One of my very best friends is going through a situation that I think really stinks, and she may have no recourse!
This friend has been renting a lovely little condo for the past eight years, and her landlady (condo owner), who lives locally, just LOVES her because she has kept the place in meticulous condition (you could lick the floors on ANY given day), and is religiously prompt with her rent. The landlady bought the condo as an investment, and has no desire to live there herself since she already has a house just a few miles away! So, it has been a win-win situation for both my friend, and for the condo owner.
Apparently, the condo management has now suddenly decided that there are too many renters on the property, and not enough of the actual owners. Of course, they've been ALLOWING owners to rent out their properties all of this time, but now they don't like the idea of it anymore.
A few weeks ago, they informed owners that they would no longer be allowed to rent their property, but would either have to occupy the condo themselves, or sell the property! Initially, my friend and her landlady thought that they were grandfathered in, but now it appears that they aren't. THIS means that my friend may have to completely and unexpectedly uproot herself (she's thinking of moving to Florida to be closer to her mother), and the owner is going to be FORCED to sell her own property when she doesn't have any present desire to do so!
I think that this is all just nuts...!!!
Of course, the landlady has her lawyer all over this, but he's not certain that they will be successful against a very powerful condo board. (The landlady went over to the condo a few weeks ago to discuss this miserable situation with my friend, and ended up spending the night on the couch after they had too many martinis! The landlady apparently told my friend the next morning, "I feel terrible, but last night was the MOST fun I've had in a long time!" LOL...)
If the landlady isn't able to prevail on this, she'll be forced to sell a valuable property she doesn't WANT to sell, in a SLOW market, even though she was originally permitted to rent her property. How is this fair???!!!??? She would like to buy another investment property and rent it to my friend, but who knows when or if that will happen in a timely manner? In the meantime, my friend has to figure out what the hell she's going to do. She considered buying the condo herself, but isn't certain at this point.
By the way, we had that discussion about real estate prices a week or so ago, and this condo (a ONE bedroom with walk-out patio, and gas fireplace), approximately 700 square feet of space, is currently valued at about $265,000.
http://www.savoyparkcondos.org/index.htm
-- Edited by Moore ideas at 13:03, 2008-05-02
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
It doesn't sound very legal but I don't know a lot about those sorts of things. I will certainly keep your friend in my prayers and hope that everything works out for both her and the owner.
She and the landlady have actually talked about this, but my friend wants to be certain that it's the right thing to do at this stage. Well, she couldn't "rent to buy" because renters will no longer be allowed in the complex, but the owner could carry the mortgage. This all comes at a bad time for my friend too. She just went through a number of very disruptive changes at work that were upsetting. She has toyed with the idea of moving to Florida for years, and wonders if this little "push" might not be the right incentive now. Her mother is in Sarasota, and my friend worries about her all the time.
She's going to go down to Florida tomorrow morning, and stay a week. While she's there, she'll try to figure out what the most practical thing is. Right now, I think that she's so disgusted with the condo association, the job, the traffic around here, the downtown parking fees (close to $300.00 a month in downtown DC), etc., etc., that she may move to Sarasota. As she says, she can always return to this area if she wants to later on...
I just don't know, at this point, but I'm really sorry that this was dumped into her lap! I think that if her landlady could find another investment property quickly, she'd stay, but that's really unlikely. In any case, this trip is going to be a very important one for her, and I strongly suspect that she'll make the move.
And THAT is going to suck for ME because she's a really close friend...
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
That's outrageous! It isn't even legal up here. When you own a property, in Canada at least,, it is yours to do with as you see fit, and renting it out is always an option. No snotty little board of condo nazis can dictate to you whether or not your investment is appropriately used. They can tell you to remove that welcome mat or gaudy door wreath, but not much else.
Maybe the move to Sarasota is in the cards for your friend, as unfortunate as it will be for you, Moore. I'm so sorry for your friend's dilemma, and for your potential loss.
But hey, if she does move to Florida, make sure she has a lovely guest room for you!
All this talk of moving. Wow. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend's predicament. I too will keep her in my prayers. I think Floyd and I have decided where we will be moving when we are ready. We've looked, and fallen in love with Virgina and Maryland. Most likely Virginia though. I looked on realtor.com and found awesome prices on houses there and very very close to a Comcast center, and an AT&T call center. Added plus is they have comcast service in the towns I like, so yay free cable and internet lol.
Nothing is really set in stone yet of course and we are talking a matter of years, but I'm gong to look into putting the kids into private schools there because Floyd is going to make some wonderful money as a manager. After her puts in his year long internship, he's open to move to any place he wants as a manager or even put in for a different, better position in the company.
My HR contact for Comcast has made it crystal clear that after my 6 months I can transfer to any where in the country
On a sad note with house stuff. Our friends with the wild kids who drove me nuts at Bethany's birthday last year lost their house in a fire last Sunday. Luckily they were at the laundromat and no one was home. They found out the cause was electrical. It was a trailer so it was a total and complete loss and it was gone literally in minutes. They have 2 kids that live with them, and the husband, was in the process of acquiring custody of his son, which I'm afraid may be put on hold for now. So please keep them in your prayers. They are staying in a hotel for now with the aid of the red cross, but of course that's no kind of home. Their insurance is paying off the house, but there wasn't much equity in it considering it was just a trailer. Now they are stuck with either rebuilding or moving completely. On one positive side, they do at least own the land now. Their insurance company is helping them find a rental property as well and I'm sure covering some of the moving costs.
It IS outrageous, KaeEll. I completely agree with you... Something just FEELS illegal about all of this, although I doubt that it is down here.
Jessica, I'm glad that you're considering Virginia. Naturally, I'm a bit biased in favor of Virginia, but it really is a beautiful place to live, with lots of diversity within the state: mountains, beaches, farmland, cosmopolitan communities, small towns, great schools, and lots of deep roots in our American history!
I think you may also find (and it sounds as though you already have) that Virginia is somewhat less expensive than Maryland.
What a terrible thing about the fire in your friend's home. It's so lucky that no one was there when it happened. The possibilities of having something like this occur without warning happened to me MANY years ago when my kids were still little. Jim had taken everyone somewhere or other (probably McDonalds!), so I was in the house by myself (thank God). I was upstairs, but kept smelling something weird. When I came downstairs to investigate, I noticed that our laundry room was filled with smoke, and the source of the smoke was at the wall outlet, belonging to the dryer! I pulled the cord out of the wall, and thanked GOD that this hadn't happened in the middle of the night...
Very scary.
-- Edited by Moore ideas at 12:34, 2008-05-03
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Fires are just scary. In Norwich there was an entire apartment complex that burned to the ground last week. 130 people are without homes. Its horrible but luckily no one was hurt badly and no one died...and the state of CT seems to be really coming together to help them.
Jessica I love Virginia. And I am not as biased as Moore is. Though I still pray everyday that Norfolk will be our next home. Sometimes I doubt that will happen other times I don't know. I still pray, and I agree with Moore that it is cheaper. We were lucky enough to live on base when we were down there but it was still expensive.
Lol Tina we can move close to each other and share moving vans! It would be so great for everyone on the board to be close together. .. We'll just have to work on getting Jojo and Bran to relocate .. that might not be as easy lol
