her into two parts?
Speaker 2: So like yeah, so okay, like magicians. Okay, let's go.
Speaker 2: Tanya says, Hi, ladies, I love listening to your show
Speaker 2: and I have learned so much along the way. I
Speaker 2: currently transition from a nurse to a nurse practitioner. I
Speaker 2: really don't like my job and I feel burnt out.
Speaker 2: I currently work two jobs to keep up with all
Speaker 2: of my bills. I want to start working less to
Speaker 2: open up my schedule for more activities that make me happy. Okay,
Speaker 2: so I think that's like one part of this. So
Speaker 2: she wants to work less be more happy. Got it?
Speaker 2: Then she says, I feel stuck because last August, which
Speaker 2: is about a year ago, I purchased a condo. It
Speaker 2: is beautiful, but so costly. Two months after moving in,
Speaker 2: I was notified of an upcoming assessment. I have to
Speaker 2: pay eighty six thousand dollars over the next six years.
Speaker 2: Even if I sell before six years, I would have
Speaker 2: to pay off the total assessment. Also, my HOA fees
Speaker 2: already went up ten percent from being here less than
Speaker 2: a year. This purchase was definitely a mistake. How can
Speaker 2: I maneuver to get rid of this expense besides going bankrupt?
Speaker 2: It's one bedroom, so I can't rent a room, and
Speaker 2: if I were to rent the entire unit, I could
Speaker 2: probably get twenty eight hundred per month when the mortgage
Speaker 2: in HOA is actually forty two hundred What how does
Speaker 2: this happen?
Speaker 1: The assessment? I'm confused, But she's saying that she has
Speaker 1: to pay the assessment whether she sells it or not.
Speaker 1: I'm not really certain about what that means.
Speaker 2: Is this one of those things that you get in
Speaker 2: line to buy a new unit in a condo, like
Speaker 2: two years before it's actually built, and then is it
Speaker 2: like you agree to a price and then they build it,
Speaker 2: you move in and uh oh the price is actually
Speaker 2: a lot higher now, so now you got to pay
Speaker 2: us this amount? Is it like that?
Speaker 1: Well, here's what I would say. That it sounds like, yes,
Speaker 1: you sound like it's your bit underwater or I don't
Speaker 1: even know if underwater is the right word, but it
Speaker 1: sounds like you're a bit overwhelmed financially, and that it
Speaker 1: sounds like the best option is to sell. It's still
Speaker 1: very much a seller's market, depending especially on where you live.
Speaker 1: And even if you had to pay the eighty six thousand,
Speaker 1: my assumption is would that come from the sale of
Speaker 1: the condo? You know? But because I'm not familiar with
Speaker 1: you have to pay an assessment. I'm not really sure
Speaker 1: what you mean. You're having to pay the assessment Eveil
Speaker 1: eighty six thousand over six years, Okay, I'm here now.
Speaker 1: The assessment is typically payable in installments over a set period,
Speaker 1: which can range from several months to several years. Depending
Speaker 1: on the size of the assessment, condo owners may have
Speaker 1: to pay it in full or spread the payments out.
Speaker 1: What are special assessments? Oh okay, so these fees are
Speaker 1: a maintenance fees and are usually paid on a monthly basis.
Speaker 1: An association can also be reserved.
Speaker 2: So it's it's the monthly maintenance. Is that what it is?
Speaker 1: That's what it seeming like.
Speaker 2: But you have to pay monthly that I'm familiar with,
Speaker 2: you know, definitely in New York when you own a
Speaker 2: when you buy in a building that has a co
Speaker 2: op like a co op board you tip, or any
Speaker 2: building really, you typically have yeah, maintenance fees because you're
Speaker 2: getting the perks of being a renter without renting like
Speaker 2: you own. But trash removal, maintenance of the place, that
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. So I just did the quick math.
Speaker 2: That would be eleven hundred dollars almost twelve hundred dollars
Speaker 2: per month for the next six years.
Speaker 1: So I can see excuse about why you have to
Speaker 1: pay that either way if you sold the place.
Speaker 2: Oh, oh yeah.
Speaker 1: That's what That's what it seems like, right, isn't it
Speaker 1: seem like what she's saying that she has to.
Speaker 2: Pay in that email before six years, I have to
Speaker 2: pay off the total assessment. Whatever. What source are you
Speaker 2: getting your information from right now? What are you reading
Speaker 2: it from?
Speaker 1: I'm looking at some like urban Turf. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: sure it's not DC real Estate Real Time because I
Speaker 1: understand like the moment you read, I guess I'm just
Speaker 1: really confused because it is my understanding. Like I have
Speaker 1: a condom. I do pay a monthly assessment fee. And
Speaker 1: maybe I didn't do Maybe I didn't do my new
Speaker 1: villages where it's like I pay while I'm there and
Speaker 1: if I'm not there meaning to the condo, then that
Speaker 1: is said because the person who sold me the condo
Speaker 1: I did did what her monthly fee was, Like what
Speaker 1: she was paying is what I'm paying? Asked, I said, obviously,
Speaker 1: what's the monthly fee for the assessment, the monthly of
Speaker 1: HOA or whatever fee? And I also asked once the
Speaker 1: last time it went up? And how often does it
Speaker 1: go up? So that was a question I asked, and
Speaker 1: I found that mine doesn't really go up at all,
Speaker 1: and the last time I went up it was like
Speaker 1: fifty bucks.
Speaker 2: But I think the best thing you can do, Tanya,
Speaker 2: get some clarify cation on what is all of this, Like,
Speaker 2: I actually want to see a copy of your contract,
Speaker 2: in fact, send it over. I'm just very curious. But
Speaker 2: maybe even have a real estate attorney to take a
Speaker 2: look at it and give you some advice, or a
Speaker 2: realtor or whoever sold you the property in the first place.
Speaker 2: Going bankrupt cannot be the solution here. It's either you
Speaker 2: sell it or you do some more research to see
Speaker 2: what other solutions there can be. I just want you
Speaker 2: to feel empowered to find some solutions. I don't want
Speaker 2: you to feel like, Okay, got this letter, this means
Speaker 2: I have to do this. There must be or there
Speaker 2: might be. I would say there might be a way
Speaker 2: that is just more like you know, negotiating that you
Speaker 2: can do with the HOA or with your condo or
Speaker 2: just like a candid conversation so they can understand where
Speaker 2: your confusion is and maybe clarify it and maybe it's
Speaker 2: something that has been misinterpreted or yeah, I hope it
Speaker 2: turns out okay. But I just want you to not
Speaker 2: stress in silence, ask some questions and kind of get
Speaker 2: to the bottom of us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I would just say Tanya that I just
Speaker 1: want more clarity on what you mean by this eighty
Speaker 1: six thousand dollars assessment that it has to be paid
Speaker 1: no matter what. I'm just not familiar, you know. I
Speaker 1: know typically my assessment is monthly as long as I'm
Speaker 1: the owner of the condo, and then if I sell
Speaker 1: the condo to whoever they take over, whatever, those monthly,
Speaker 1: like you know, assessment fees are, but it might be different,
Speaker 1: maybe in different states it's different. So I'm curious. So
Speaker 1: if you can help to edify and clarify, that would
Speaker 1: be excellent, so we could be like, okay, because my
Speaker 1: initial knee jerk suggestion would be to sell the condo
Speaker 1: and then if there is this assessment that you know,
Speaker 1: ideally that the sale of the condo would help to cover. Tanya,
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry that this is happening to you. Please
Speaker 1: give us more information about this total assessment. I've never
Speaker 1: heard that before. What state do you live in? Is
Speaker 1: there a link you can give us? Because I play
Speaker 1: my assessment monthly. We're going to throw the break, We're
Speaker 1: gonna come back and we're gonna to actually talk about
Speaker 1: best practices. Are you ready to buy our home? Doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense for you? So you do not end up
Speaker 1: in a situation where you kind of regret home ownership.
Speaker 2: Okay, alr aba fan, we are back. So we just
Speaker 2: heard a very challenging and disturbing question from new condo
Speaker 2: homeowner Tanya in the first half of the show, And yeah,
Speaker 2: we just wanted to talk a little bit about best
Speaker 2: practices for when you're purchasing a home so that you
Speaker 2: don't end up regretting it, because Bebee, it's hard to
Speaker 2: get out once you're in. All right, signed, yours truly
Speaker 2: stuck in a starter home? Yeah, well, I.
Speaker 1: Mean tell me and Mandie have both we know. An
Speaker 1: episode earlier, we talked about our money mistakes and I
Speaker 1: bought a condos. I'm in a condo. I just recently
Speaker 1: bought a condo, but my first home was a condo.
Speaker 1: And one of the mistakes that I made, you can
Speaker 1: kind of trade mistake. So mistake one money that I
Speaker 1: made was not really understanding the whole housing market, like
Speaker 1: not even like looking. I didn't know to look. I
Speaker 1: was in my twenties and I just bought. I did
Speaker 1: not know that I was buying at the top of
Speaker 1: the recession. But maybe just getting a better understanding of
Speaker 1: the housing market, and so mistake number one not taking
Speaker 1: into consideration what's happening in the housing market nationwide, but
Speaker 1: specifically in your area, in your state. That was my mistake.
Speaker 2: What about you, Mandy, Oh, well, you know, I my
Speaker 2: mistake was buying a house based on my emotions about
Speaker 2: the place I'll never forget and I still, I mean,
Speaker 2: it's hard to call it a mistake because it just
Speaker 2: felt so right. And I am very much like I
Speaker 2: go on my feelings a lot, which is not the
Speaker 2: greatest strongaging all the time, and especially with the biggest
Speaker 2: purchase of life. But when I walked into this house,
Speaker 2: it just felt like beautiful people lived here, They had
Speaker 2: a beautiful like. It was just a good energy, It
Speaker 2: was sweet, it was cute. I was young, I didn't
Speaker 2: have children yet, and I thought, this is the kind
Speaker 2: of house that I would like to raise a family in.
Speaker 2: And I know that they had had kids who were
Speaker 2: grown up, and it just felt right. It felt really right,
Speaker 2: And I think Husbie, bless his heart, I think he
Speaker 2: was so happy that I just agreed. Not only to
Speaker 2: the day like that was. We had such a big
Speaker 2: fight about wanting to buy a house. I did not
Speaker 2: want one. He wanted one, and I, you know, acquiesced
Speaker 2: to him by saying, okay, fine, get your friend from
Speaker 2: college and take us around look at some property in Westchester,
Speaker 2: and I just, unfortunately I fell in love with it.
Speaker 2: I think that he was so amazed that I was
Speaker 2: down and that I was saying yes, that he was
Speaker 2: just like, yes, I love this house. Let's get it now.
Speaker 2: Six years seven years later. Yeah, we have some regrets,
Speaker 2: like no garage in the We're the only house in
Speaker 2: our entire neighborhood with no garage, and it is not
Speaker 2: big enough for our growing family, and there are some
Speaker 2: challenges there. But how can you predict that? I think
Speaker 2: if I could go back, I would go back and
Speaker 2: I would just say, you know, really think about what
Speaker 2: kind of life you like, what kind of life you want,
Speaker 2: Go see some more options and think about all the
Speaker 2: think about how you're going to live in the house
Speaker 2: and what you want the house to give you, and
Speaker 2: make sure that it can give you all of that,
Speaker 2: and maybe don't watch so much HGTV and overestimate what
Speaker 2: contractors can do. I mean, I think honestly, between Tiffany
Speaker 2: and I, the big takeaway is to think things through,
Speaker 2: say things out loud, talk to the experts. Don't make
Speaker 2: big home ownership decisions based on your gut feelings and
Speaker 2: what you think you should be doing. It's okay to
Speaker 2: take your time. It's also okay to not purchase anything
Speaker 2: in general and rent instead. There's no shame in that.
Speaker 2: So for those of y'all who are wondering, like should
Speaker 2: I buy? Do I need to buy? What you need
Speaker 2: is to feel financially stable, have a roof over your head,
Speaker 2: and there are more ways of doing that than the
Speaker 2: cookie cutter American dream of let me get a mortgage
Speaker 2: and buy this house. It does not have to be
Speaker 2: that way. So thank you to Tanya for your question,
Speaker 2: and Tiff, thank you for sharing your experience in BA FAM.
Speaker 2: Always we love you. If y'all have a question for
Speaker 2: the show, do not hesitate to reach out. We are
Speaker 2: Brand Ambission Podcast on ig or you can email us
Speaker 2: Brandambission Podcast at gmail dot com.