cost of utilities

[Jakehorror]

1 bedroom apartment, my wife & I pay about $30-40 mo. for Electric all year-round. And for gas it depends. Usually $35-40 in Summer and $70-$80 in Winter (which is about half the year).

[mbuszu]

Originally Posted by Just.Believe

Thanks for all the help guys. We are viewing 3 existing homes and a few new home builders. We are looking to spend 150 max and would like the fishers area, we would consider noblesville (not too far north though), carmel or zionsville if there were homes in that price range that are also in a good area.

We are really torn on new or existing~~~~~ We would like to go with an existing home, but for the "same money" we could get all the upgrades we want. So part of me says spend money on what you want and part of me knows better I know all the problems of a crappy home, we live in one now. So I don't really want to do the new home thing but then again... I want the things I want.

We will be visiting soon, and are excited to scout the towns out. We won't be buying until Mayish of next year. So hopefully we can figure it out by then. I really like the Fishers area (from what I've researched).

Right at this snapshot in time I'm compelled to encourage people in your situation to look at existing homes and to consider waiting until the Spring (when more houses will be put up for sale) if you don't find exactly what you want right now. There's a major housing glut, home prices have declined a bit and you can find some amazing deals. When you combine those factors with the reality that home materials today are about 30% more expensive than just a few years ago (houses cannot be built today as cheaply as they could), I would say the answer is even more apparent. Lastly, with the slowdown of the real estate market (residential construction has practically come to a halt) if you build a new house in a new development I would forecast that your neighborhood will remain relatively empty/undeveloped for a few years to come. I don't know about you, but that wouldn't excite me one bit.

[Just.Believe]

My husband and I bought a rental home (the one we live in now). It was trashed! We got it for about 15,000 below (which we realize now that we should have offered lower). There have been nothing but problems for the past 6 1/2 years.

Before moving in we gutted the house. We ripped the carpet out, scrubed the concrete, washed the walls (had to bring in the hose for that), Painted everything, sanded and painted the cabinets, replaced almost all the interior doors, fix holes in the walls, among tons of other things. Over the years, we have had to jackhammer the kitchen floors (right after laying new tile ourselves) that sucked, replace the toliets (husband's cousing is a plumber), sand and repaint all the walls because the paint we bought ripped of in chunks (the manufacture paid for all the new paint that we had to get each time because we did everything right), relandscape the front yard, replace the garage door and opener (that we hired someone for). Right now clearing out the backyard to start with a flat yard of dirt, we are dealing with tiles falling off our house, cabinets falling apart and needing new flooring, and I'm sure the list will continue even after we move out. We have now probably spent well into 15-20,000 and it still need more work.
I can say this is MY house, since we know it so well and that gives me a good feeling. However, my husband works 2 jobs so I can stay at home with our daughter and future kids.
Yes, now that we are selling, we will have enough to pay off ALL our debt that we got ourselves into (some home repair, mostly school loans, car loans, credit cards), and pay for a move to Indiana with a down payment on another house.

We know what SWEAT equity is because we've lived it for almost 7 years now. All that being said (sorry to ramble) we would buy another existing house, not sure we would want to get ourselves in so deep again though. I know these problems arise in new or existing homes, that's just life. I do have to say that our house has been the best purchase we have ever made. We now have 80,000 in equity, lots of lessons learned, and will never get another credit card or get into so much debt.

So, sure we wouldn't mind a fixer upper, just not a house that needs renovations

[Pickettj]

Originally Posted by Just.Believe

Thanks for all the help guys. We are viewing 3 existing homes and a few new home builders. We are looking to spend 150 max and would like the fishers area, we would consider noblesville (not too far north though), carmel or zionsville if there were homes in that price range that are also in a good area.

We are really torn on new or existing~~~~~ We would like to go with an existing home, but for the "same money" we could get all the upgrades we want. So part of me says spend money on what you want and part of me knows better I know all the problems of a crappy home, we live in one now. So I don't really want to do the new home thing but then again... I want the things I want.

We will be visiting soon, and are excited to scout the towns out. We won't be buying until Mayish of next year. So hopefully we can figure it out by then. I really like the Fishers area (from what I've researched).

I don't know if you have been pointed in the right direction, but a great, free tool for home buyers in the central Indiana area is Mibor.com (Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors). It's got every listing for every county in central Indiana along with extra pictures, prices, etc. I hope this isn't considered advertising, I should mention that I am NOT a realtor.