Mid-week
Feh. I actually decide I want the paladin PVP set for transmogrification and start converting valor points only to find the weekly conquest point cap applies to converted points too. Cuuurses! So I have to wait a couple weeks to be able to get the helm and shoulders, which are really the distinct pieces.
I continue to run a few missions in ME3 multiplayer here and there. I feel with a decently-leveled character, I could play on silver - I'm starting to grasp combos, have a familiarity with the maps, and have a pretty good idea how to handle most objectives. Unfortunately, I'd still be at the mercy of the random grouping. I might see how that works at some point. Maybe.
Should you rent or own?
It depends. If you don't have a relatively stable income, getting a mortgage to own may be out of the question entirely. If it is an option, you have to start looking at finer and finer details. The more you can put down immediately and the less you're borrowing, the better a rate you might get. So then compare what you would be paying monthly on the mortgage to what rents are. Add in utility costs. Include a little fudging for repair expenses and the like that you'll have to cover as an owner versus having dealt with (presumably) as a renter. That'll give you a very basic idea, month-to-month, of which makes more sense.
Then start answering more questions. Do you expect to move in the next few years? If so, the fees associated with getting the mortage will probably make it unwise. Are home prices dropping like rocks? If so, buying is more like throwing money away than investing. Do you feel better relying on yourself or someone else to get things done as far as maintenance and upkeep?
The numbers can get complicated, but at least they're numbers. When you get into the realm of what you think the housing market will do, when you think you might want to move, and how you feel about the responsibility of ownership... it can get really murky.
I have regrets some days myself, but I ultimately don't think I would be saving money by renting here and I doubt I would be any happier being a tenant reliant on someone else as landlord.
The evil of HOAs
I wince every time I hear an "evil HOA oppressing the poor, helpless owner(s)" story. You never hear about the HOAs that work smoothly - there's no story there. Ultimately, a homeowners association is no more evil than a government by default. You have a group of people with a common investment and interest who agree by living in a certain place to obey a set of rules. If you move into one of these communities, you are contractually obligated to know and follow those rules in a similar (but more difficult to enforce) way people are subject to the laws of the cities and nations they live in.
Because of the difficulty in coordinating large numbers of people, most HOAs have an elected board of directors - just as cities and nations have their governments to make frequent decisions while some things may be voted on by the entire group. And just as with any government, this consolidation of power means a relatively small percentage of the people in the community make decisions that others may disagree with. One can hope they'll represent a majority and not do anything too outlandish, but sometimes corruption happens. More frequently, I suspect, disagreements happen while a board is genuinely trying to do the best thing for everyone. That doesn't make the institution evil.
My own experience with a condo HOA has been mediocre to miserable, but not because of draconian rules. Rather, my worst experiences have all come from being on the board. I've had fitful nights agonizing over a poor state of affairs and owners who refused to pay their dues. I still feel miserable about the repair project that stalled out when the contractor continually added more work and more money - even though I feel the ultimate fault lay on him, I sincerely wish I could go back in time and never have hired him in the first place. I have lived in utter anxiety over one particular owner, a sheriff's office detective of all things, who threatened to sue the board and ranted in such a way that I quite literally feared he might take some more direct action himself. But through the worst of it, I've always tried to keep in mind not only my interests, but those of all the owners.
The experience has left me with only some limited sympathy for complaints about "evil" HOAs. If a board enacts some rules that people don't like, maybe instead of trying to make a national news story out of it members should vote in new officers instead? I would be most associations have rules for removing board members even outside normal terms, and if they're really that bad, support shouldn't be too much of an issue. Granted, in some cases things might really be that bad. If some corrupt board president owned enough of the property that he could keep himself in office, that would be a problem and the only real solution would be to leave or not get in there in the first place.
I would also add my own frustration that a lot of owners don't seem to give a shit. At the worst in our HOA, several people complained loudly and even refused to pay the dues they owed - but not one of them stepped up when it was time to reelect officers for the board. Now that things are calmer, our most recent annual meeting didn't even make a quorum/majority, and if you can't be bothered to come vote or at least arrange someone else to have your vote at the meeting, I think that pretty well gives up your right to complain about how things may be run. If people really cared, they could get involved and prevent a lot of "bad" things.
I continue to run a few missions in ME3 multiplayer here and there. I feel with a decently-leveled character, I could play on silver - I'm starting to grasp combos, have a familiarity with the maps, and have a pretty good idea how to handle most objectives. Unfortunately, I'd still be at the mercy of the random grouping. I might see how that works at some point. Maybe.
Should you rent or own?
It depends. If you don't have a relatively stable income, getting a mortgage to own may be out of the question entirely. If it is an option, you have to start looking at finer and finer details. The more you can put down immediately and the less you're borrowing, the better a rate you might get. So then compare what you would be paying monthly on the mortgage to what rents are. Add in utility costs. Include a little fudging for repair expenses and the like that you'll have to cover as an owner versus having dealt with (presumably) as a renter. That'll give you a very basic idea, month-to-month, of which makes more sense.
Then start answering more questions. Do you expect to move in the next few years? If so, the fees associated with getting the mortage will probably make it unwise. Are home prices dropping like rocks? If so, buying is more like throwing money away than investing. Do you feel better relying on yourself or someone else to get things done as far as maintenance and upkeep?
The numbers can get complicated, but at least they're numbers. When you get into the realm of what you think the housing market will do, when you think you might want to move, and how you feel about the responsibility of ownership... it can get really murky.
I have regrets some days myself, but I ultimately don't think I would be saving money by renting here and I doubt I would be any happier being a tenant reliant on someone else as landlord.
The evil of HOAs
I wince every time I hear an "evil HOA oppressing the poor, helpless owner(s)" story. You never hear about the HOAs that work smoothly - there's no story there. Ultimately, a homeowners association is no more evil than a government by default. You have a group of people with a common investment and interest who agree by living in a certain place to obey a set of rules. If you move into one of these communities, you are contractually obligated to know and follow those rules in a similar (but more difficult to enforce) way people are subject to the laws of the cities and nations they live in.
Because of the difficulty in coordinating large numbers of people, most HOAs have an elected board of directors - just as cities and nations have their governments to make frequent decisions while some things may be voted on by the entire group. And just as with any government, this consolidation of power means a relatively small percentage of the people in the community make decisions that others may disagree with. One can hope they'll represent a majority and not do anything too outlandish, but sometimes corruption happens. More frequently, I suspect, disagreements happen while a board is genuinely trying to do the best thing for everyone. That doesn't make the institution evil.
My own experience with a condo HOA has been mediocre to miserable, but not because of draconian rules. Rather, my worst experiences have all come from being on the board. I've had fitful nights agonizing over a poor state of affairs and owners who refused to pay their dues. I still feel miserable about the repair project that stalled out when the contractor continually added more work and more money - even though I feel the ultimate fault lay on him, I sincerely wish I could go back in time and never have hired him in the first place. I have lived in utter anxiety over one particular owner, a sheriff's office detective of all things, who threatened to sue the board and ranted in such a way that I quite literally feared he might take some more direct action himself. But through the worst of it, I've always tried to keep in mind not only my interests, but those of all the owners.
The experience has left me with only some limited sympathy for complaints about "evil" HOAs. If a board enacts some rules that people don't like, maybe instead of trying to make a national news story out of it members should vote in new officers instead? I would be most associations have rules for removing board members even outside normal terms, and if they're really that bad, support shouldn't be too much of an issue. Granted, in some cases things might really be that bad. If some corrupt board president owned enough of the property that he could keep himself in office, that would be a problem and the only real solution would be to leave or not get in there in the first place.
I would also add my own frustration that a lot of owners don't seem to give a shit. At the worst in our HOA, several people complained loudly and even refused to pay the dues they owed - but not one of them stepped up when it was time to reelect officers for the board. Now that things are calmer, our most recent annual meeting didn't even make a quorum/majority, and if you can't be bothered to come vote or at least arrange someone else to have your vote at the meeting, I think that pretty well gives up your right to complain about how things may be run. If people really cared, they could get involved and prevent a lot of "bad" things.
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