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1. How much can you comfortably afford? You need to cover mortgage (house price) + taxes + insurance + utilities.
2. Does this leave you with the ability to save/spend $200-$300 month on repairing/improving features? If you bought a house for $215K will you have $10K available to make a major change to the bathroom?
3. How many houses have you looked at in this area? I noticed many for sale. Is this house that special? What features in a house are most important to you (and, your husband, if he gets to vote)?
4. Is this neighborhood a "good" one for you? Is it stable, appreciating or declining? How is this street/block?
It's the only one in the area we can afford that doesn't need to be fixed up. We gave a much lower offer 180K (and won't go over 200K). Since there aren't any other offers, who knows how much they will counter offer. Maybe they will laugh in our faces. Maybe they will accept it. I've tried to buy a house a few times throughout the years and never found one. It's a nice area. Just the older part of it. Very close to the police station and village hall.
It's a nice area but the older part of it so this house is small 3 bedroom. Living room is 15x13. No dining room. Hardly any counter space. One small bathroom. Does have a fenced in yard though. Nice with hardwood floors. The thing that worries me the most is one bathroom. That being said, I really want to own. I'm 40 and never have. It's just my husband and I and 2 dogs. Is it better to find a big house for less and commute for an hour or 2 in traffic. Or live small in a higher priced area and have a shorter commute? I get up at 5 as it is to exercise for 30 minutes. I don't want to spend more time in the car.
Time to play my not-really-famous DNP game!
Distance. Niceness. Price.
You can only have two positives and you must sacrifice the remaining bullet.
If nice and at relatively low cost it'll be a long commute (sacrificing distance).
If close to major employment centers and low price it'll be in less than desirable areas (sacrificing Niceness and Safety)
If close to employment and Nice/Safe it'll cost you a lot (sacrificing price).
Everyone must weigh these considerations when buying, and it applies in virtually every metro area. Everyone has to pick a poison, the question becomes about which one and for what reasons.
What's so awful about it - looks perfectly functional to me for two people and two dogs. It looks as though there's room out back for expansion if you ever decide you want more space and you can always check the zoning to see if that's a future option. Looks like a nice little well-kept home which would well suit your needs.
Two people still need to use it. Look more closely, and realistically. The space over the dishwasher will be dirty dishes landing zone. If you were disciplined you could have an in-sink drying rack and load dishwasher each time you hand wash things, then put the rack there while you wash. You can't really put a coffee machine there because the microwave is so low over it. But even if you put a coffee machine there you can't chop there with low microwave. Then you have about a foot between sink and oven. And that is where you have to do all your cooking, usage of toaster, kettle, coffee machine, chopping, kneading, landing zone for stove, etc, etc. One foot wide. It just doesn't work, even for one person.
This is a home staging trick which lots of people fall for. They clear the counters off so you don't have any points of reference. Before you go house hunting you need to sketch out how you use a kitchen, then transpose that to the kitchen you're looking at. for example, our family uses two feet for coffee making, at least a foot beside the stove for landing and dirty or drying dishes fill the area above dishwasher and next to sink up to the next natural barrier. (we constantly generate dirties, so even a not full enough to run dishwasher might not have enough space to fit dishes from a meal). I need three feet for food prep (preferably not where dishes will encroach upon it. I stun and amaze real estate agents when I measure off kitchen bench space. It's apparently difficult for people to remember they have a toaster and coffee machine and drying rack once they leave their own kitchen.
The other kitchen trap is making sure there's space for both glasses/plates and for food items. I've lived in a rental where I had to use the cupboard over the fridge as my pantry.
Last edited by WildColonialGirl; 05-02-2015 at 11:11 AM..
I think it looks very nice although I do have concerns about the kitchen too. The listing says 3 bedrooms plus an office - was the dining room converted into one of those? If yes, would it be realistic to use it as a dining room now? Then you could put a nice island in the kitchen for additional counterspace and cabinets, and you could eat in there when it's the two of you, but have a place for a table when you want to sit there or are having company.
And yes, an additional bath is nice, but I don't think it should be a dealbreaker for a couple, you can certainly do ok with one and it looks like it's in pretty good shape.
OP! I've got the simple,perfect way to fix the kitchen!!!!!
That cupboard housing the washer and dryer goes. You get undercounter washer and undercounter dryer (just checked, very normal pricing on these at Lowes, not expensive like counter depth fridges are), put counter and wall cabinets all along that wall. If the water heater is in there, convert to a small instant hot model and put on that wall inside a cupboard (can vent to outside easily there).
You gain 70+ inches of counter space and don't lose any storage.
Emm, you're exactly right, the dining room is now an office (although only 6 feet wide?)
Master Bedroom: Wood Laminate, 15X12, Main Level
Bedroom 2: Wood Laminate, 12X10, Main Level
Bedroom 3: Wood Laminate, 10X10, Main Level
Office: 12X6, Main Level
Living Room: 15X13, Main Level
Kitchen: 15X12, Main Level
If you can make that office or one of the bedrooms into a dining room then there would be no worries putting a peninsula in where the table is now. That gets even more space, both counter and storage, and some stools mean it's a sitting place too.
The house has been updated beautifully and it shows as nicely as a professional staging. Good lighting, attractive flooring, neutral decor, neat and spacious yard, etc. I don't see anything obvious that looks like deferred maintenance. I don't get exactly what's going on in the back. The listing says attached garage. Are those small buildings in the back storage? They are far more attractive than most garden sheds I see. The kitchen looks tight mainly because of the lack of counter space. I would think that could be remedied by a good space planner.
Are there things you want to do regularly that you can't do in this house? (Play ping pong? Give dance parties? Have a 102" TV?) You even have room for a home office or den since there are two of you and three bedrooms. There is plenty of room in the back for adding on and you'd still have room for the dog and outdoor entertaining. Personally, I've never liked spending time in the basements of any of my houses, so I wouldn't miss not having one.
Seems like a lot of pluses to me: Short commute time; no major updating needed; ease of regular maintenance; attractive, safe neighborhood. If you would hate sharing a bath and if you like to cook elaborate meals, those would be downsides.
Have bids been made on the house already? Is the owner unwilling to negotiate a lower price? I have to say, after listening to all the complaints my relatives have about real estate in Chicagoland, the price seems low to me.
Either you can imagine living in it, or you can't. If you can, make a bid. The owner can always turn you down.
It's a nice area but the older part of it so this house is small 3 bedroom. Living room is 15x13. No dining room. Hardly any counter space. One small bathroom. Does have a fenced in yard though. Nice with hardwood floors. The thing that worries me the most is one bathroom. That being said, I really want to own. I'm 40 and never have. It's just my husband and I and 2 dogs. Is it better to find a big house for less and commute for an hour or 2 in traffic. Or live small in a higher priced area and have a shorter commute? I get up at 5 as it is to exercise for 30 minutes. I don't want to spend more time in the car.
I love older homes and older neighborhoods. Three bedrooms seem like more than enough. Fenced year? Great for your dogs.
Hardwood floors? Another plus.
Shorter commute? Priceless.
What is the layout of the house? Are all bedrooms upstairs? Or is one down? If the small bedroom is down stairs could you use that as dining space?
I haven't seen this house, but I have a feeling that it has possibilities. Could you post pictures?
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