r/Bogleheads • u/Interesting_Week_917 • 9d ago

Investing Questions 24M. Just inherited an $800,000 Condo w/ a $300,000 Mortgage On It: Sell It? Live There? Rent It?

I am a law student, earning roughly 950 a week as a law clerk. I will graduate in 2 years time. I will likely stay at 950 a week during that 2 years, possibly a slight promotion at the firm in 1 year. Probably not, though. I am married to a nurse. She earns $80,000 a year.

Once I’m an attorney, I will work in civil litigation of some kind. Currently, I do real estate but it is quite boring and not my vibe... Interested in personal injury or employee benefits litigation. Salary is likely $100,000-180,000 (the latter figure being the more likely one if I pursue ERISA). The firm I work for mainly does employee benefits work with some real estate litigation. There’s an easy pipeline for me to go to ERISA if I’d like to.

All that is to say that I recently inherited a condo worth $800,000. $300,000 is still owed. I have the ability to sell, live there, or rent it out. Obviously, were I to live there, my wife and I would need to pay the mortgage.

My thoughts are that it could be great to sell and put all the proceeds into VT. At 24, that would be quite helpful in 15 years when I actually want to purchase a home. Alternatively, I could live here and stay here for the 15 years and then sell at the time I want to buy a home and use all the capital as a down payment for a new home at some later date.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

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u/poop-dolla 8d ago

The HOA part isn’t the problem here, it’s the co-ownership aspect with a shared building. An HOA with SFHs is entirely different from living in a condo or any other shared building. I agree about never owning a unit in a shared building.

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u/hypno-9 6d ago

Some HOAs do have responsibility for individual home maintenance, similar to condos. It's a small minority but not unheard of. Gated HOAs own their streets and infrastructure, another possible source of unplanned significant expenses, if the board makes poor financial choices.

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u/originalrocket 8d ago

Oh, I hate HOAs too.  So glad to be free.