[nep321]

My current lease expires this month, here in Middletown. As some of you may know, my rent will be increased from $1,165 to a whopping $1,436 (month-to-month), for this 1 br apartment that is less than 800 sq ft. I had the option to renew the lease for $1,275, which is still a bit much IMO, so I chose month-to-month.

Over the past month or so I have been looking intensely for my next rental. I've been looking anywhere within about 20 miles from Berlin, not considering Hartford, East Hartford or New Britain and can't find anything that meets my crieteria. My criteria for a rental are the following: must have washer/dryer in the unit, air conditioning, dishwasher, and must either have a finished basement or a 2nd bedroom. I need extra space. I refuse to live in a unit with neighboring units above or below me. There ALWAYS seems to be noise issues and I'm OVER IT!

I've also looked at purchasing a home in this same region. My criteria for a home are the following: must have a garage, be built at least in the 1920's, be at least 800 sq ft, and not require more than a few thousand dollars of upgrades or fixing. It must also not be too close to a busy road or highway, and certainly not on a corner lot. My price range for this would be $190K max. Why the **bleep** can't I find anything that meets this criteria in a metro area with 1.2 million people? Why is mid-state so freekin' difficult to find affordable, quality starter homes in decent areas?

Right now I cringe at the idea of signing another lease at another apartment complex. I have also looked on Craigslist but there's barely anything these days. And the places that meet my criteria are either overpriced ($1,300+) or very tacky looking.

I seriously feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place. Completely lost and undecided on what the heck to do, because I refuse to pay $1,436 a month for too long. I also refuse to move into my parents' house, way up in Granby. And don't even mention condos...it's not my style.

What would you do in this situation? I am literally reduced to one of the following choices:

• Keep paying $1,436 a month in a place I can't stand until I finally find a place that meets my criteria, then move. I can only afford to do this for a few months or so.
• Take the plunge and purchase a house that doesn't meet all of my criteria, even if I know I won't be too happy living there.
• Move to another apartment complex that offers 2 br units for around $1,300, probably elsewhere in Middletown.

I personally cringe at the thought of doing any of the above choices. Why does the housing situation in central CT have to be so damn difficult, even for people who make good money? I also cringe at the thought of buying a house with neighboring houses directly next to my house. I want PRIVACY and LAND! I'm clamoring for personal outdoor space, and apartments do not provide this.

I'm seriously, seriously....and I mean, seriously looking at jobs in various cities in the South. Perhaps that is the only way to escape this seemingly endless cycle of renting apartments year after year, in order to afford a good quality of life.

What would you do?!

[Uconn97]

i would lower my expectations

[KH02]

Not sure why you cant find anything. When I use your criteria on a realtor.com search I come up with MANY single family homes for under 190,000. Plenty in towns like wethersfield, Southington, Plainville, Middletown and Meriden. Some are plenty updated and look like they need minimal work.
Here are some examples:

96 College Ave Southington CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #N317944 - Realtor.com®
55 Preston Dr Meriden CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #N316903 - Realtor.com®
448 Maple St Wethersfield CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #G590874 - Realtor.com®
140 Shuttlemeadow Rd Plainville CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #G603763 - Realtor.com®
33 Brookside Ave Middletown CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #G599623 - Realtor.com®

Rentals are harder as the competition seems to be higher recently with all the foreclosed homes, the people leaving them are all looking for rentals, I suppose.
Also, the fact that you want no one OVER or UNDER you rules out most apartments, you also dont want a condo. Well trying to find a single family home for rent is surely harder then a condo/apartment.

[thereandbacktwotimes]

Originally Posted by KH02

Not sure why you cant find anything. When I use your criteria on a realtor.com search I come up with MANY single family homes for under 190,000. Plenty in towns like wethersfield, Southington, Plainville, Middletown and Meriden. Some are plenty updated and look like they need minimal work.
Here are some examples:

96 College Ave Southington CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #N317944 - Realtor.com®
55 Preston Dr Meriden CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #N316903 - Realtor.com®
448 Maple St Wethersfield CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #G590874 - Realtor.com®
140 Shuttlemeadow Rd Plainville CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #G603763 - Realtor.com®
33 Brookside Ave Middletown CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #G599623 - Realtor.com®

Rentals are harder as the competition seems to be higher recently with all the foreclosed homes, the people leaving them are all looking for rentals, I suppose.
Also, the fact that you want no one OVER or UNDER you rules out most apartments, you also dont want a condo. Well trying to find a single family home for rent is surely harder then a condo/apartment.

At least three of these listings are corner lots and one is under contract. OP doesn't want a corner lot.

[KH02]

Originally Posted by thereandbacktwotimes

At least three of these listings are corner lots and one is under contract. OP doesn't want a corner lot.

I just randomly pulled some out of a search that yielded over 80 pages of results. My point was that there are many homes in his budget that do not need work.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Uconn97

i would lower my expectations

Yep. If I found a house that had everything I wanted, it would be double the price of what we paid. In real estate, you have to settle. Don't settle for something crappy, but there's nothing wrong with taking a few things off your list. For starters, get rid of the AC requirement. Not all homes here have AC, and you're really limiting yourself. Next, get a Realtor. They'll help you out a lot. And finally, it's very expensive to live in Connecticut. It's hard for those just starting out. But I can tell you from experience, once you have equity and know how to save money by doing things around the house yourself, it gets a lot cheaper and easier.

Sometimes you just have to buy a home with plans to stay there long term, and make changes/upgrades as you go. That's how most people do it. Feeling that you're entitled to certain luxuries for a cheap price will only make you more frustrated.

Watch House Hunters on HGTV - you'll learn a lot.

[nep321]

Originally Posted by KH02

Not sure why you cant find anything. When I use your criteria on a realtor.com search I come up with MANY single family homes for under 190,000. Plenty in towns like wethersfield, Southington, Plainville, Middletown and Meriden. Some are plenty updated and look like they need minimal work.
Here are some examples:

96 College Ave Southington CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #N317944 - Realtor.com®

This one doesn't fit into my budget, because it would cost a lot to heat up that house because of that huge finished basement, which, by the way, is atrocious looking. Second, there is a complete lack of privacy. Third, it's quite close to that busy Route 10, which will be noisy in the background.

55 Preston Dr Meriden CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #N316903 - Realtor.com®

Very close to I-91...will be noisy. Doesn't fit into my budget either, due to pretty high taxes and a lot of square footage to heat up. Not really enthusiastic about Meriden either. JayCT and my parents have heavily advised me against investing in Meriden.

448 Maple St Wethersfield CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #G590874 - Realtor.com®

Did you even look at the map of the location? This is a BUSY road!! Not to mention it's very close to the notoriously busy Silas Deane Highway. Enough said!

140 Shuttlemeadow Rd Plainville CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #G603763 - Realtor.com®

This one has no basement and the bedrooms are TINY! But it might still be worth a second look.

33 Brookside Ave Middletown CT - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #G599623 - Realtor.com®

This one is probably the best out of your 5 choices. It's just that I'm not too enthusiastic about buying in Middletown. Nor am I enthusiastic about the house being near a school.

Rentals are harder as the competition seems to be higher recently with all the foreclosed homes, the people leaving them are all looking for rentals, I suppose.
Also, the fact that you want no one OVER or UNDER you rules out most apartments, you also dont want a condo. Well trying to find a single family home for rent is surely harder then a condo/apartment.

I have seen all of these listings already. See my comments within your quote above. I have no complaints about most of these houses.

[thereandbacktwotimes]

Originally Posted by KH02

I just randomly pulled some out of a search that yielded over 80 pages of results. My point was that there are many homes in his budget that do not need work.

Oh, okay. Wow 80 pages! You would think there would be something there for him. I hope he can find something suitable soon.

[nep321]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Yep. If I found a house that had everything I wanted, it would be double the price of what we paid. In real estate, you have to settle. Don't settle for something crappy, but there's nothing wrong with taking a few things off your list. For starters, get rid of the AC requirement. Not all homes here have AC, and you're really limiting yourself. Next, get a Realtor. They'll help you out a lot.

Sometimes you just have to buy a home with plans to stay there long term, and make changes/upgrades as you go. That's how most people do it. Feeling that you're entitled to certain luxuries for a cheap price will only make you more frustrated.

Watch House Hunters on HGTV - you'll learn a lot.

My AC requirement was only for renting an apartment. I am willing to settle for a house without cooling. I'll just buy an AC unit, for that matter.

Perhaps the only criterium that I am willing to give up would be the corner lot and privacy thing. Possibly the busy road thing, too. It's really a shame though, because I know the entire time I would be living there, I would be clamoring for privacy and quiet.

How did your current home not meet your criteria?

[nep321]

Here are a few that I actually became interested in, despite being a bit pricey or on a corner lot. What do you think? The second one fits my criteria very well, but I would not pay asking price for it. Do you think I could knock off at least $5K from the price on either of these?

I would need to knock off $5K from this one to fit into my budget:

921 DELILAH DR, Windsor CT 06095 MLS# G603193

I would need to knock off $42K from this one to fit into my budget, because the taxes are on the high side and it would cost a lot to heat up that huge finished basement.

130 CLUBHOUSE RD, Windsor CT 06095 MLS# G604369