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Home > Help -- another possible house to buy!

Help -- another possible house to buy!

April 23rd, 2010 at 01:24 am

Ok, we've been looking for the right house to buy as ours sits on the market. All the other ones thus far have been a bit out of our price range (if we had to keep our current home) and had more cons than pluses. However, one just came on the market the other day and our realtor showed it to us today. Wow, it fits the bill so nicely. What should we do??? It's priced super well as the sellers want to sell it quickly so I'm afraid it will be gone if we don't act soon. In just the two days it came on the market, they've had 4 showings already. Here are some pics:

Front of house from end of driveway



Fenced in backyard





Our main criteria has been a level yard/lot close into town and this one has both. It just needs some cosmetic updating inside (like removing wallpaper) and the kitchen appliances need to be updated quite a bit, but overall, the house is in superb condition.

This house is 45 years old and is nearly 5000 sq ft big! There is a mother-in-law 2-bedroom apartment with full kitchen/laundry/etc on the lower floor that we could rent out to offset our mortgage. The area can be completely closed off to the main house with its own entrance and so forth.

The main drawing point is the location!! It's literally where we were wanting to be and the neighborhood is so nice. The fenced backyard is a huge plus for our dog.

Ok, so the dilemma is that we haven't sold our current home. We could buy this one and then if the contract is accepted and so forth, we could do a massive price reduction on our current home to try to get rid of it quickly. What do you guys think?? Aaaghh! I wouldn't worry so much except that the house is priced so well for the area that I'm afraid it will be gone...


basement/apartment kitchen


basement/living room with fireplace



front of house - another view


back of house

17 Responses to “Help -- another possible house to buy!”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1271982919

    That is a tough one. I don't think I could handle the stress of owning two homes at once. Lowering the cost of your other house, effectively raises the price on the one you are about to buy. Would you buy it for that price?

  2. sharmanl Says:
    1271988056

    Can you rent out your other home if it doesn't sell quickly? If not, you are banking on "what ifs," and you may not come out the winner. In this economy, I personally would not take the risk of having two mortgages.

  3. all4money Says:
    1271988547

    We've actually gotten a handful of inquiries about if we would rent the house vs selling so I'm sure we could rent it pretty easily if need be. Oh, I just don't know what to do!

  4. nmboone Says:
    1272006792

    I hope everything works out for you. By the way, very pretty house, reminds of the Brady Bunch house.

  5. elisabeth Says:
    1272019820

    If the price is right, it meets all your criteria, you don't mind being a landlord, you rent both the house and/in-law apartment to offset costs until the other house sells, I say go for it. Oh, one more thing you should be able to make all payments on one salary unless both of your jobs are iron clad. To many people lose all financially due to one spouse loosing a job or illness or divorce. I see it alot and read about it even more. Best wishes! Beautiful house and lot.

  6. gamecock43 Says:
    1272023234

    I would need more number details to see how much a new house will effect your bottom line. but its a beautiful yard! And a pretty tree in front!

  7. all4money Says:
    1272027519

    Both of our jobs are pretty much guaranteed (I know nothing is 100%).

    I've always wanted investment property but never really gave it much thought to have the investment property to be a part of my home too, but since this house already affords that opportunity, it's like having your cake and eating it too. If you go back and see some of my prior posts, I have been looking at purchasing rental properties as well during all of this housing search. It just seems like, at least for this house, it's a win-win situation. I could really see us renting the basement apartment to a local university professor or a hospital employee (our university is within a couple of miles and the hospital is literally down the street) --- would definitely want a "professional" in there rather than a student or something like that. The apartment itself doesn't need much work at all. The kitchen has newer white appliances in it and the rooms are in great shape - the square footage of the apartment area is around 1100 sq ft so it's quite large and would probably appeal to many.

  8. Ima saver Says:
    1272034287

    I sure hope you can get it. It is a beautiful house and yard.

  9. MonkeyMama Says:
    1272035593

    IT is a beautiful home!

    Personally, there is no way I would buy it.

    1 - We have owned 2 homes. IT worked out okay, but is something I would never do again. Renters are never a given, and can end up costing you more, anyway.

    2 - We were house hunting in 2006 (when we could make a real nice lateral move to more land) and gave up. We refused to own 2 homes again and just didn't work out. (Problem is we refused to sell our first home until we found something we liked better). Saw some beautiful/large homes. The one we put a bid on and almost got, had 2 rental on the property. Looking back, I am glad we didn't get it. The maintenance probably would have been insane. I think about that when you mention the size of the home. (I think the square footage of the home and rentals was 4k-5k, and a lot more land than we are used to).

    I do tend to be pretty conservative, and have no interest in landlording, I do admit. But, for the most part, think it through and don't do it because you don't think a better deal/house will ever come along. There will always be something - other opportunies will arise.

  10. yiusave Says:
    1272036417

    That is a beautiful house. Some years back we were given some advice about buying a home that we wanted to retire in and rent it out until that day. We are close to retirement now. Of course at that time we would have probably paid more for the house than it was worth and in today's economy that's scary.

    I agree that the prices are definitely good right now and the interest rates could go up in the near future.

    How far away is this house from where you live now? It's also good to live close to your rental home so that you can check up on the renters and the condition of the home.

    My friend owns 3 rental properties in Fla and as a rule does not let the renters change the filters on the AC. For one, they leave them too long or buy the wrong size. Although it is an expense for her, it has paid off in the long run.

  11. NJDebbie Says:
    1272041000

    You are in a tough situation. Personally, I would not buy the house (it's a beautiful house by the way). I think you are taking a financial risk with your current house because a one family house is not a good idea to rent. What will happen if you are out of tenant for a few months? Will you be able to cover the mortgage, property taxes and repairs? I think you will stand to lose too much. Good luck with any decision you make. Sleep on it, if this house is for you, it will be yours regardless.

  12. all4money Says:
    1272044540

    Thanks for the candid feedback, guys. We still haven't made up our minds -- on the one hand, I think about how "young" we are and that we have plenty of time to recoup if we were to find out this was a mistake. No risks means no rewards sometimes, you know? On the other hand, we live very comfortably right now and carrying another mortgage payment would cause some pain in the short run (once we start getting rental income off the basement, that should help out a lot). Of course, our house could sell any day -- we do have a showing tomorrow so I'm thinking positively.

    Our current home and this new home is just 4 miles from each other so IF we had to rent out our current home, it would be no problem to keep an eye on it for maintenance, etc. Single family homes here rent pretty easily because of the university and hospital -- guess you can say we live in the heart of the county where all the action is. Smile

  13. Jerry Says:
    1272060255

    It's hard to pass up a beautiful home that is selling for a good price and meets all the criteria, but I think that I would pass on it, as well. There is no insurance that the old place will sell soon, and having two properties can be stressful, indeed. Still, if you can rent it out, then maybe it is worth it to you. Good luck whatever you decide!
    Jerry

  14. gamecock43 Says:
    1272065645

    I love the kitchen!! Dont update it! I love those old school cabinets with the hardware on the outside.

  15. all4money Says:
    1272067188

    Just got a call from the realtor. There is now an offer on the table and if we want to put one in, we have until 5pm tomorrow night. Geez.

  16. Ima saver Says:
    1272561569

    Did you make an offer??

  17. all4money Says:
    1273148546

    Ima, another person put in an offer first and we just didn't want to get into a bidding war so we just walked away from this one completely. Since we don't need to rush into anything, it was the best option.

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