Buying A Home
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
New here- Which house would you choose?
We are trying to choose between 2 different houses. One is a great neighborhood- great schools (that our kids are already going to), just a beautiful well manicured area with walking trails, close to Hubby's work & close to my Mom. But it needs quite a bit of cosmetic work inside. Will need all new appliances soon, needs bathroom & kitchen work, etc. The other place is about 15 minutes farther away. The neighborhood's not horrible, just not as good. Schools, again, not horrible but not as good (I would probably end up driving the kids to their current schools, about 20 minutes away). But the inside has been updated beautifully. New SS appliances, great paint scheme, great kitchen and bathrooms, etc. And is much cheaper. I have always heard choose by neighborhood, but am having a tough time on this one...
Re: New here- Which house would you choose?
Choice A 100%!
Cosmetic problems with the inside are small in the scheme of things, and more importantly, completely within your control. Neighborhood, schools, etc. is all stuff you can't really change once you move in.
Also, think in the long term. If you're planning on staying in your new house for a while, then I would imagine that eventually you will also want to redo the kitchen/bath etc. in house B as well.
Cortlandt Place - My house blog
Choice A also!
Anything wrong cosmetically you can change or have changed over the years. You can't change the feel of the neighborhood or the school plus since the kids are already in that school district, that will make a transition easier on them.
If you plan to live in this home for the duration of your kids' childhood, this is a "no-brainer!"
Choice A!
You have to really consider the things that you CAN'T change when purchasing a home. You can't change location and it sounds like this location has it all. Close to work, good schools, great perks, close to family. It is more expensive because of the one factor you can't "remodel"--location!
You can make home A just as pretty and "new" as the other house--and enjoy the benefits of a great location!
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
Location location location.
You can make cosmetic changes to a house, but you can't change where it is located.
A. Location is everything. If your kids are already settled in the district and it's the better school district, you might as well stay. Plus it seems to have everything else going for it, short of needing some updating. EVERY house needs updating eventually. Like others have mentioned, there are some things that can never be changed and location is one of them.
This exactly. We puchased a home in a fantastic neighborhood. However, the house needed (and still needs) SO much work. If the first house needs some work, maybe you can get it at a great price? Our house showed horribly inside and out. There were so many plants that were overgown, the inside of the house needed so much work, there needed to be new flooring throughout (there was none), etc. Structurally it was in fantastic shape but cosmetically it left a lot to be desired. We have the ability to do most of the work ourselves and could see the potential. We offered 80% of the list price and they agreed. It was a great way to build equity and also get exactly what we wanted inside.
House A --- Save first and then do the updates/changes/renovations as you can - one at a time. You CAN live with it as it is until you can take care of the cosmetics.
You can re-paint - that is cheap. You want to compare costs, taxes and utilities of both houses. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION is the first rule of real estate.
You do not mention price and how it fits into your budget. Rule of thumb: House is 25-28% of your TAKEHOME pay. (that is mortgage+PMI+taxes+insurance+utilities+HOA) Less if you have alot of other debt (credit cards, cars, student loans - other debt)
30-35% in a HCOL area.
No amount of education could convince Betty to be nice to possums
Mr. Sammy Dog
House A...
Even if you have school of choice, it's nice to live in the neighborhood of the schools your children will be attending so that their neighborhood friends will be going to school with them.