Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
OK, I had a thread in the city forums trying to figure out where to move, but even when I found a nice town, sometimes I couldn't find a house for us, no matter what the price. (Welcome those who were trying to help me in my old thread...thanks for coming!) We have been looking 2+ years (here and elsewhere) and I am FRUSTRATED.
So here goes:
We are a large family, 2 parents and 7 small children under teens.
We need a large home, at least 3000 SF but I'm aiming for more. It has to be in a good area with good schools. I am hoping to find something built before 1950 (or after 1990), but it's not a dealbreaker, I just love big old homes. It must be in basic livable condition, as I cannot do a long-distance remodel. After we move in we can figure out what it needs. So, the home must be solidly built, good roof and foundation, all mechanicals must be in good working order (think passable conventional loan or FHA, even if I'm not doing FHA financing.) It's ok if somethings are old or ugly, it just has to be move-in livable and safe. I'd even take green-shag-70's carpeting if I had to, LOL. Two years looking for the right home has left me with no pride, haha!
The home needs to have at least 2 full bathrooms. There are 9 of us total, I just can't go any lower than 2. If there is more than one laundry room or kitchen, maybe even was a multi-family, I'll still look at it and see if we can work with it. I need to have large rooms with a large kitchen, though.
Here's where it will get tricky. I don't want to pay more than $200,000. I know people will be like "WHAT? Good luck with that!" but no, seriously, we talked about it tonight, and just decided that's final... We are facing 7 kids in college, retirement before too long, I'm sure taxes, insurance, and maintenance will be high on a large home (they sure are now!)...I want to try to keep my debt and costs in check to save more for the kids down the road. If this means I can't have certain homes, then maybe I SHOULDN'T HAVE certain homes. I still believe somewhere is what we are looking for. Maybe one of you nice CD posters knows where it is!
Please do not post anything negative. Anyone working for a bank or private seller that wants to stay off the thread please message me directly with information including address. This is no tire-kicker, we need to settle down for our children's sake. I'm not looking to ever move again.
So, to recap (as if this post wasn't long enough):
1. Large Home (more than 3000SF) with large rooms, 2 baths or more
2. Good area and school district
3. Basic Livable Condition (doesn't have to be pretty, just safe)
4. $200,000 or less
OK, I had a thread in the city forums trying to figure out where to move, but even when I found a nice town, sometimes I couldn't find a house for us, no matter what the price. (Welcome those who were trying to help me in my old thread...thanks for coming!) We have been looking 2+ years (here and elsewhere) and I am FRUSTRATED.
So here goes:
We are a large family, 2 parents and 7 small children under teens.
We need a large home, at least 3000 SF but I'm aiming for more. It has to be in a good area with good schools. I am hoping to find something built before 1950 (or after 1990), but it's not a dealbreaker, I just love big old homes. It must be in basic livable condition, as I cannot do a long-distance remodel. After we move in we can figure out what it needs. So, the home must be solidly built, good roof and foundation, all mechanicals must be in good working order (think passable conventional loan or FHA, even if I'm not doing FHA financing.) It's ok if somethings are old or ugly, it just has to be move-in livable and safe. I'd even take green-shag-70's carpeting if I had to, LOL. Two years looking for the right home has left me with no pride, haha!
The home needs to have at least 2 full bathrooms. There are 9 of us total, I just can't go any lower than 2. If there is more than one laundry room or kitchen, maybe even was a multi-family, I'll still look at it and see if we can work with it. I need to have large rooms with a large kitchen, though.
Here's where it will get tricky. I don't want to pay more than $200,000. I know people will be like "WHAT? Good luck with that!" but no, seriously, we talked about it tonight, and just decided that's final... We are facing 7 kids in college, retirement before too long, I'm sure taxes, insurance, and maintenance will be high on a large home (they sure are now!)...I want to try to keep my debt and costs in check to save more for the kids down the road. If this means I can't have certain homes, then maybe I SHOULDN'T HAVE certain homes. I still believe somewhere is what we are looking for. Maybe one of you nice CD posters knows where it is!
Please do not post anything negative. Anyone working for a bank or private seller that wants to stay off the thread please message me directly with information including address. This is no tire-kicker, we need to settle down for our children's sake. I'm not looking to ever move again.
So, to recap (as if this post wasn't long enough):
1. Large Home (more than 3000SF) with large rooms, 2 baths or more
2. Good area and school district
3. Basic Livable Condition (doesn't have to be pretty, just safe)
4. $200,000 or less
You guys are right, an HOA might be nice...however, here's the problem with HOA's...they like uniform communities and we are not a uniform family. Every HOA charter or bylaws I've seen have restrictions on what vehicles can be overnight in a driveway. And being that we own a shuttle bus (try fitting 7 children in a minivan) every one so far has said no. Many also have rules against diesel engines because of air laws or noise, and we own a diesel. It also won't fit in a garage, so it will always be in the driveway, and that's a huge no-no. There are even some who have rules on number of occupants per number of bedrooms, and while 5 large bedrooms would be enough for us if the house were built right, many HOA's see us as an "overcrowded" household.
When I say the home search has been annoyingly difficult, I'm not kidding! We hit roadblocks in all kinds of strange ways!
I have no clue on how the schools are in La Vegas, but for some reason it was the first place I thought about. Ran a quick realtor.com search and it seems at least the house size and price meet your criteria.
Oh my gosh, Manderly, you weren't kidding, I looked at that link and I was surprised, those houses are going for a song! I'll have to look into that some more...wow, I'm just floored...
Yes, Denver, here and there it will occur to me to search in one place or another, on someone's recommendation, but all searches are local. I do not know of a site to search nationwide...I literally have gone on Trulia (which I do not like), Zillow, Remax (I like that one), and Realtor.com and entered random places just to see what I come up with. But I mean, we're talking thousands of locations...I'm just overwhelmed by all there is to search through. This is why I have this post, hoping someone has seen something I haven't, with some knowledge of the local area.
It's a crapshoot at best, but hey, I'm stuck until we find something anyway.
Everything is big in the lone star state, Spring, Tx, 3000sf newer homes for $145k, higher taxes, but no income tax, cost of living is low, good school district and close to houston, it's also hot. lol, there are always tradeoffModerator cut: can only cite realtor.com
Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 01-04-2012 at 01:58 PM..
Reason: link
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
):
