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Which home to choose?
We are set to re-tour two homes in one of our choice neighborhoods this weekend. They both have 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a den, but are very different besides that.
Home A -
This house was a foreclosure that was purchased and flipped. They went in and upgraded the kitchen and replaced carpeting (with plush high pile). They added things like crown molding in the living room, but you can tell its not professionally done. It has the basement finished nicely. The backyard is fenced, which we would need to do and it backs to a park with playground. My main concerns are - the kitchen is fairly small, golden retriever + plush carpet = scary vacuum killer and the house is at its full potential. I can see our family loving it now but out growing it later.
Home B-
This house has and additional 600sq ft from choice A. It is wood laminate throughout. It has the basic trim package throughout and the appliances are not new. The kitchen is large and has a serperate breakfast area, large formal dining and a butlers pantry. The basement is a walk-out, but is not finished. The backyard is not yet fenced, so we would need to do that and it backs to wooded retention are. We see a lot of potential in this home, but it will require much more work long term to finish it. While not a deterinate for us it is a cost we want to factor in.
So I guess my problem is - Do we go with the finished home that I know we will outgrow or do we go with the home that could be everything we want but will require a lot of work to get it there?
Your thoughts, experiences and insight are appreciated!
TIA!
Re: Which home to choose?
B. You can live with B and make it perfect, but A will only be outgrown over time and isn't perfect.
Since you said you would outgrow A quickly, I would lean towards B. With the market the way that it is, I wouldn't want to buy a house and have to sell it in the next few years.
If your finances allow for you to make the necessary changes before moving in (the fence for example) and you will have the time/money to make renovations in the future, B seems to be the better option.
House B
With a flip home you never really know how well the improvements were done and what things will need to be re-done, or issues that were just covered up.
With house B you know exactly what you are getting, and can do things over time, the right way, and the way that you want them to be done.
Absolutely B. I am always leary of flips anyway due to people cutting corners, but it also sounds like B would be the better investment long term. I would never buy a house that I could see myself outgrowing. We did that once and had to pay a huge chuck to get out of it. I will never make that mistake again. We bought our current house with the thought that we could stay here for 40 years and be happy and not outgrow it. You can finish a basement and put up a fence while you live there with minimal impact on your life. You cannot expand a kitchen or add on to a house with minimal impact like you would have to do to house A.
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