thoughts on buying a new construction home

[ChristieP]

I can't imagine a 50-mile round trip commute. Whatever money you saved building that new house is now going to be spent on gas for your car! And you will be spending a lot of time sitting in your car while making that commute, too.

Yes, the lack of a fireplace is going to hurt you on resale. I also don't like the TV hung above the fireplace, and the TV manufacturers say this isn't a good thing to do since the heat from the fireplace can damage the TV. But just because you have a fireplace doesn't mean you have to hang your TV above it. Texas winters do get cold; this year was an unusually mild winter, but last year was much closer to normal for us.

[octo]

Been there done that. Bought new in the suburbs in my late 20s with a 15 miles commute. Same logic. New house, no previous owners, fooled by model home etc.

Corrected that mistake in my late 30s when I realized that I didn't want to spend my life in a tract home in a sea of same.

[SaltySugar]

Even if winters aren't that bad in DFW, fireplace adds romance and warmth and can come in handy during power outages. You can always hang tv somewhere else or just put sheetrock to cover fireplace and hang tv there. I wouldn't drive 50 miles every day to avoid a fireplace, especially not to maintain a huge house for two people and a potential baby.

[RJ312]

I still have not seen a reason that they had to buy, especially for that long commute. They really should have kept renting. Owning a home can make sense for a childless couple, but there really was not a rush to own. They don't need to worry about a school district yet.

[richard88]

Originally Posted by SaltySugar

Even if winters aren't that bad in DFW, fireplace adds romance and warmth and can come in handy during power outages. You can always hang tv somewhere else or just put sheetrock to cover fireplace and hang tv there. I wouldn't drive 50 miles every day to avoid a fireplace, especially not to maintain a huge house for two people and a potential baby.

Agreed. One of the past winter (snow) storms caught with power outages, and the fire-place was so useful.

[kdai]

this is what my apt looks like. I bought the sofa when i was a single guy, so when i get home from work, i can sit on my sofa and watch the 65in tv. But when my wife moved in with me, this sofa is too small for two adults to sit on! every time when one of us wants to sit on the sofa, we have to ask for the other person's permission. Of course, i could have thrown away or moved my treadmill/elliptical bike somewhere else, but i guess it is not something that im willing to do.
Also, with just 1 living room and 1 bed, it is almost impossible to have guests to visit us.

[kdai]

as to the fireplace, the builder's onsite sales person told us about resale as well. but after thinking about it, me and my wife didn't feel like spending $2,000 and pay property tax on something that we only use maybe once or twice a yr at most. plus, by the time im ready to sell the house in 5-7yrs, who knows whether fireplace will still be popular or not.
See the attachment file, the fireplace was going to be put at the corner that i circled in red. Now, b/c there is no fireplace, the plan is to buy 2 nice leather sofas, one on the left side of the wall, other one right next to the window and the 65in tv will be put on the right side of the wall.

[RJ312]

Originally Posted by kdai

this is what my apt looks like. I bought the sofa when i was a single guy, so when i get home from work, i can sit on my sofa and watch the 65in tv. But when my wife moved in with me, this sofa is too small for two adults to sit on! every time when one of us wants to sit on the sofa, we have to ask for the other person's permission. Of course, i could have thrown away or moved my treadmill/elliptical bike somewhere else, but i guess it is not something that im willing to do.
Also, with just 1 living room and 1 bed, it is almost impossible to have guests to visit us.

Replacing a couch is much easier than a long commute.

Having guests is overrated. Guests can stay at nearby hotels. Dallas has many good hotels.

[BongoBungo]

Originally Posted by RJ312

I still have not seen a reason that they had to buy, especially for that long commute. They really should have kept renting. Owning a home can make sense for a childless couple, but there really was not a rush to own. They don't need to worry about a school district yet.

I bought because rent is going up astronomically, and we now live in a place that's twice as large as our tiny apartment we were renting, and our total monthly payments are about the same. Plus with how quickly property values are going up, you could make the case that if you don't buy soon you may not be able to afford to buy in DFW ever, unless you're rich or you live way out in the sticks. Our home went up in value by $30k just in the less than the year since we've owned it, and meanwhile the apartment we had been renting went up in rent by $100/month. So yes, buying was by far the better financial decision for us, and our quality of life is 10x higher.

As for the commute, more and more companies are offering flex hours or remote work options. Work for one of them. Even if you have to commute, if you can work hours where you can avoid most of rush hour it's not too bad. And even larger companies are starting to offer at least 1 day where you can work from home.

[sanz7887]

So the thing is you need to have a fireplace, people also told me to have a media room or it shall hurt in resale.... Now doyou really need a media room