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Thank you for the clarification. So where are you looking now? What price range?
I'm going to Tyler this weekend. My price range is up to $270k....but I'm looking mainly at the $240k price point, so I can have money to fix it up. One of the houses I'm going to look at is about $200k in Tyler, though. Tyler has the broadest range of prices for houses that may suit me, while still being in acceptable neighborhoods.
I have worked short term with two realtors, but when they saw I wouldn't buy right away, they drifted away,
Fact: It is unreasonable on your part to expect Realtors to want to work with you, when you are not anywhere near ready to buy. They don't have time to waste on you, when they are looking to work with someone where they can have a payday within a reasonable amount of time.
You say that homes in your price range, are only available in bad parts of town as you more or less say.
The thing is, you may have to do away with some of your requirements, or increase the price you are willing to pay for a home in a safe area of town. Go to Find Real Estate, Homes for Sale, Apartments & Houses for Rent - realtor.com®, and narrow it down to searches for homes in the price range you want to pay so it only shows you homes in the price range you want to/can afford to pay. This will allow you to find every home that is available in your price range, and you may find you need to adjust your requirements to what the market has available in the areas you would be comfortable living in.
Also, if you notice, that's not in a "neighborhood." It's on a dead-end street out in nowhere, not even other dead-end streets nearby.
You notice how the owners of that house haven't planted anything in the yard? Just a few shrubs in the front that were probably planted by the builder. I find that odd. Why would anyone buy 3/4 of an acre and not plant a single tree...for shade, for beauty, for wildlife? I just find that odd. Doesn't have anything to do with buying the house or not. I just find that peculiar. I see it a lot in that area. I figure they don't plan on living there long, so there's no point.
Those houses are in developments which many people call neighborhoods today. A cul-de-sac isn't considered a dead end street really. And if you live in the turn around, you can always walk out of it. I live in a very old area and no one who lives on this street ever walks or bike rides ever goes south on our street. Every single person - ourselves included - always go north for some odd reason.
Many people don't plant shrubs or do anything with their yard and they are perfectly happy with it like that. A lot of people don't like the initial expense or upkeep. And if they don't have an irrigation system that planned for those plantings, it can be a pain to change it. Many folks just don't care. Lots of them work all day and don't see their yards often. Many folks would prefer sitting in their air conditioned house watching some reality show or playing a game on their phone than sitting outside in the heat, humidity, and baking sun.
When we built our dream home in SC, it took us over 2 years to do our landscaping. Why? We wanted the inside all finished out the way we wanted it - paint, change some fixtures, different furniture. We didn't spend much time outside so we didn't see the need to spend that money right away. When did we do the landscaping? The week before we moved out and the house went on the market! We never got to look at it except in the realtor photos and then most of it over winer even though they were plants rated for the area.
Please keep this thread updated! I am curious to see if you find what you're looking for in a different town. We had that happen when we relocated. We were dead set on 2 towns. Neither one had anything at all that fit our needs and wants. When you have 3 dogs, there's a lot that you can't negotiate on! And when you work from home, there are certain things like high speed internet and a quiet neighborhood that one needs.
We had a week to find a house. Found one a few days in. Did the home inspection. It would have cost more to fix it that we were paying for it! Um yeah no thanks. We only had a few days left and were finding absolutely nothing. There was a lot on the market, but it didn't fit our needs. We had a loooooong talk one night and decided to expand and look 45 minutes west at a couple of other towns. That was the trick! We found a house we love. A neighborhood we love. And it's the most desirable street to live on in both the town and city (the border is a few blocks away). Houses on this street sell quickly and for a decent amount of money. We had no idea about that when we decided it was the one for us! We originally moved here planning on being here for 3-5 years until we could find a place in one of those original 2 towns we had our heart set on living in. Now, we have absolutely no desire to move. Instead we are starting to work on an addition so we can grow old in this house. We're adding the things we really wanted but sacrificed. Somethings just end up not being a huge priority when you plan on moving again....like that dream kitchen. Now it will be MY dream kitchen and not someone else's.
Those houses say they're in Lake Charles, but they aren't. 70611 is an unincorporated area north and outside of Lake Charles. You have to travel miles and over bridges to get to Lake Charles. Also almost no houses with gas (read that: cheap housing...it costs extra for the builders to run gas lines). I decided against that area (Moss Bluff). I'll be getting old in the house...I may not be able to drive miles and over bridges to go to the dr. It also floods a lot up there. I want to live IN a city. Not in rural outlying areas...
I'm not familiar with the area - so I'll take your word for most of this. When it comes to gas lines - I think they're more common in some parts of the country than others. They aren't common anywhere in Florida - even in very high end communities. Not sure why. Could be a matter of local buyer preference/taste. Or perhaps there's an issue with hurricanes and gas line leaks. In any event - recent plans for more natural gas lines in Florida are being blocked by environmentalists:
You notice how the owners of that house haven't planted anything in the yard? Just a few shrubs in the front that were probably planted by the builder. I find that odd. Why would anyone buy 3/4 of an acre and not plant a single tree...for shade, for beauty, for wildlife? I just find that odd. Doesn't have anything to do with buying the house or not. I just find that peculiar. I see it a lot in that area. I figure they don't plan on living there long, so there's no point...
I didn't find it odd. And several reasons popped into my head. That people wanted to use their yards for dogs and children to run around/play (I saw a fair number of play sets). That there might be septic tanks in the yards. That people couldn't afford landscaping installation/maintenance (it can be expensive). And - most important - that younger people today aren't much into gardening (who has the time? - I didn't when I was young and working):
It took me two years to find the right house. We lost to another buyer. It took me another two years to find another house that met our needs. Looked at plenty of houses. When it's your money there is no such thing as too paticular. Any agent who tries to hurry you up, dump them.
I agree with this. I looked at over 300 houses before buying my last one. 50 houses in the agent fired me, with a letter saying to figure out what I could compromise on, within my budget or increase my budget.
I found exactly what I wanted, within my budget with a new agent. Now the agent that fired me, send me advertisements all the time to consider her when I want to sell. Nope. She only wants easy deals. I will stick with agents that are not afraid to work.
While we perused many homes online, we had physically looked at only two before we made our decision and purchased the second one. There were three or four "musts" and everything else was negotiable for the right house.
So glad to read that you have not given up. I think a lot of your "wish list" solely depends on neighborhood. Once you have located the neighborhood in which you want to live, then really all you have is the following. (I removed and replaced with [edit] those requirements that I think are neighborhood related, and those things that were not presented as absolute deal breakers):
Quote:
Originally Posted by bpollen
1. Spacious yard (with grass...not half covered with patio or whatever)
[edit] 2. Attractive architecture in some way (from contemp to cottage to whatever) 3. At least 2 baths (2 1/2 if 2-story)
[edit]
[edit] 4. Good floor plan that flows and makes sense
Back yard at least mainly fenced (doesn't count IMO because if the price was low enough to cover it, you could have it fenced yourself). 5. Garage (as opposed to carport)
[edit]
[edit]
[edit]
[edit]
I don't think that your list, when presented like this, looks at all demanding. Like all of us, you have an idea of what kind of house you want, and described that in some of the parts that I edited out. Still, you are open to looking at houses that may be a little different than what you had in mind, as long as they meet the above requirements.
Keep looking! When I looked for my first house after my divorce, I dragged my poor real estate man to over two dozen homes before I finally bought one. The one I finally bought did not have my second most important requirement - - a garage - - but it was inexpensive and five minutes from work. It was a great house, and I loved living there for 13 years. Since it was inexpensive and I got a couple of substantial promotions and also several cash awards at work, I managed to pay it off in four years. With no mortgage, my nest egg for retirement grew much faster. The bliss of a five minute commute was simply indescribable, especially since many of my co-workers were commuting for a half hour or more each way. Still, I wanted that garage the whole time, especially when hail storms were predicted, and the small lot had no room for even a carport.
I am retired now so last summer I found and bought my "dream house", which is farther from my former workplace. THIS one has a garage.
Fact: It is unreasonable on your part to expect Realtors to want to work with you, when you are not anywhere near ready to buy. They don't have time to waste on you, when they are looking to work with someone where they can have a payday within a reasonable amount of time.
You say that homes in your price range, are only available in bad parts of town as you more or less say.
The thing is, you may have to do away with some of your requirements, or increase the price you are willing to pay for a home in a safe area of town. Go to Find Real Estate, Homes for Sale, Apartments & Houses for Rent - realtor.com®, and narrow it down to searches for homes in the price range you want to pay so it only shows you homes in the price range you want to/can afford to pay. This will allow you to find every home that is available in your price range, and you may find you need to adjust your requirements to what the market has available in the areas you would be comfortable living in.
I would never use just one site. I use several. HAR.com and Redfin are the sites for Humble/Kingwood/Atascocita. There's another one that is best for Tyler. Zillow & realtor.com are sites to use for Lake Charles...and as an addition for all three areas.
I am ready to buy. I have the cash sitting an account and have confirmed the procedure with the bank to verify funds when I do an offer.
Not sure your tone is very friendly. I OF COURSE have been looking online on ALL the sites for well over a year. I also go to appraisal sites and measure the lots for all properties that seem even close to what I want.
There is low inventory, apparently, right now.
(I did use a Redfin agent to view homes in Kingwood & Atascocita. She sure crammed in a lot of viewings in a short period of time. She was wonderful!)
Please keep this thread updated! I am curious to see if you find what you're looking for in a different town. We had that happen when we relocated. We were dead set on 2 towns. Neither one had anything at all that fit our needs and wants. When you have 3 dogs, there's a lot that you can't negotiate on! And when you work from home, there are certain things like high speed internet and a quiet neighborhood that one needs.
We had a week to find a house. Found one a few days in. Did the home inspection. It would have cost more to fix it that we were paying for it! Um yeah no thanks. We only had a few days left and were finding absolutely nothing. There was a lot on the market, but it didn't fit our needs. We had a loooooong talk one night and decided to expand and look 45 minutes west at a couple of other towns. That was the trick! We found a house we love. A neighborhood we love. And it's the most desirable street to live on in both the town and city (the border is a few blocks away). Houses on this street sell quickly and for a decent amount of money. We had no idea about that when we decided it was the one for us! We originally moved here planning on being here for 3-5 years until we could find a place in one of those original 2 towns we had our heart set on living in. Now, we have absolutely no desire to move. Instead we are starting to work on an addition so we can grow old in this house. We're adding the things we really wanted but sacrificed. Somethings just end up not being a huge priority when you plan on moving again....like that dream kitchen. Now it will be MY dream kitchen and not someone else's.
Good luck looking at Tyler!
This gives me hope. So glad you found the right house. I keep thinking that all I need is ONE house, so maybe it'll just pop up or I'll just find it. I HAVE changed some things from my "must haves" to be on my "want" list. In other words, I prioritized and am keeping it to a minimum the things I absolutely must have in order to be happy there. The other things would make me happiER, but not absolutely necessary.
These houses just suddenly came on the market (except one that's been available, but I didn't want to travel there to see just one house). Three are in the same general area that I like. How often does THAT happen? I feel lucky. Hope it works out.
My Dad is still pushing for me to stay closer, so that adds to the stress. Tyler is half a day away, though. And very pretty. (People keep telling me...are you prepared for how conservative Tyler is? I tell them that, well, I'm from a small city in Louisiana, so.....)
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I live in a very old area and no one who lives on this street ever walks or bike rides ever goes south on our street. Every single person - ourselves included - always go north for some odd reason. 
