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Old 01-29-2009, 10:39 AM
 
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
1,570 posts, read 5,967,846 times
Reputation: 1405

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In this market I could not agree that a single family house would automatically make a better investment. There are some great buys in townhomes/condos right now. Of course there are good bargains in single family, too! But I've been showing townhomes and condos that are priced so far below market that with even a slight turn up in the market a new owner will see profit.

There are really two questions at play here. 1. The type of home to be purchased, single family, or attached (townhome, condo, villa). 2. A home, whatever the structure, located within an HOA or not. Again, let's remember a single family home may or may not be located within an HOA.
Michelle
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Old 01-29-2009, 12:13 PM
 
Location: Fayetteville, NC
22 posts, read 63,566 times
Reputation: 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by sskkc View Post
As a former Navy wife, I suggest you think about buying a bit more. The market here has been teetering... waiting on the influx of the new Ft Carson folks... that's you and your family. When you will be PCSing out in 3 years, so will the other 5-10k families. Our new president has sworn to reduce our forces... in that case, how many of the PCSing families will be replaced? For a 3 year stint, that's quite a gamble. I know too many military families, caught up in the homeownership craze of the past few years, that are living separately from their spouse... and for once, it's not due to deployments, but the housing market.

"Permanent" in the military is relative. In your case, it means 3 years. To a civilian, permanent means a lifetime.

In any case, it's not a smart move to buy before you've lived in a place and gotten a feel for the area. Homes that look great on paper or on that one 3 day trip in March can look like hell in August when the snow has melted and you realize your neighbors smoke pot on their balcony. You can't close your windows to protect your baby from the "contact high" because you didn't realize your townhome didn't have central AC and window AC units go against your HOA... just one more thought to consider.
Thank you for your input. We have been giving this a lot of thought and decided to buy a townhouse. I'm still in the process of doing research. We don't plan on buying a home based on what's good on paper... ofcourse we will be looking at them in person as well.... We are aware of the snow and what not as we have family that lives there Permanently. We will be visiting for a little over a week as oppose to your 3 day trip :-) And most definitely we will make sure that we find an area that's safe and clean. I don't reall military members being able to smoke pot :-) and we wil make sure we know everything that we need to know about the townhome that we want to purchase. We will make sure that it's in a desireable location where it's close to post as well. Anyhow, my husband is getting stationed with the 4th ID as a liason I seriously doubt that 5-10K families will PCS at the same time and none replacing them due to the fact that the large incoming troops is an infanry division. And No, we would never live in two different places when he's not deployed it would be too hard on us.Where did you find your sources about pres. Obama swearing to reduce our forces? I haven't heard that one yet. Is that a fact? again I do thank you for your input we will keep that in mind. We don't pcs for another 6-7 months...Doing research prior to moving is definitely a good thing and the internet is a good source. as well as our family members and friends that live there. It sounds like you didn't have any luck with your house and I'm sorry for that.
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Old 01-29-2009, 06:46 PM
 
140 posts, read 438,846 times
Reputation: 46
A townhouse is the better option in my opinion as well if you choose to buy. A true townhouse by my definition is an attached single-family home where the land that the home sits is also owned by the homeowner. This is as opposed to a condo, where you by no means own the land. I break townhomes and rowhomes into two separate categories as well. Townhomes have some sort of rear or front yard, to be maintained by the homeowner. A rowhome has no yard to speak of, but the land it is on is still owned by the homeowner.

In Spring Creek, the Ron Covington "Brownstones" are rowhomes. The existing Beazer townhomes are "townhomes". My recommendation is for a townhome with a yard. The best townhomes in the City are mixed in with other single-family homes rather than just a homegenous neighborhood of only townhomes that all look alike. The homegenous ones appear to be more of glorified apartment complexes, especially when they have 90 degree parking in the fronts of them like a parking lot... Just my opinion on that so I apologize if I offended anyone...
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Old 02-04-2009, 02:30 AM
 
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
1,570 posts, read 5,967,846 times
Reputation: 1405
BTW - A detached home (single family home) could be within an HOA.
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Old 02-04-2009, 06:34 PM
 
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
2,221 posts, read 5,245,953 times
Reputation: 1703
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jme57 View Post
Thank you for your input. We have been giving this a lot of thought and decided to buy a townhouse. I'm still in the process of doing research. We don't plan on buying a home based on what's good on paper... ofcourse we will be looking at them in person as well.... We are aware of the snow and what not as we have family that lives there Permanently. We will be visiting for a little over a week as oppose to your 3 day trip :-) And most definitely we will make sure that we find an area that's safe and clean. I don't reall military members being able to smoke pot :-) and we wil make sure we know everything that we need to know about the townhome that we want to purchase. We will make sure that it's in a desireable location where it's close to post as well. Anyhow, my husband is getting stationed with the 4th ID as a liason I seriously doubt that 5-10K families will PCS at the same time and none replacing them due to the fact that the large incoming troops is an infanry division. And No, we would never live in two different places when he's not deployed it would be too hard on us.Where did you find your sources about pres. Obama swearing to reduce our forces? I haven't heard that one yet. Is that a fact? again I do thank you for your input we will keep that in mind. We don't pcs for another 6-7 months...Doing research prior to moving is definitely a good thing and the internet is a good source. as well as our family members and friends that live there. It sounds like you didn't have any luck with your house and I'm sorry for that.
Make sure you include the terrific costs of turnover in your analysis. You will have to pay a realtor 6% to sell on the back end. You will have to put money into dolling the place up to sell. There are closing costs on both ends--buying and selling. And if it does not sell, and currently there are literally thousands of houses and condos sitting stagnant on the market in Colo Springs, many for years now, you get to keep making a mortgage payment on a house you cannot live in because the military moved you.

Any realtor will tell you it's always smart to buy a home. They want you to...every time you buy or sell, they get rich. But the truth, especially for military folks that have no vote as to when and where they come/go, is that the massive a** pain and sleepless nights caused by trying to sell a house on PERSCOM's timeline is not worth the "dream" of ownership for just two years. The absolutely fantastic option to exercise the military clause in your lease and just move when the time comes is so terribly underrated...until you've experienced that anguish of having a house that won't sell chained to your neck like a pair of Brooklyn cement shoes.

I strongly advise you to think hard about what you are planning to do. Talk to a few of the many people stuck in seller's Hell right now. Let them tell you first hand what "Home Loanership" really feels like when you've gotta move and can't sell. "There's never been a better time to buy" is realtor propaganda horse****, and YOU are the one that will be left holding the bag when it doesn't work out in the end...NOT the realtor.

Buy in haste
Default in leisure
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Old 02-05-2009, 11:52 PM
 
Location: Fayetteville, NC
22 posts, read 63,566 times
Reputation: 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob from down south View Post
Make sure you include the terrific costs of turnover in your analysis. You will have to pay a realtor 6% to sell on the back end. You will have to put money into dolling the place up to sell. There are closing costs on both ends--buying and selling. And if it does not sell, and currently there are literally thousands of houses and condos sitting stagnant on the market in Colo Springs, many for years now, you get to keep making a mortgage payment on a house you cannot live in because the military moved you.

Any realtor will tell you it's always smart to buy a home. They want you to...every time you buy or sell, they get rich. But the truth, especially for military folks that have no vote as to when and where they come/go, is that the massive a** pain and sleepless nights caused by trying to sell a house on PERSCOM's timeline is not worth the "dream" of ownership for just two years. The absolutely fantastic option to exercise the military clause in your lease and just move when the time comes is so terribly underrated...until you've experienced that anguish of having a house that won't sell chained to your neck like a pair of Brooklyn cement shoes.

I strongly advise you to think hard about what you are planning to do. Talk to a few of the many people stuck in seller's Hell right now. Let them tell you first hand what "Home Loanership" really feels like when you've gotta move and can't sell. "There's never been a better time to buy" is realtor propaganda horse****, and YOU are the one that will be left holding the bag when it doesn't work out in the end...NOT the realtor.

Buy in haste
Default in leisure
Thank you for your input. I do appreciate all the advice from everyone. I understand with what's going on in the economy. But I guess I'm more optimistic with the thousands of troops and family pcsing in and out in carson. We are thinking this through and giving it a lot of thought. I figured depending on the market when it's time to leave which will be in 2013 we will attempt to either sale or rent it out...agian depending on the market. And we've decided on a townhouse should we do decide to buy.
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Old 02-13-2009, 12:43 AM
 
Location: CO Springs
149 posts, read 321,949 times
Reputation: 54
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jme57 View Post
Thank you for your input. I do appreciate all the advice from everyone. I understand with what's going on in the economy. But I guess I'm more optimistic with the thousands of troops and family pcsing in and out in carson. We are thinking this through and giving it a lot of thought. I figured depending on the market when it's time to leave which will be in 2013 we will attempt to either sale or rent it out...agian depending on the market. And we've decided on a townhouse should we do decide to buy.
What is the hurry in buying. The prices on houses keep falling. I live in Falcon and the house across the street has been for sell (or lease for over 8 months). It is a 3200 sq foot beautiful home on 1/2 acre and all they want to lease is $1200 a month. This is just one of the many homes for rent or for sell. I believe the selling market is only going to get worse. You should really think about renting for at least a few months if not the whole duration of your stay. You may not be able to rent or sell when the time comes. I sure am glad I do not have to think about selling in three years.
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