[Chance the Gardener]

I’m not sure what you mean. If I can afford to live in the building, and I’m going to live there long term, what affect will rampant NOD’s have on me other than their impact on the HOA and the upkeep of the common areas? If I’m buying the condo to live in for life, all I care is that the condo remain livable and that my monthly costs don’t skyrocket b/c others aren’t pulling their weight. As long as someone is paying the HOA, I’d actually prefer that the building be empty!

[Chance the Gardener]

CG – I think time have changed. Most homes are upside down, many with a second or third mortgage and with tax liens. I can’t imagine that HOA’s have much success getting their’s.

[Chance the Gardener]

Financial aid is overrated. Show me a college student, or worse a graduate student, who has actually done the math and figured out whether the debt service is worth the increase in income. Some of this country’s biggest problems have their root in the obsession with the 4-year college degree and the MBA. Where are our future tradesmen, craftsmen, artists? No wonder why everything new is built of ticky-tacky and it all looks the same. Go to college if you can pay cash. Reserve financial aid (in the form of grants) for kids who are smart enough to realize that they need to pay cash for the difference. No cash? Take up a trade. Live under your means. Save. Then go if it still makes sense.

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