Best areas for under $90,000? (Houston, Friendswood: fit in, apartments, insurance)

[PatStein]

Hello Everyone,

I am looking for advice as a First Time HomeBuyer. Me and my fiancée are looking to purchase our first home. We have a pre-approval of 90K.

We don't need perfect so 90K is fine for us right now as we don't mind a bit of a fixer upper.

What would be a good area to look into? Price, Crime, and Community wise. I work in Downtown Houston, and I don't mind a commute if its under a hour or 1.5 hours.

Any advice?

Thanks

[texas7]

90k isn't going to get you a decent home in a decent area. What it will get you will be an apartment style condo. Are you interested in those? Go to har and search for condos/town homes with a max price of 90k and see what you can find. Be sure to check the maintenance fees and make sure they are of an amount that you can fit into your budget. Some are reasonable and some have crazy high fees.

[Meyerland]

Maybe around Tomball or Jersey Village you could find something in your price range. Possibly Friendswood or even Kingwood area. It will definitely be older and a fixer upper.

You will need to hunt around on har.com to find hidden gems and then get a good realtor. You might try some of the apartments that were converted to condos closer in to the loop. It will most likely be a one bedroom, but there are some out there.

[DSL_PWR]

Try city park

[fnh]

No, you won't find anything in that price range in Jersey Village.

Acres Homes isn't a bad bet if you don't mind a transitioning area.

[Dopo]

I think...
the only way you are going to find something decent, is one of those areas where most of the houses are around 200k and they have a couple of very cheap neighborhoods.
Otherwise, is just going to be a place where you don't want to live.

[gwarnecke]

$90k would probably get you into a smaller condo in a decently nice area not far from DT. Speaking as the owner of one - attached townhomes/condos tend to be poor investments in Houston though (at least compared with freestanding homes). Would you be open to saving for a few more years, so that you could start with a bigger down payment?

[Memorialite]

Alief?
Check on greatschools.com if the local schools are acceptable to you.

[PatStein]

Hello Everyone.

We don't mind fixer uppers, as never of us have come from any place of money. Both of us are from the country and out parents never had the best of houses/etc. So its something we are pretty used too.

We will look into the locations suggested thus far.

Thanks

[txdemo]

Not to be cynical but pre-approval for $90k doesn't mean you can actually afford to buy a $90k home depending on your current obligations. I could qualify for a home 2 to 3 times the value of my current home. But I wouldn't feel comfortable buying at my upper limit. I would see how much I could realistically afford to pay for mortgage, home insurance, property tax, utilities, home maintenance and emergencies for the next 30 years.

A rough estimate for mortgage, home insurance, property tax and PMI on a $90k house would be $950.

Good luck to you!