Make a shop out of the bedroom off the garage. Make the back living room into two rooms - office and bedroom. Add closets and you have a 4 bedroom house.
Make a shop out of the bedroom off the garage. Make the back living room into two rooms - office and bedroom. Add closets and you have a 4 bedroom house.
I've got a 1100 sqft house just down the road from you. I would love the extra space 2300 sqft would bring. I don't love the extra money it would cost though.
Whereabouts!
We're making an offer.....
You can count on a counter.
Sounds good to me!
Just west of Belcher road on Gulf to Bay. Behind the Lincoln dealership
Do sinkholes freak you out at all? We've seen a couple homes with damage and it's a little frightening.
No, but I try not to think about them. Nothing you can really do about it except not live here.
Others have said you keep finding reasons not to like it. To me it sounds to me like you can't find reasons to get it out of your head and not buy it other than its not in your target sqft.
The layout looks crappy but otherwise it's probably a pretty good house. Check the previous owners electricity bills to make sure it doesn't cost a fortune to keep cool and have it inspected to make sure there's not some weird foundation or other major problem keeping other buyers away.
By now, you should have a spreadsheet to fill out every-time you like a house that will tell you how much it is going to cost to own that house.
Your real estate agent has a list of "Comparables" that will tell you what other housed in the hood like this one sell/sold for.
Do not underestimate travel time to work in your spreadsheet and quality of life.
Lastly, what are the vibes from your wife-unit?
Myself, I am a fan of small efficient houses that are paid for.
NOHOME wrote: By now, you should have a spreadsheet to fill out every-time you like a house that will tell you how much it is going to cost to own that house. Your real estate agent has a list of "Comparables" that will tell you what other housed in the hood like this one sell/sold for. Do not underestimate travel time to work in your spreadsheet and quality of life. Lastly, what are the vibes from your wife-unit? Myself, I am a fan of small efficient houses that are paid for.
Yeah I'm an accountant by trade so you better believe I run the numbers at everything I look at. When looking at comps it seems like it's priced very well. The cheapest home in this neighborhood sold for $237 (we offered 221 on that one) and the rest all seem to go in the 270-320 range. Wife unit is on the same page, nice house but too big.
Can't argue with the small house preference. The neighborhood just north of this one is older with a bunch of cute tiny homes but they rarely go for sale and when they do the chance of finding one with a garage is slim.
Good luck.
I am amused that a young couple is worried about buying a house that is too big.
Edited for stupid
Good advice given to me when I bought my house:
"Since this is your first house your really have no idea of what the homeowner experience is going to be like. You may think you do, but you don't. You also don't know what your spouse really wants or needs out of a house." Buy a house that you can dump on the market in 2-5 years and not get hurt." Does not have to be the dream-house" If at the point of wanting to move, you can think of anything for $20,000 that would make you stay another 5 years, do that"
I am still in the house 23 years later. 3 kicks at the improvement cat and contemplating a 4th.
NOHOME wrote: Do not underestimate travel time to work in your spreadsheet and quality of life.
I'll repost an idea from mr money mustache: "a rational person would be willing to pay $15k purchase price more for a house for EACH MILE that house is closer to their work."
Math is as follows: 1 mile to and 1 mile from equals 2 miles per workday. 250 workdays per year = 500 miles per year. Govt says 55c/mile, but you may be able to do it cheaper, say 50c for easy math (you may be able to do it cheaper still, run your own number). $250 per year in commuting. Say you are worth about $25 an hour, each mile takes 2-3 minutes on average. that's another 21 hours per year, at $25 per hour, or $525 per year. $775/year total. That's an extra $65/month, which can get you about $15k more purchase price on your loan. For one mile. 30 miles closer is $450k. If you and your spouse are 30 both miles closer, that's $900k!!!
And that's not even counting the quality of life.
Do not underestimate distance from work when buying a house.
rcutclif wrote:NOHOME wrote: Do not underestimate travel time to work in your spreadsheet and quality of life.I'll repost an idea from mr money mustache: "a rational person would be willing to pay $15k purchase price more for a house for EACH MILE that house is closer to their work." Math is as follows: 1 mile to and 1 mile from equals 2 miles per workday. 250 workdays per year = 500 miles per year. Govt says 55c/mile, but you may be able to do it cheaper, say 50c for easy math (you may be able to do it cheaper still, run your own number). $250 per year in commuting. Say you are worth about $25 an hour, each mile takes 2-3 minutes on average. that's another 21 hours per year, at $25 per hour, or $525 per year. $775/year total. That's an extra $65/month, which can get you about $15k more purchase price on your loan. For one mile. 30 miles closer is $450k. If you and your spouse are 30 both miles closer, that's $900k!!! And that's not even counting the quality of life. Do not underestimate distance from work when buying a house.
Heard that! This would be close enough that I could bike to work when I'm ambitious (9.5 miles). My wife's commute would be 5-10 minutes longer than our other option.
z31maniac wrote:SVreX wrote: BTW, your property taxes and your energy costs will be directly related to your square footage.Interesting, I guess it's different everywhere. In OK, they base your property taxes on the "value" of the house. Which means they typically base it off the most recent selling price.
That is rarely the case. Well, it is in theory, but not in practice.
Property taxes are based on millage rates. The community establishes whatever the rate is, then applies it.
It is a bulk rate process. Initial "value" is based on a square footage calculation (first for the dirt, then for the "improvements" (which includes the house). Banks do it, and so do tax assessors. They don't use comps like Realtors do.
After the SF evaluation, most communities have a form of double check- they cruise the neighborhoods, and see if their are any outliers. They will make adjustments.
Then they use a multiplier (millage rate)to determine taxes. If the total revenue isn't enough, they change the millage rate.
If you have a disagreement with the assessment, you can challenge it based on whatever you like. You might use comps, or you might have to explain to them that the interior is completely gutted, or that a Tyranodon has consumed the back wall which is not visible from the street. You can debate the value of the assessment, and they can again make adjustments.
But at the core, the evaluation is still originally based on square footage.
In reply to Enyar:
I am going to take back what I said on page 1.
I was focused on you saying "way bigger", because I had had a house that was "way bigger" (5000 SF, when we only needed 2000 SF).
The house you are describing is not huge. It is still in the range that most other potential buyers would consider "normal". It's very sellable.
The layout is easy to fix, and will improve value to the next buyer.
And, though I am a big fan of trees, that is a VERY big tree, and does not appear to be too healthy. I'd take it down.
I say go for it. (Not that you need my opinion!)
rcutclif wrote: I'll repost an idea from mr money mustache: "a rational person would be willing to pay $15k purchase price more for a house for EACH MILE that house is closer to their work." Math is as follows: 1 mile to and 1 mile from equals 2 miles per workday. 250 workdays per year = 500 miles per year. Govt says 55c/mile, but you may be able to do it cheaper, say 50c for easy math (you may be able to do it cheaper still, run your own number). $250 per year in commuting. Say you are worth about $25 an hour, each mile takes 2-3 minutes on average. that's another 21 hours per year, at $25 per hour, or $525 per year. $775/year total. That's an extra $65/month, which can get you about $15k more purchase price on your loan. For one mile. 30 miles closer is $450k. If you and your spouse are 30 both miles closer, that's $900k!!! And that's not even counting the quality of life. Do not underestimate distance from work when buying a house.
While I don't disagree with the idea of buying something closer to work, those calculations were created by an idealistic crack-head.
I can quite comfortably afford my house 50 miles from where I work. There's a fat chance in berking hell I can afford something much closer and maintain my current standard of living. At least not without living with considerably more stress, living pay-check to pay-check and putting less into retirement. I'll trade commute time for the financial stability of knowing I can easily pay my bills every berking time.
SVreX wrote: In reply to Enyar: I am going to take back what I said on page 1. I was focused on you saying "way bigger", because I had had a house that was "way bigger" (5000 SF, when we only needed 2000 SF). The house you are describing is not huge. It is still in the range that most other potential buyers would consider "normal". It's very sellable. The layout is easy to fix, and will improve value to the next buyer. And, though I am a big fan of trees, that is a VERY big tree, and does not appear to be too healthy. I'd take it down. I say go for it. (Not that you need my opinion!)
We're working on it but it doesn't seem like the seller wants to work with us on price.
As for the tree, I don't think you can just chop it down. These areas have major restrictions on taking down these old oaks. We shall see.
NEVER buy a house based on how close it is to work. Rather, buy a house that is close enough to major arteries to make working anywhere an easy commute.
This isn't the 50s. People change jobs all the time. Which is easier and more likely, changing jobs or changing houses? If you like the neighborhood/schools that should trump commute times, unless we're talking hours.
If you change jobs and need to move, make sure the house will be easily salable.
When I've changed jobs in the past being near a major highway has been the reason I was able to.
In reply to Ian F:
I agree with you about the crackhead calculations.
Among other problems, it assumes buyers are unlimited in how much the bank is willing to lend them. The reality is, buyers are almost always looking at the top of the range they can qualify for (unfortunately).
Totally absurd.
Junkyard_Dog wrote: NEVER buy a house based on how close it is to work. Rather, buy a house that is close enough to major arteries to make working anywhere an easy commute.
+1. Although I don't use it very often, I can walk to a commuter rail station from my house. Two major highways are within minutes.
SVreX wrote: In reply to Ian F: I agree with you about the crackhead calculations. Among other problems, it assumes buyers are unlimited in how much the bank is willing to lend them. The reality is, buyers are almost always looking at the top of the range they can qualify for (unfortunately). Totally absurd.
With the goal of searching for truth - can you guys show me your calculations of how much it costs to drive an extra 100 miles per each work day?
At this point I'm not trying to say MMM is right, but I am saying he is the only one so far with a rational attempt at an argument - the counter so far is only a 'feeling'.
Secondly, to SVreX's point, I believe banks do take the distance from your house to your work into account when qualifying you for a loan, especially at the top of your qualification range. But banks don't care how you spend your time, while you probably do care how you spend your time.
The time-from-work vs. cost of home calculations are idealistic, but they're also not unrealistic. It is something that everyone needs to figure out for themselves, but he lays some good groundwork to base your own calculations off of.
I happen to agree with his sentiment--but I live in an area where a 15 mile commute can take an hour, even if you live right next to a major artery. While right now we're in the best spot for us, if we're in the same jobs when we have kids and those kids are school age, we will be looking in the more expensive neighborhood than the cheaper one because the cost of commuting would even it out.
That is assuming that we'll be approved for a loan large enough to get us enough space.
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