For this first problem, you will go through the process of estimating housing costs. For this problem, you will pretend that you are looking to buy a condominium in Springfield, Massachusetts.
First, use a website like realtor.com or zillow.com to do a search for condominium for sale in Springfield, Massachusetts. What is a rough estimate for the average condo price that you’re finding?
Next, we’ll assume that you’ll need a loan to buy a condo. Do a quick internet search to determine what the current average interest rate is for a 30-year mortgage. What is the current average interest rate?
Next, you’ll determine how much you’ll actually borrow. Suppose that the bank you choose requires a down payment of 10%. Also, suppose that the closing costs for the loan are $6,500. Using your condo price from part (a), determine how much you’ll actually need to borrow from the bank. You can assume you’ll roll the closing costs into the loan.
. Use the top calculator. For the loan amount, put the amount that you need to borrow (not the house price). For the interest rate, use the interest rate you found in part (b). Have the term be 30 years. Keep the other options as it. Use the calculator to find your loan payment amount.
Now we’ll look at taxes. Do a quick internet search to find the property tax rate in Springfield, Massachusetts. Assume the condo cost is also its assessed value. Use the tax rate you found to determine how much you’ll pay in taxes each year. Divide by 12 to find the monthly tax payment.
Condos all come with HOA fees. Go back to whichever realtor site you used. In the listings you looked at, there should be information on the monthly HOA fees. What sees to be a rough average cost for HOA fees?
Now upkeep. For condos, some upkeep is paid through your HOA fees. However, some things you’ll need to pay for yourself. A rule of thumb for a condo is that you can assume you’ll need about 1% of the condo’s value for upkeep each year. Using the condo value you found in part (a), determine the annual upkeep cost. Divide by 12 to find the monthly cost.
For the final step, we’ll put everything together. Assume that insurance for the condo will be $90 per month. Assume that utilities will be on average $250 per month. Assume that you’ll need about $60 per month in general cleaning and other supplies. Using your monthly costs from earlier parts and these other costs, determine the full monthly cost for owning a condo.
Please write a paragraph describing your current ideas for achieving your housing goals. Being realistic about salary, savings, and other finances, come up with a rough plan for achieving your housing goal. That is, make a STAR goal and give a brief description of how you’ll achieve it.
Write a couple of sentences describing how your are feeling about the idea of housing. What are you currently feeling and why? If you have any questions about housing, you can also ask them here.
In this week, we targeted three learning goals for the course - metacognitive reflection and application, accessing wellness tools, and social-emotional skills. Write a few sentences as to how this week’s material has helped you progress toward meeting these learning goals. The learning goal objective is as follows:
Accessing wellness tools: Students develop tools for improving their physical, social, and/or mental/emotional health and overall college experience.
Social-emotional skills: General Education Objective: Students identify personal social, emotional, and cognitive skills to be practiced and developed; including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and communication skills.
