Help me decide between these 3 options (Flower Mound, Coppell: houses, neighbourhood, buyers)

[jacob]

I have 3 options to buy a house

1. A 2000 3200 sqft house with Master BR and Study down, 2 BR and 1 game room upstairs. Nice big backyard but west sun hits the living and master. Living and kitchen are double height. Wallpapers in bathroom There is a formal living which we don't need. Its a Khov or Grand home, not sure.

2. A 2004 3200 sqft house with 4 BR upstairs. Small sloping backyard. Small master BR. Small game room upstairs. Very nice study downstairs. Community looks better than 1 above due to rear entry garages. Kitchen and living are not right in front of each other, and living is not double height. So living doesn't look too spacious. This one costs $30k more than above.

3. A 2004 4000 sqft house with Master down. And 4 BR upstairs. And a study down. Beautiful formal living and formal dining and living - all double height. Good backyard also. Good community also. We really like this house. Only problem is its $80k more than the 1st one. But it still does not have a closed media room, only an open one (This can become a game room or media room, its made like a living room upstairs). And we don't know what we will do with the 4 BR upstairs. One kid room, one guest room, still 2 extra rooms. Plus with toddlers, we feel we will end up having the kids mostly in our Master downstairs in this house.


The other option is to wait for something better to come up in the market.

[GoPadge]

I've got a double height living and foyer, and to be honest, I'd rather have the walls/floors/ceilings for the extra room, noise reduction and better energy efficiency. As it is now, the kids can be heard from anywhere in the house, which is ok for toddlers I guess, but when they get to be screaming teenagers, I'm sure it'll be less fun.

[jacob]

any creative ideas on how to use 3 extra bedrooms ?

[socketz]

Where are these homes located ?

[momof2dfw]

#3. You do NOT want a master bedroom upstairs and if it is on the small side, really bad. As for the open height ceilings, we only have a small balcony that overlooks the entry and it helps. I don't care for the large family rooms open to the gameroom above it, too much noise but this is better than the small master up. Our kiddo's were young when we moved into our first two story house (7 & 3) and it was not a problem. The only one that seems to wander downstairs in the middle of the night is still the eldest.

We have 3 bedrooms upstairs along w/ the gameroom and media room. The kids each have their own bed and bath, the media room and game room are ours. Well, they get the gameroom some but they have to keep it picked up and not allowed to keep toys all strewn over the place there. Their "toy room" is the spare bedroom. We never have overnight guests as all of our family lives here so having a "guest room" is a waste. I much prefer to have this bedroom that is the farthest from view and the smallest as their toy/play room. If it is messy or they get grounded I can close the door. It also helps keep their bedrooms clutter free (well, it is supposed to ) as most of their toys can be kept in the play room. Great for when they set up the Hot Wheels city, Barbies or Little People villages. No stepping on them in the middle of the night going across the game room . So if you are going to have overnight guests you can use one as the guest room and the other spare room as their play room. Or a home gym, craft room, scrapbooking room, etc for you and/or your wife.

As for #1, the windows facing the west are not that big of a deal. Get them tinted w/ the 3M window tint and it will make a HUGE difference. Unless it is a Grand, then no.

[jacob]

Flower Mound - all houses are in the same neighbourhood, same school district, pretty close to each other. The 2nd and 3rd one are by the same builder.

[Guingirl]

Other option...build

[socketz]

Master up kills resale. If you do buy a home with this, then make sure you get it at a 20% discount. Because you will need to sell with the same discount one day.

Main living areas facing west is another no-no in my book; don't forget that it stays 100 degrees plus here in the summer 90% or more of the time - your ac will work its tail off to keep these west facing rooms cool. Not as undesirable as a Master Up, but seasoned buyers will not buy West facing properties (and seasoned realtors will steer you away from them). You really don't want to have to buy solar blankets to hang over your windows if you can avoid it (if I drive by a resale and see them, I don't even bother to go in). I've even spoke to many that feel North-South facing lowers energy bills as well (makes sense).

Media Rooms are typically 'expected' to be part of the house till you reach the 3500+ sq/ft range. Under that, it's ok to have a Media/Game room combo or just a game room.

[jacob]

The problem is I am looking at a 4000 sqft house, and it has a game room but no media room, and it has 5 BRs which I dont really need. Will this be a negative at resale (4000sqft w/o separate game/media rooms).

Should the rate/sqfft for 4000 be much less than 3500 sqft in a neighbourhood where most houses are 3300 sqft ?

My ideal floorplan has 3 BR downstairs (Master, kids, parents) + study downstairs. And media room and game room upstairs.

But I haven't found a single house on the market like that. There are some but then they are facing a noisy road or are too old etc. Now I am not looking all over the metroplex. Only areas I am looking at are Flower Mound and Coppell. And i dont want to build

[Guingirl]

I didn't want to build either because I am living with my Mom and I haven't done that in ohhhhh 20 years with my husband and daughter.

Until I was able to get exactly what I wanted for the price I wanted with upgrades that I thought I couldn't afford, did I say...okay...I'll suck it up because I will be here for a LOOOONNNG time! Waiting 4 months for my dream home (3500 sq ft/4/3/3/ on a half acre with dedicated media room)