Connie

I've made full price offers and told that someone else "bid higher" after having been told that I was the first offer they received. I would understand it better (and do understand) if I low ball & lose. Anyway, I've got two offers in right now - one a short sale and one a foreclosure that's been listed for 300 days.
We'll see. Thank you everyone for all your great comments and suggestions. I do appreciate it. - Wed May 7 2008, 10:17

Look at the history of the HOA fees. Typically, after 37 years you are going to see an upward spiral in the fees which are completely separate from your PITI money. In other words, there will be items that prior board members didn't see as important - like new siding or new roofs or refinishing the pool, etc., and that were'nt budgeted for - and now deficiencies in the budget need to be accounted for - ie - higher HOA dues. Even though the unit might have the most updated interior in the entire community, the part that the HOA is responsible for (all of the common walls and their related parts like plumbing and electricity) could be extremely deficient. See what the HOA dues started out at and graph the difference between then and now. You might very well be better off spending that money on a single family dwelling unless it is worth it to you to pay into a fund so you don't have to do maintenance. Single family residence owners have the option to save for long term maintenance; condo owners do not. - Sun May 4 2008, 21:42

Based on your gross annual income, you want to spend no more than GAI times 3 to arrive at a purchase price. Because rents are relatively low here, you also want to look at what a comparable property would rent for, multiply by 150 and see if that is in the same range as your price. If not, reconsider the property until you find one that meets both criteria. - Mon Dec 3 2007, 15:31

This is a great area for outdoor recreation. Lake Yosemite is county run and has boating, swimming & picnicing near UC Merced. Applegate Park in downtown Merced has a beautiful rose garden with fountain and a small zoo, picnic areas & lots of trees. Skiing at Bear Moutain and Dodge Ridge is about an hour away as is Yosemite Nat'l Park. To the west there are bird and wildlife preserves some of which have camping, fishing, etc. - Mon Dec 3 2007, 15:28

Merced has blocks of strip malls and one large indoor mall that has all the usual middle class America stores. Jessica is right about no Macy's, but who cares? If you want Barneys and Bloomies and all that, you probably don't want Merced. This is still primarily an agricultural community tho' many would like to think otherwise. There are a lot of low income people here but they're able to own their own homes and stuff is pretty well kept in all but a few areas. - Mon Dec 3 2007, 15:25