The one thing that I could have done better in planning for retirement would have been to get my home paid off. I’m envious of those who managed to accomplish this goal, although it was probably a factor of stability. My wife and I have moved so often throughout the course of our careers, that we were never in a home long enough to make it a good investment, with the sole exception of our Austin, Texas condo. (See Post #323). I was guilty of several bad investments in property along the way, and before leaving Austin found myself singing the real estate blues. It was an ugly cycle, where we would move into a market needing to invest in the community by buying a home when prices were on an upswing, and then needing to move on when there were no buyers. As a result, we never managed to build home equity and were forced to sell for much less than what we paid. If we stay in this home until my wife retires in another five years, it may very well be an eight-year record stay in one home. If it weren’t for the positive selling experience in Austin, I might be thinking that companies like Intel and Nike would be moving their corporate headquarters about that time and real estate prices would plummet. Thankfully, my real estate karma has changed forever!

Yesterday, upon retrieving the mail, I was reminded that unless you own something outright, the costs continue to go up. I received notification that my condo payments were increasing again, cutting into my retirement budget plans. After examining the reasons why, I felt a little better since it was a result of property tax increases that people all over the Portland area are experiencing. Somehow, the concept of “misery loves company” took some of the sting out of the increase, as I was not singled-out for punishment this time. On the positive side, it also shows that properties in our area continue to appreciate in value, and maybe someday we’ll benefit from selling, or more likely our heirs.   After all, we won’t have this condo paid-off until I’m ninety-three and she’s eighty-eight.

Even if this condo were paid off, we would still be paying property taxes, utility bills, and association fees. While these will undoubtedly continue to go up. the good news is that we are not responsible for outside maintenance. This advantage paid off in Austin condo ownership, after being haunted by costly repairs in our other homes. Siding replacement, plus roof, pool, deck, tree, sprinkling system, fence, and dock repairs cut into what little home equity we were able to build. As a result, when we went to purchase a new home in another market, we would have to eat into 401k savings to come up with a reasonable down payment. In each of those cases, we also ended up making payments on multiple homes for several years, while dealing with the frustration of not being able to sell due to poor market conditions. The longer these homes sat on the market, the less value they had, and the more money we lost. Here in Portland, just like Austin, we can hopefully continue to build equity and not have to spend it on repairs. Instead, we pay a monthly maintenance fee that has proven to be worth it!

In the three years of living in our free-standing Portland condo, we have already seen the siding replaced and painted, the deck repaired, damaged trees removed, grass mowed, bushes trimmed, and leaves raked. Next, the roofing will be replaced with new shingles, another costly repair where we will avoid making a cash outlay. Throughout my many years of home ownership, I’ve had my fill of yard duties, do-it-yourself projects, painting, collecting estimates, dealing with contractors, and worry over what could go wrong next. One of the reasons I’m now enjoying retirement is leaving those responsibilities to someone else, and not having to write checks for each individual service. I pay one reasonable fee every month and another smaller fee twice a year for the peace of mind in knowing that any outside maintenance will be done correctly by professionals in a timely manner, with no additional cost to me. Now that’s good karma!