Most buyers have a list of what they dislike about their apartments, but Brad and Flannery Keck weren’t miserable as renters.
“We didn’t move because we weren’t happy in the space. We moved because we wanted to own something,” said Flannery, editor of Best Self Atlanta magazine. “We looked for something that was similar in a number of ways to our apartment.”
They chose an Atlanta condo with another half bath and about 100 more square feet than their apartment, and it was $100,000 less than the amount they qualified for in a mortgage. Flannery and Brad, assistant front office manager at the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta, chatted about the condo they purchased, assisted by Jessica Houghton of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.
Q: How long were you thinking about buying?
Brad: We kind of tossed around the idea of purchasing right after we graduated school and then decided that financially it would probably be better to take a year and get ourselves collected before we actually dove into something.
Q: Did you do anything to save?
Flannery: We didn't come out of college with any student loan debt. That's been a big difference in terms of our readiness.
Brad: My grandmother passed away and we received a little bit of money from her estate.
Q: How did you search?
Flannery: We originally started looking at three-bedroom townhomes and then we realized that put us a little bit out of our comfortable price range.
Q: What was important as you looked?
Flannery: Location has been a big factor. Since we have moved in, we realized how much more important it was than we realized. It's close to restaurants we knew we liked. It's almost equidistant to both of our workplaces (in Buckhead and Midtown), so that's really nice.
Q: How did working with a real estate agent help you?
Flannery: She had a good grasp of the neighborhood and the markets. We were much more ready to consider them than something we would have come across on our own.
Q: What did this condo have that stood out?
Brad: It was basically renovated, but wasn't so renovated that we couldn't put our small touches on it. We could come in and make those small changes without having to feel stressed about a huge overhaul.
Flannery: We have switched out the kitchen appliances (for stainless steel) and changed some of the fixtures in the bathroom, but we didn't have to re-lay flooring or anything dramatic.
Q: What did you learn during the homebuying process?
Flannery: When we talked to people on the financial side (they said), "You can afford a mortgage payment that's 40 percent of your monthly income." We thought that was incredibly high. Our mortgage now is just under 25 percent of our monthly income together. I can't imagine doubling that and being able to live a comfortable life.
At a Glance
Brad and Flannery Keck’s condo, built in 1968, has two bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and just over 1,300 square feet. They purchased it in June. Condos in Atlanta’s Cross Creek have been listed in the mid-$100,000s.
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