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Your post made me think of my niece, her husband and their five kids, who found a big house (that needs lots of work, but it is livable) just outside of Scranton, PA. They have a huge yard, woods behind them, and the kids really like their schools. Theirs was a foreclosure that they got for $32K.
Anyway, for the heck of it, I did a search on Scranton, so here's another to add to your list. I did 5BR 3BA $200K.
Oh my gosh manderly, No kidding! The front of the house looks kinda sorta normal, and I'm like "How is that 14,000SF?" and then I saw the pic of the back of the house, and even my husband was like, "What kind of house is that? Is that in an actual neighborhood? Was it a school?" LOL...
Tons of potential on this building. CONTRACTORS SPECIAL! Could be five apartments! Previously owned by the university and used for college housing. Could be up to a six unit, but zoned currently as single family.
Wow, your background sounds like the family I grew up in. I'm the second youngest of 7 kids and my dad is a Pastor. He has another job and my mom worked too. 6 of the kids were able to go to college and get degrees. So, it can be done here in Upstate NY.
Hey, I'm wondering if anyone can explain this to me, because I am unfamiliar with it...when a listing says "back up offer", what does that mean? That there is an offer, but they think it will fall through (wouldn't that be contingiency?) Or is it something else?
I got less than 9 total houses available that were 2800+ square feet and less than $225, but at least there are some possibilities.
HOAs are different in each neighborhood, so I wouldn't completely rule them out. We have tons of large families here that drive conversion vans and even one family that drives one of those small church shuttle buses (they are in the process of adopted a sibling set of 7 from Africa and already had 2 of their own.) Most of the large families we know live in HOA neoghborhoods, although on the more expensive side, but I haven't heard of them having a problem with their vehicles. (Clotheslines, etc. would generally not be allowed around here.)
The cost of housing is higher, but taxes are low, and housing here has remained pretty stable through the recession. A recent article said they expected our real estate market to go up faster than most areas because it had remained more stable.
This county is full of transplants from all over the country. My small cul de sac has families from 6 states. Most people standing on those streets don't know that young man or his family. But it shows how much the community pulls together for each other, whether they know you or not.
The county seat has a historic downtown that is gorgeous. They have lots of festivals downtown, and an annual Dicken's Christmas each year that is wonderful. The old houses on the blocks around the square are very expensive, but you could still get a bit of old house fix by going to the square, visiting the antique stores and restaurants in the old houses, and seeing lots of private homes that have been featured in national magazines.
You could also look at Sumner & Wilson counties. Two more great options around Nashville.
The best site for local real estate is realtracs.com
General advantages in TN are no income tax, low property tax, etc. Tennessee has one of the lowest tax burdens in the US- and when you combine that with one of the counties with great schools, you get huge bang for your buck. Texas has lower housing cost, but their property taxes are much, much higher. So keep that in mind when looking at house prices. My sister in TX pays $400-$500 more per month in real estate taxes than we do, and her house is worth half what mine is.
I rarely suggest people move here on the C-D. It seems silly to run around promoting your area to every person that asks where should they move, regardless of critera. But your situation seems like a great fit for this area, so I did want to respond to you. Best of luck with your decision!
Hey, I'm wondering if anyone can explain this to me, because I am unfamiliar with it...when a listing says "back up offer", what does that mean? That there is an offer, but they think it will fall through (wouldn't that be contingiency?) Or is it something else?
Yes, that is right. They will hold your offer in case the first one falls through. It could fall through because the other people's house didn't sell, they didn't get their financing worked out, etc.
It doesn't necessarily mean they think it will fall through though, just that they are accepting other offers in case it did.
We sold our last house during the current recession. It was under contract in one day. The contract was a cash offer, no contingency for the buyer's house to sale. But we still accepted back up offers because we already owned another house and wanted to get our old one sold as soon as possible.
There were no problems with the original contact, and it closed in 3 weeks, right on time.
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