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I am not interested in investing/flipping a house for a quick buck, I just want a solid nice big house to live in long term.
Thats what I think too,I'm not worried if my home is going to make me rich,I'm just looking for a home,thats what it was meant to be.Who wants their home to appreciate so much you are afraid to open the tax bill.
Forclosures happen to the middle class too.
I wouldnt mind appreciation, ill just cash out on it before prices go down and relocate, buy cheap and put the rest of my money into my retirement or mutual funds! Ill also benefit from lower property taxes!
This is something I wish my parents had done in south Florida!
First off NAH,
if you are looking at finding a home that is the biggest you can get for the cheapest, you are thinking just like the people that take out the ARM's to buy these houses. Just because a house has 3000 sq ft or more does not make it a mansion. Same goes for not caring about resale, location, amenities, quality, etc. The overwhelming majority of the houses being foreclosed on IN the Dallas area (other areas around the country may be totally different) are in the exact areas you are looking at and for the EXACT same reasons you state you are considering........ CHEAP and BIG.
You SHOULD look at purchasing a home just as it is a stock you are buying. Are you buying 100K in stock? Why would you NOT want your home viewed as stock or an asset? You may not have any intentions of selling for a long time but you still want to make sure that your investment (it IS an investment for those that are wise with their dollars, hardearned dollars) is one that is in a desireable location and not going to be adversly effected by the environment it is in. Like next to a landfill/dump, wastewater treatment plant, prison, flood area, etc. Like I said, buying a property in an area that has a VERY small and I mean VERY SMALL buyers market is not wise. Why would you want to purchase a home and know that if things got bad you could just walk away and lose every penny? Whereas if you DID pay attention to these areas you would have a nice investment for later.
Again, as for the homes you found, not good areas at all. How do you find out if a home is a foreclosure, it is listed on the MLS as a foreclosure. You can also pull up the address w/ the tax office and see who owns it and who owns most of the houses around it. One or two foreclosures in a neighborhood, no big deal. Every other house a foreclosure, RED FLAG!
As with any large metropolitan city Dallas is built up. The only new homes being built INSIDE of Dallas City Limits are going to be in the least desireable areas. Have you not looked at homes in the suburbs? You would not be priced out but would be wiser for doing so. Depending on the suburb and the neighborhood of course.
This entire subject of buying houses has become horribly distorted in a lot of different ways.
The expectations game has been played like it is written in stone. Buying a house now is probably risky in many areas because we are in markets that have topped out and not yet found any sort of bottom. As mentioned just about like in a stock market.
Somewhere along the way, folks lost sight of the ability to properly value what something is worth. Them olde real estate types did a beautiful job of selling real estate, usually at huge inflated premiums and manipulating opinions about how much house one can really afford. A screwy game pushed to its limits.
To buy a house and have it go up a lot in value quickly can be a horrible thing. Just what the taxman loves. You don't make a penny until you actually sell it. In the mean time if your intent is just to live in the shack, it can cost a ton of extra money as a total for all that unrealized appreciation. Taxes, insurance, etc. The prime reason for most house buying is just to live in.
If you play the game as was promoted so very hard in this last cycle by banks, real estate brokers, etc, where all that unrealized equity was treated like an ATM machine, with the net result that the debt levels increased continuously as people tried very hard to "Spend the Equity" without selling the house, you have a fools game.
Plus factor in the complete disregard for any type of prudent financial management of personal affairs and how could it not result in a disaster at some point. The only house I ever owned that I had a mortgage, I paid something less than 10 percent of my disposable income on a monthly basis. My income was growing at a steady rate and I paid off a 20 year fixed rate mortgage in 8 years. I had zero debt except the house at the time. That house did not appreciate in value much for the first twenty years I owned it, then it went crazy. The entire idea to buy the house was I could get it far cheaper than rent payments. It was a risky time and place to buy a house. If it all went terribly wrong, the solution would have been open the front door, throw in the keys, followed by a match (or maybe in the reverse) and walk away. I had the "Savings in Rent" as my reward. The only thing at risk was my small down payment, none of my other financial affairs would have been affected.
It is this disregard for sound practices that gets most of them into foreclosures. Even a bad decision to buy an over priced house should be able to be riden though if the rest of the financial planning has been properly done. Including having enough income and discipline to be buying cars and the rest of your living requirements cash. Plus having enough savings as a cushion when things go wrong. Paycheck to paycheck with a super overpriced house is like having a gun to your head. It is not so much the house as the missing other pieces of the financial puzzle and having way, way too much of the disposable income going into a house payment. How can you ever walk away when it goes horribly wrong??????
This idea that you should only buy a perfect house in a perfect location is also flawed. The houses with any type of flaws should be priced to reflect those flaws. Not what the real estate industry practices. Not what the buyers in the past number of years have demanded. Lots of blame to go around. You will always get the best bargain by buying today's Frog and have it turn into a Prince at some point. The general idea of risk and how one should manage it is a lost art. Predictions in real estate are not even as good as long range weather projections years into the future.
The present state of the art as practiced in Real Estate is about like some type of slavery system. People can work all their working lives and wind up owning just about nothing. The practices of the past are touted as out dated and very unprogessive but those practices resulted in the vast majority of the people eventually owning their own home outright and being able to enjoy the benefits of that ownership and maybe passing it on to their heirs. The present system as practiced only puts the wealth of the vast majority into the hands of those who maniputate the system and make money off each deal, it matters not the misfortune the structure will provide.
These are just a handful of a few that are in one suburb North of Dallas. But this gives you a better idea of a little bit better home in a more desireable location for the long haul.
6778 CANTERBURY DR
FRISCO, TX 75035
MLS ID#: 10633818
$164,000
3 Bed, 2.5 Bath
2,004 Sq. Ft.
8506 ARCADIA DR
FRISCO, TX 75035
MLS ID#: 10626470
$157,000
3 Bed, 2 Bath
1,613 Sq. Ft.
As you can see that there are homes for someone that does not want to sink a lot into a home but still get something nice and in a nice area that will resell whenever the time comes. These are great first time homebuyer homes and can be great if one adds all of the extras like the larger crown moldings and such.
This entire subject of buying houses has become horribly distorted in a lot of different ways.
The expectations game has been played like it is written in stone. Buying a house now is probably risky in many areas because we are in markets that have topped out and not yet found any sort of bottom. As mentioned just about like in a stock market.
...
Your awesome!!!!!!
Last edited by Yac; 10-13-2006 at 04:23 AM..
Reason: quote shortened
"First off NAH,
if you are looking at finding a home that is the biggest you can get for the cheapest, you are thinking just like the people that take out the ARM's to buy these houses......... CHEAP and BIG."
3000 square feet is no mansion nor would I consider it one. Generally at least 10000 square feet. Size isnt everything but those big homes look great in the pictures on the outside and inside! Resale doesnt matter much if you plan to live long term or even for the rest of your life. Location matters highly but with location, theres a dear price to be paid. Forclosure can happen to anyone regardless of what house they buy. But lots of forclosures in an area means all those people bought more house than they can afford. Be careful not to make the same mistake.
"You SHOULD look at purchasing a home just as it is a stock you are buying. Are you buying 100K in stock? Why would you NOT want your home viewed as stock or an asset?"
Stocks are much more liquid and are an investment only. I look at a house as a place to live in. All those people who rent obviously dont care to invest in a house and/or cant afford. Its those flippers/speculators that treat houses as stock. I am not like that.
"You may not have any intentions of selling for a long time but you still want to make sure that your investment (it IS an investment for those that are wise with their dollars, hardearned dollars) is one that is in a desireable location and not going to be adversly effected by the environment it is in. Like next to a landfill/dump, wastewater treatment plant, prison, flood area, etc."
Sure if you have alot of money and make good money to afford those desirable locations that keep their value better. But whats not to say cheap locations can become desirable? Its happened many times before. A flood zone can dry up and no longer be a flood zone. The plant may close up and relocate. Those forclosures may be bought by people with money. Likewise a good area may go downhill if gangs move in or alot of crimes happen in that neighboorhood. Just as no one can predict if stocks will go up or down, ditto for houses. Its true both stocks and houses usually go up.
"Like I said, buying a property in an area that has a VERY small and I mean VERY SMALL buyers market is not wise. Why would you want to purchase a home and know that if things got bad you could just walk away and lose every penny? Whereas if you DID pay attention to these areas you would have a nice investment for later."
Why would I walk away? I could sell, rent or auction it off and even if not, ill leave this house as a second home or vacation home.
"Again, as for the homes you found, not good areas at all. How do you find out if a home is a foreclosure, it is listed on the MLS as a foreclosure. You can also pull up the address w/ the tax office and see who owns it and who owns most of the houses around it. One or two foreclosures in a neighborhood, no big deal. Every other house a foreclosure, RED FLAG!"
Thanks for the headsup. Could the situation improve? If the forclosure rate goes down, wont the value increase? I talked with my dad about this and he just said maybe alot of speculators bought dozens of houses in that area and when they couldnt sell fast enough because the house bubble deflated, the rest got forclosed. Theres too many houses on the market in that area and so the supply outweighs the demand. But if more and more people buy those houses to live in, supply will dry up.
"As with any large metropolitan city Dallas is built up. The only new homes being built INSIDE of Dallas City Limits are going to be in the least desireable areas. Have you not looked at homes in the suburbs? You would not be priced out but would be wiser for doing so. Depending on the suburb and the neighborhood of course."
Well for those that want to live *in* Dallas and arent rich, those houses may be for them. Some people arent going to care, they just want alot of house for what they can afford. Its like showing you two televisions, a nice 42" plasma and a small simple 27" CRT tube. Both are the same price but you are "told" the 27" TV is more "desirable and will keep its value better"
Same with houses. People want to enjoy a nice big stylish house that fits their budget and many are willing to overlook the problems in order to do so.
A house is an individual decision as you know, something they can ask advice on but ultimately its up to them to decide alone.
That was a long reply. I hope nothing I said offended you. What I said was my opinion and the opinion of others I know. Not starting an arguement, just stating opinions I want to thank you for your time reading this!
"The expectations game has been played like it is written in stone. Buying a house now is probably risky in many areas because we are in markets that have topped out and not yet found any sort of bottom. As mentioned just about like in a stock market."
Then perhaps someone should either rent or buy a cheap home then when prices bottom out, buy a nice home.
"Somewhere along the way, folks lost sight of the ability to properly value what something is worth. Them olde real estate types did a beautiful job of selling real estate, usually at huge inflated premiums and manipulating opinions about how much house one can really afford. A screwy game pushed to its limits."
Hence all those forclosures and eroding prices.
"To buy a house and have it go up a lot in value quickly can be a horrible thing. Just what the taxman loves. You don't make a penny until you actually sell it. In the mean time if your intent is just to live in the shack, it can cost a ton of extra money as a total for all that unrealized appreciation. Taxes, insurance, etc. The prime reason for most house buying is just to live in."
I disagree. If that was true, why is everyone saying buy in a location where houses appreciate nicely? The appreciation in house value exceeds the taxes and if you ever run low on money, sell the house for a big profit and relocate, simple as that.
"Plus factor in the complete disregard for any type of prudent financial management of personal affairs and how could it not result in a disaster at some point. The only house I ever owned that I had a mortgage, I paid something less than 10 percent of my disposable income on a monthly basis........."
I will probably save till I can buy a house for 100% down then as I save more money, ill upgrade the house and either sell, rent or keep it as a second house.
"It is this disregard for sound practices that gets most of them into foreclosures. Even a bad decision to buy an over priced house......."
This is why I will buy below the maximum house I can afford. That way I leave a safety margin and if I have extra money, good ill put it in mutual funds where itll appreciate much more than what houses are today.
"This idea that you should only buy a perfect house in a perfect location is also flawed. The houses with any type of flaws should be priced to reflect those flaws. Not what the real estate industry practices. Not what the buyers in the past number of years have demanded. Lots of blame to go around. You will always get the best bargain by buying today's Frog and have it turn into a Prince at some point."
Your disagreeing with momof2dfw when she says buy in the perfect location. You get a great deal in an imperfect location and together, you can all work to make it the perfect location!
Momof2d, thanks for showing me those listings. The prices is $80-90 a square foot. Not too bad actually and is an alternative to buying the cheapest at $60-70 a square foot.
I kept searching in that suburb and found smaller houses for lower prices. Are those still considered "good"
I found more, are those in a good location? Cost is about $80 a square foot but there are some at around $100 a square foot, probably because it comes with more land and/or a highly desirable location.
$310,900
5 Bed, 4 Bath
4,011 Sq. Ft.
0.21 Acres
1816 HARVEST GLEN DR
ALLEN, TX 75002
MLS ID#: 10552438
$354,900
5 Bed, 4 Bath
4,511 Sq. Ft.
1131 WINDMERE WAY
ALLEN, TX 75013
MLS ID#: 10570809
$379,950
6 Bed, 4 Bath
4,494 Sq. Ft.
0.2 Acres
1011 DENALI DR
ALLEN, TX 75013
MLS ID#: 10604181
$389,500
5 Bed, 4.5 Bath
4,925 Sq. Ft.
1827 HAVERFORD DR
ALLEN, TX 75013
MLS ID#: 10592218
You are the expert. Whats your verdict? Edit: do any have car garages? I didnt see any in the picture nor any mention of them. This does cut down costs, but still very nice homes
Last edited by Need_affordable_home; 10-13-2006 at 04:18 AM..
Reason: no garage?
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Nah
I want to thank you for your time reading this!
