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The neighborhoods are built by the same national builder Pulte.
Neighborhood #1 is established , over 1000 homes, has 3 pools, 3 neighborhood parks, walking trails, preserved wooded areas/wetlands, access to creek that runs to the river (Kayak), playgrounds for kids
is 9 miles from downtown, walk ability from the neighborhood is poor, no nearby stores/businesses within walking distance, located right off U.S. Hwy, 30 minutes to the beach, selling last few houses of established neighborhood
Neighborhood #2 is a new, being developed neighborhood about 6 months out to opening (no houses are built yet) , will have about 700 homes, is about 7 miles to downtown, and 15-20 minutes to the beach, will have at least 1 pool with wading area for kids, playgrounds, parks, walking trails, and a pavilion for events, wetlands and walking trails through wooded areas, walkability - you can walk from this neighborhood to restaurants, grocery store, and pharmacy
My situation is I am moving to a smaller house (currrent 2500 sq ft. , 3 story), because I am separated, I have two small kids, and I want a smaller house and to leave the tough memories.
I frequent the beach, and downtown area of my city. I want to move to neighborhood with amenities for my kids and myself. The housing market seems to be at a high peak, so buying now is buying high, I don't know what the future holds if I buy in 6 months.... I will have a good amount of equity in my home when I do sell it to use as a down payment of 20%.
Neighborhood #1 or #2?
Last edited by Serenity2019; 09-28-2016 at 02:47 PM..
If you're committed to going forward with a Pulte home, I'd choose neighborhood #1. However, having owned a brand-new Pulte-built house, I'd pass on ever owning one again. Crappy workmanship for sure.
Neither. I'd find a neighborhood that is exactly what I want, right now. Neither of those neighborhoods sounds like they are presently the kind of neighborhood I'd want.
#1 doesn't have many nearby businesses, which is a deal killer for me.
#2 isn't even completely built yet so I'd be dealing with construction noise and trucks and so on forever, and who knows what it would be like when it is done. There is no guarantee. In your case, your kids may be grown and gone before those playgrounds and pools are put in.
#1 is already built and has the amenities. It can take YEARS for a development to be far enough along BEFORe any of the amenities are built. When we built our house in SC, there were 4 lots left. There are 197 houses. It took almost 10 years to build and sell all of them. The economy crashed right in the middle of development so it dragged on. The builder admitted they had originally expect to be completed at least 2 full years before they were. Who wants to listen to construction noise every single day for a decade? OMG! Not me! When they were putting the roof on our house, I heard it 3 blocks away at my cousin's house. I was mortified!
There's ZERO guarantee that a house will be worth anything in 6 months. You have kids now who need a home now. You want/need the amenities now. What good will things for children be in 10 years? Depending on the ages of your children now, they may never use those amenities because they'll be off to college before they're built.
Also just because the plans call for something today does not mean that it will actually be built. Remember the crash in 2008? Plenty of developments in NC and SC we stuck were they were and the builders left. People were royally screwed over. If it's not there when you buy it, I never assume it will happen later. If it does, great, but I don't count on it.
If it were me, I would go with #1. Sounds like you need a place to live sooner than later.
#1, jaymtea said it all:
>> #1 is a given. #2 is a promise. <<
AND take the max you can from the proceeds of your current house and make that the down payment.
DO NOT "pull out some equity" so you can decorate, landscape, travel, whatever. Do not reduce the real estate equity you already have. (Understanding that closing costs, transfer taxes, etc. will eat away at some of that.)
Sorry you have to make this decision, but hope it all works out for you.
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