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What would you do?
We are looking to buy, probably not anything for another six months or so, but we haven been keeping our eye on the market for some time now.
Over the last few months we have looked at several different properties; fixer upper in our price range, turnkey at the top of our price range, and the turn key/in our price range but not at all what we want. Needless to say, we need to figure out what exactly we want. What we want is a great neighborhood/school district, at least an acre, 1500 sq ft.+, and a house with character. We've come to accept that we won't get that for our budget, so we have to figure out what is most important.
There is a neighborhood that our really good friends bought a house a couple of years ago in. When they moved in, we swore we would never live in a neighborhood like that. It's a neo-classical subdivision, when you drive in it's like driving down Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives. The houses are huge and fill up the lots, but there is a common property that the kids can play in and what not. The houses are probably no more than 10 feet apart and you can see into other houses and see the Smith's sitting down to eat dinner. However, there are some houses that are on the outside of the neighborhood, that have a more private backyard, and some that don't have houses built on either side of them, yet. Keep in mind, we live in Michigan, and I don't see anything being built there for awhile. The homes are well within our budget, turnkey and beautiful inside.
We are now considering buying one, live in it for at least five years and then either sell or more likely turn it into a rental. I am cautious because there are several homes in the neighborhood that are short sales or foreclosures. The neighborhood is in a transition, from the original owners that bought at the height of the market and are now getting out of them because they are verrry underwater on them.
I know you really can't buy with an investment in mind, and if we couldn't unload this property, it wouldn't be the end of the world. It is very family friendly and in a great school district, so we could stay there if need be. However it isn't quite what we want in a home. What would you do?
Conclusion: Do we buy a house that doesn't have the land and privacy that we want? Would you do it, knowing that you could sell it or rent it out and in the future buy what you want?
Thank you : )
Re: What would you do?
We were in a similar situation when looking - H wanted land (1+ acres) and we both agreed that we didn't want to live in a neighborhood where you would sit at the dining room table and see next door or behind you and in the neighbors house. I was more interested in a neighborhood but an older one with larger lots than H was because houses on acreage in our price range are hard to find.
We ended up selling our house and found our current house which was an estate sale. The house needed/needs a ton of cosmetic updating (built in the 40's and slightly renoed sometime with a lot of wallpaper) but was on 1.5 acres and we offered 80% of list and the sellers accepted. We spent the first two weeks renovating the living room and dining room and demoing the kitchen and doing carpet in the rest of the house pre-moving in. We spent the next few months finishing up the kitchen and are now working on a few minor things but it's very much liveable as-is. We know we made the right decision and will probably live here until we are old and gray.
I would say to try and hold out since home prices are low, mortgage rates are low for the next few years and try to find something you can live in forever. It sounds like you are like us - you wouldn't really be happy with super close neighbors (although we love our current neighbors, we can't see in their house from ours!). Buying and selling homes are expensive and it's hard to know what the housing/mortgage industry will be like in 5 years. It's also a stressful process so I'd want to limit that as much as possible!
I feel for you. DH are in the same situation. We want land and trees with privacy. But, finding a home in our price range with those things that's also in a good place/schools is presenting itself to be a bit of a problem.
I think we are leaning toward less land, as long as there is mature growth on it.
We live in a subdivision now with no trees and homes kind of nearby each other. We've been here three years.
We just know that we can't stand it and no matter what, we aren't willing to sacrifice on the privacy/space issue. Just can't stomach the idea of leaving here only to move to a new place where we can view neighbor's hot tub and the other neighbor's patio.
This sounds similar to my dilemma. My husband loves the idea of "Wisteria Lane" but I like older houses with character with tons of land. Give that this will be our first home, he's getting his way because it's the safe route to go. We're looking in a great school district where houses sell quickly. The foreclosure and unemployment rates are low (which are indicators of a "stable" housing market).
I would be wary of buying somewhere with lots of short sales and foreclosures as they can severely depress home values. The market is still going down in some areas and more foreclosures will be coming on the market.
Have you considered looking into Homepath houses? I'm only somewhat familiar with them, but you can buy foreclosed properties with 3% down and get additional money for renovations. If you're in an area with lots of foreclosures you just might be able to get your dream home AND the money to fix it up.
Some of the best advice we received was to buy a house you are able to live in for a long time. (i.e. 30 years) You never know how the market or your life situation may change down the road. I know quite a few people that are stuck in homes that they thought they were only buying for 4-7 years. With that in mind, I would take a hard look at what you really need for the long haul. Not just what you want, but what you need. (do you really need more than an acre? Do you really need a certain architecture? Or do you really need 3 bedrooms/good school district/etc?) We all have wants, but at the core of your house purchase should be what you actually need.
I agree with the previous poster that a large number of foreclosures can be a red flag for the health of an area long-term. A school district that is good today can quickly become bad if homes sit abandoned and start deteriorating. If it's on par with the rest of the area, then that may be fine. But what I am seeing in my city is that some of the burbs, which have historically had great schools, are quickly turning for the worse as some of the neighborhoods are overrun with foreclosures.
Good luck with it!
Click it if you can't say it!
Thank you for all of the thoughts.
- We've looked at Homepaths also, but it's hard to come to terms with financing extra money to fix up something, when we can move into something that is what we want right away without the extra cost
- The area isn't abanadoned or deteriorating... Actually the houses are selling quickly, but when one sells, another one from original owners is going on the market, but selling for the same price that we would buy in. So yes, the houses aren't worth the original $300,000, but they aren't going any lower than what we would buy for.
- The houses are pretty much what we want and would be more than enough for when we have kids. So, yes, we could stay there for 30 years. The only way we would buy one of these houses is one that is on the outside of the neighborhood that backs to the outer edge, not one that backs into the common area. So we would have a bit more privacy than most. Really the only thing we would be comprimising on is land/privacy, but everything else is everything we are looking for/need.
Thanks again!!
We bought a house like the kind you describe in this type of subdivision. It was the nicest home we could buy within our budget. It is not our forever home but it suits our needs and we like it. The neighborhood is kid-friendly and the house can accommodate a growing family. If we disliked the house or neighborhood that much we would have kept looking. It isn't perfect but it met the vast majority of our wants/needs and got us into a house of our own. If we have to stay for 30 years we'll be OK and that was a key factor in choosing our home.
We live in the Mitten too. I'm just curious what area you are looking in. (You don't have to answer that on a public forum) It's more me just thinking out loud.
I've seen several new builds, but they are all in the cookie cutter neighborhoods. Michigan's housing market has been very depressed, and most people are just not putting their homes on the market, because they would never get what they owe, making inventory pretty low, despite it being a "Buyer Market".
I've heard debates that the MI market hasn't hit rock bottom yet. Detroit yes, but other areas maybe not. (Who knows, you could live up north or on the other side of the state.) There are still a lot of foreclosures that haven't been released by the banks. That said I would not buy anything in Michigan without a plan to stay in it for 10+ years. And what if you can't rent it out? On a side note: I would make sure you buy in a good school district or on water. That's what holds the value of the homes the most around here.
So no, IMO, I would not buy a home in a neighborhood you don't like.
If I were in your situation, I'd have to assess how long you have been looking and what you have found. I'd look at what I really want/need and what I'm going to get for the money I do have.
To answer your one questions, I'd sacrifice amount of land over privacy. I'm not a fan of houses as close as you stated. That's one item on my own list that is pretty high up there on my things to avoid.
Do NOT buy with a plan to sell in less than 7-10 years! That timeline will cover buying and selling costs alone with no addidtional. Remember that Obamacare has a tax on future home sales that is 3.8% of any profit made so you need to also factor that in.
I would wait and save more (live frugally, get second jobs - what ever you need to do ) and buy what you really want. Housing and mortgage rates will not be changing much over the next few years.