This as-told-to essay is based on conversations with John Santa Orta, 34, an assistant operations manager in St. Cloud, Florida. Santa Orta was a homeowner, but now prefers to rent. He’s renting a home at TW – a Quinn Residence, a build-to-rent townhouse community in St. Cloud. The community consists of townhomes intended for renters and operates like an apartment complex. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Earlier this year, I was looking for an apartment in St. Cloud, Florida, and I was only finding one-bedroom apartments in the $2,000 range.
I was driving one day when I saw a sign that said, “Townhouses for rent.” So I thought, “Let me drive in there and see.” When I did, I saw that it was actually a townhouse community just for renters.
At first, I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as a rental community — that was new to me.
I started doing a little more research online, comparing and contrasting apartments and townhouses to determine which would be better for my budget.
The idea of having more space pushed me more toward the townhouse. I didn’t want to live in an apartment and then have neighbors upstairs jumping on the floor at 2 o’clock in the morning.
I thought that at least with the townhouse, I would get a backyard, a garage, and be a little bit more comfortable.
I haven’t had any major issues since I moved in August, and it actually feels like the home is mine.
The price of owning a home kept going up for me
I owned a home with my girlfriend, but then we separated, and I couldn’t afford the house on my own. So we put the house on the market for sale.
The house did sell after being on the market for a year, but it surprised me to see all the extra and hidden fees that agents don’t disclose during the homebuying process.
If I had known that about the additional costs, I probably would’ve never bought a house. I would’ve kept my money in my bank account, kept renting, and kept enjoying life.
Many people who buy a home want their finances to be consistent, but it wasn’t happening for me. I started paying about $3,000 a month into my escrow account, and over the three years I owned my house, the amount continued to increase.
I walked away paying $3,300 a month when I thought it was supposed to be $3,000. That’s due to property fees increasing, as well as other taxes and fees.
My monthly rent for the townhouse unit is now $2,225. There is a landscaping service at $55 a month, a concierge service at $10.95, a smart home package at $35, and then I have water, sewage, utility bill, and electricity through the rental company. Along with one more utility bill, my total expenditures come out to $2,588 a month.
Now that I’m renting, I know that next year, if the rental company increases the rent, they’ll give me a heads-up.
I feel like that has given me more leeway in controlling my expenses, where I can say, “OK, I want to be able to plan something.” Then I can plan a trip or buy something else. I’m able to do that without any surprises in the following year.
I don’t think I’ll ever buy a home again
As a renter, I don’t have to worry about the lawn because TW comes to cut the grass every Friday. With the concierge service, I can submit an order online for someone to fix something in my house, so if my AC goes out, I don’t have to call an AC company to come check it and see what’s wrong.
When I was a homeowner, my garbage disposal stopped working. It was $125 just for the guy to come out to tell me to take it apart to see what was wrong with it. Luckily, I didn’t need a replacement, but if I had, I think the cheapest one would have been over $100.
So for me, I’ll stick to renting. I don’t think I would look into buying a house again. I would rather stay where I am, save up money, and do something better with it than buy a property.
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