House Hunting...need Quick Advice (North Richland Hills, Flower Mound: new home, neighborhood, buyer)

[calgirlinnc]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

What I've gathered from this thread is lack of nice housing options in Southlake, Coppell, Flower Mound, Colleyville or Keller for <$500k. I see three solutions for this dilemma.

Why other buyers aren't tripping over each other to pick this no brainer with newer/nicer/cheaper housing? It can't be that I'm the only smart buyer in the town and rest of the market is dumb.

What would you do?

No one ever said this or even implied this, especially not me.

Maybe it's that DFW is huge and people new to the area don't have as much time as they would like to check everything out. So maybe they ask here trying to get helpful information. Instead, what we get are snide comments and insults.

I still haven't had anyone tell me what is "wrong" with these areas other than they aren't FM, Colleyville, etc.

[Stevehanrahan41]

Originally Posted by calgirlinnc

No one ever said this or even implied this, especially not me.

Maybe it's that DFW is huge and people new to the area don't have as much time as they would like to check everything out. So maybe they ask here trying to get helpful information. Instead, what we get are snide comments and insults.

I still haven't had anyone tell me what is "wrong" with these areas other than they aren't FM, Colleyville, etc.

I don't live in any of the aforementioned areas OP, but what's I can tell you is this board is skewed towards only the best. And if you're not looking in, or buying in the best, you must not be on their level. So take it with a grain of salt when "this place isn't good enough" etc..

Good luck in your search, hard to believe $490k isn't getting you in something. Also it's a crazy time of year for real estate.

[TexanByMarriage]

Fun thread, I feel your concern. We're not looking to buy in DFW for another couple of years, but from reading here I am not looking forward to it!

If you have done your research and landed on one or two areas you'd prefer, then I'd stick it out and rent if need be. Only you know your family's timeline and how long you can wait, but if renting is an option for 6 months or so it does seem to be the better option for you. Visiting every little nook of DFW and asking for opinions here is tiring - there's happy and sad people everywhere, and you might just end up cherry-picking comments that align with your own assumptions anyways

[WorldKlas]

Nothing wrong with NRH. Just further out, borders less desirable areas on the west side, and also Richland Hills (neighbor, not NRH) is quite blue collar. And the schools are fine, a notch below GCISD but the Keller schools are not rated poorly by any standard.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

You may end up with a highway, cement plant or grocery store near you anyways, zoning on unoccupied land is never guaranteed.

This should be burned into the brain of everyone looking to build in outlying areas. A former coworker of mine that I keep in touch with has just sold her house because she didn't like what was built behind it 2 years after she moved in.

Originally Posted by calgirlinnc

I agree with this, which is why we bid on it. But when it is the tippy-top of your budget, it is worrisome to have the 18 year old HVAC units, which I believe is considered near the life term?

Our AC is about that old and it's humming along. I've had to have work done on it pretty regularly but it's all been covered by the home warranty. The warranty doesn't cover freon but you usually don't need tons of it anyway. If an AC guy tells you he needs to drain out all of your freon, get a second opinion.

We don't plan on replacing our AC until it's unfixable.

[calgirlinnc]

Originally Posted by Stevehanrahan41

I don't live in any of the aforementioned areas OP, but what's I can tell you is this board is skewed towards only the best. And if you're not looking in, or buying in the best, you must not be on their level. So take it with a grain of salt when "this place isn't good enough" etc..

Good luck in your search, hard to believe $490k isn't getting you in something. Also it's a crazy time of year for real estate.

Thanks for the comment.

I wonder if eventually some "less desirable" areas will see a renewed interest from buyers, as prices in places like Flower Mound or Colleyville or Grapevine just keep getting more ridiculous. Especially people from out of state might feel like we do and not be hyped to spend half a million for a dirty, out of date house on .19 of an acre with 6 lanes of traffic behind you just because it's in Bridlewood. An influx of new residents and higher incomes might possibly transform some of these other areas.

[AZ_TO_IP]

Originally Posted by calgirlinnc

No one ever said this or even implied this, especially not me.

Maybe it's that DFW is huge and people new to the area don't have as much time as they would like to check everything out. So maybe they ask here trying to get helpful information. Instead, what we get are snide comments and insults.

I still haven't had anyone tell me what is "wrong" with these areas other than they aren't FM, Colleyville, etc.

Sent you a DM

[oldoak2000]

Originally Posted by calgirlinnc

I've been house hunting in Flower Mound. Surprisingly the heat hasn't killed
me yet but the house search might.

We upped our budget to $490,000. That is all we can do while still putting away a large sum for college and into savings and without touching our retirement. And honestly I feel like that should be enough to find a good house that we could be happy in for 10 + years.

We ran into the outbid problem. We bid $10,000 over asking no contingenciea and we got outbid. The house was nice but honestly it wasn't even in that great of condition.

We saw another house we like OK for significantly less but it is a bit too small. Gorgeous backyard though.

So we sem to have these choices:

1) expand our search to schools feeding into Keller HS. (I really do like Flower Mound though)

2) get less than what we were hoping for house wise but stay in Flower Mound

3) Rent an apartment somewhere in FM so we can register for school and see what comes up for sale

4) do nothing and see what else comes on in the market in the next few weeks

Experts...please weigh in

What was the lot size on that property?

[calgirlinnc]

Originally Posted by oldoak2000

What was the lot size on that property?

1/3 of an acre, which is why we loved it. Felt so big compared to 1/4!

[TexanByMarriage]

Originally Posted by calgirlinnc

Thanks for the comment.

I wonder if eventually some "less desirable" areas will see a renewed interest from buyers, as prices in places like Flower Mound or Colleyville or Grapevine just keep getting more ridiculous. Especially people from out of state might feel like we do and not be hyped to spend half a million for a dirty, out of date house on .19 of an acre with 6 lanes of traffic behind you just because it's in Bridlewood. An influx of new residents and higher incomes might possibly transform some of these other areas.

This is certainly true. People from out of town don't have the stigma on certain areas that in many cases don't hold true anymore. I know that from my home town as well, where affluent ppl from out of town move into areas that were traditionally seen as less desirable, but then within few years are turned around.

Challenge is probably to find those areas that are undervalued, as some areas will probably stay crappy and not develop much.