Contents
- The first question. How much did you buy an apartment for?
- The second question. Is there any money left for food?
- The third question. When will the property be rented out?
- The fourth question. Aren’t you afraid that the construction site will be frozen or the company will collapse?
- The fifth question. Where can you get money for repairs?
- Sixth question. How old will you be when you pay off your mortgage – 50, 60?
Woman’s Day correspondent Elena Selina tells how her life changed after she and her husband bought an apartment on credit.
– A year has passed since the day when my husband and I put two signatures under the long-term verdict called “mortgage”. Probably, I would have pronounced this word more easily if we had already lived in our purchased apartment, but our house has not yet been completed, so the year turned out to be difficult: we have to pay twice the monthly price – for rented housing and for something that does not exist. That is why it is so hard to hear from colleagues and acquaintances: “Have you taken out a mortgage? Congratulations!” It’s also a joy to me …
I understand that those around me mean an apartment by the word “mortgage” and sincerely congratulate us on resolving such an urgent property issue. Only those who also pull this strap understand how difficult it is to take a mortgage and how many pitfalls it conceals.
I confess that I don’t want to talk about it again. Because during this year I got tired of answering a number of stupid questions that at first glance look like banal curiosity, but sound extremely indecent to me. Already akin to how many times a week I have sex with my husband, honestly. Take a look at these questions yourself and think how much they can annoy your interlocutor.
The first question. How much did you buy an apartment for?
Probably, if we were buying housing for cash, we would not be asked about the price. Because then we would be considered oligarchs or millionaires and communicate in the appropriate environment.
But since the bank gave us the money, it means that it’s not so indecent to ask about the price, they say, it’s not your hard-earned money anyway. However, a person is so arranged that, having heard a sum with six zeros, he involuntarily begins in his head to try to calculate your salary, then estimate your monthly contribution, compare with his capabilities – believe me, this process is directly reflected on my face, I cannot every time hold back smiles. And after all these calculations, realizing that he lacks a couple of introductory notes, the person must issue: “And what was your initial payment?”
In fact, everyone is looking for money for the first installment in their own way. Someone saves for a long time, invests somewhere, buys currency, someone has rich relatives, in the end, maybe someone takes a consumer loan – everyone has their own schemes, and not everyone wants to share them with the first person they come across … And even more so, I don’t want to tell the whole world how much my husband and I earn. I don’t even ask my friends such questions. What for?
The second question. Is there any money left for food?
I confess that I myself have thought about this more than once before applying for a mortgage. As I reasoned: now we pay for a rented apartment, if you buy a ready-made mortgage, you will have to pay almost the same amount, but only for your own home, and not just give half of the salary to someone else’s uncle. The plan seemed good.
We began to search … Those who went through this stage now perfectly understand what is hidden under my ellipsis. It’s scary to even announce the prices for apartments in Moscow – 8 million for a small one-room apartment! And this is not the city center! But I want to buy something bigger, with a margin for the future, so to speak.
Therefore, we turn our attention to houses under construction, and preferably those at the initial stages. The prices here are much nicer, but the question arises of where to live until the house is delivered. You will have to pay a mortgage from the first day of its registration … That is, in addition to paying for renting an apartment, you get another load in the form of a loan obligation and the hope that literally just about, almost tomorrow you will move to your corner.
Putting two sums in my head, I began to think about what we would have to give up in favor of a mortgage. Travel was deleted as the first item. My husband and I used to travel outside Moscow quite often and longingly thought about how to live for years without a vacation. But what to do, I want an apartment. The second item was crossed out by entertainment – going to the theater, meeting friends in a restaurant, coffee and lunches on weekdays, as well as non-essential clothes. But it seemed that this was not enough. And even the refrigerator will have to be revised: give up fish, buy meat not every day, but more potatoes, buckwheat and pasta. Hmm, I can imagine in what condition we would have received our keys to the apartment: angry, tired, but plump.
In fact, everything turned out to be not so scary. During this year, that we pay the mortgage and for the rented apartment, we twice went on a two-week vacation and several times got out for three or four days. We celebrated two anniversaries of our parents, my husband’s birthday on a grand scale, did not miss a single holiday of our friends, of course, we went to restaurants, and the contents of the refrigerator have not changed in any way. How did this happen? It’s even hard to say. I just had to learn how to plan the budget correctly. And several times to ask ourselves before a large or small purchase, do we really need it. Many things did not pass this test. It turned out that not so much is needed for a comfortable and happy life.
The third question. When will the property be rented out?
For me, this question is on a par with questions like “when is your wedding and when are you going to have children.” Roughly speaking, what’s your business? If, frankly, then why put pressure on a sore corn? Do you think that we do not ask ourselves this question by paying a rather large sum for rent and mortgage every month? Yes, we go to the construction site every weekend and count every added brick. We also sit on the forum of our construction company, correspond with other residents and cross out the days on the calendar. So if you wish people happiness, then it is better not to ask this question again, but silently wait for an invitation to a housewarming party. Chances are good that you will be called on, unlike those who are too curious.
The fourth question. Aren’t you afraid that the construction site will be frozen or the company will collapse?
As it turned out, my friends and relatives are well overwhelmed with real estate experts. One has only to start talking about this or that construction site, as you immediately hear: “Yes, this is a divorce of pure water! You will be deceived how to drink. The house will never give up, just look at the faces of the employees – yes, they are unreliable. ” Everyone is as smart as I look! Only my husband and I are naive simpletons, ready to give money to the first person we meet.
How do you know if the house will be completed or not? You, like me, do not work in real estate. Yes, even employees of construction companies cannot give a XNUMX% answer to this question. Much depends on the Universe, let’s call it that. The company has money today, not tomorrow. The only thing that can warm your soul is the past of this company, its previous experience in construction. And then all that remains is to rely on the stars and believe that luck is on your side. Or, otherwise, pitch a tent at the construction site of a house, help builders lay plaster, or not buy an apartment at all.
The fifth question. Where can you get money for repairs?
This question in the mind of your interlocutor logically follows from the previous one, which is quite natural. But we, the happy owners of the mortgage, are not afraid to voice it out loud, we don’t even want to think about it! And even more so, we do not know what to answer to meticulous relatives who are trying to express their opinion against the purchase of housing under construction.
Yes, we do not know where to get money for repairs. N-e z-n-a-e-m! And we are quite worried about this. The amount is not small – at least a million, since there is nothing in new buildings: no wiring, no screeds on the floor, the walls in fact turn out to be crooked – in such conditions you cannot throw a mattress in the middle of the room, they say, at first we will turn over like that. And it turns out that for a few months after the delivery of the house, or even six months, you will have to pay for a rented apartment, and for a mortgage, and also for repairs. I will not dissemble, today I see it as an impossible mission. But this should not be done now, and not tomorrow, and not the day after tomorrow. Who knows what will happen in a year and a half, when the housing will be rented out? After all, our salary may increase, at least, there is a reason to strive for this, the financial situation in the country may change, furniture prices may fall, friends may appear who have gone through repairs with a list of contacts of inexpensive employees and stores with cheap materials, but maybe in general, a suitcase with gold from the sky will fall on us – why not? Why put an end to yourself in advance and deprive yourself of the right to hope for the best? In the end, we still have a couple of points that we can leave out in budget planning. I remember that after the mortgage was taken out, we were going to eat pasta and buckwheat, but we still go to restaurants – so, with the renovation, we will finally find out what a real hunger strike is.
Sixth question. How old will you be when you pay off your mortgage – 50, 60?
And we don’t know without you. This is not even a sore corn, but just a knife in the heart. The funny and terrible thing is that my husband likes to ask me and himself this question.
The first time he voiced it, as soon as we left the bank, having signed a loan agreement. And now every month, making another transfer to the bank account, he repeats it over and over again. Scary.
For me, this question sounds like a verdict – that is, he believes that in 20 years we will not be able to improve our financial situation in any way, that all these years we will receive exactly the same salary as now? A cheerful prospect … I paint myself pictures that in five years we will become oligarchs, one day we close the mortgage and buy ourselves a new huge apartment for cash … Well, even if it is not so, then in any case in a one-room apartment up to 50 years old we are for sure We will not live, and when housing is sold, the mortgage is automatically closed. And a new one is taken for a new apartment. But that’s a completely different story.