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How did you arrive at your decision to buy the house you're in right now?
How did you take into account such things like: affordability, crime, location (central location, suburbs, rural), schools, shopping, commute to work, proximity to family/friends, and general people in the neighborhood. What kind of priorities were first/trade-offs did you make? Did you or do you regret your decision?
I'm at a point in my life where I'm weighing on all these decisions as well and some insight would be appreciated, thanks!
Take your price and open up a MLS listing map of your area and filter by price and type of homes you're interested in (single family, condo etc)
This will tell you what you can get for the money you want to spend.
Then from there start looking at amenities of the homes. Big things first like Age, SQ/FT, bedrooms, baths etc. This will filter out the bulk and leave you with some left.
Then depending on what is left will tell you how realistic you can be with your expectations.
If you have no homes left you have caviar taste and a pizza budget.
If you have 100 homes to choose from you can be picky and select your super preferred areas or amenities. Hey living in X area costs 20k more but it is worth it or why the hell am I going to pay 20k more to live 2 streets over? I really want a pool or I really want a new house etc.
Play with it and then once you figure out what you want get on the phone and go look at some properties with an agent.
We had been in a home in a Chicago suburb for 10 years and both my husband and I grew up in Illinois. We made the decision to leave based on Illinois high COL and are high property taxes. We moved to NW Indiana so my husband could still commute to Illinois for his job. The town we picked has the lowest crime rating in NW Indiana. It also has excellent schools and a close community feel. Our property taxes are also capped at 1% of our homes assessed value. We are very happy we chose to move here and wished we had done it sooner!
I had a pretty open mind going into the home search this time around. My first house was a foreclosure and I had to do a lot of work, so nothing really scared me. I know most things can be changed.
My one and only absolute requirement was city water. (Even some subdivisions have well water around here.)
Location-wise, I had strict boundaries, but it included several towns and townships. I've lived in this area my whole life, minus a few years, so I knew where I wanted to be. I really wanted to be in my hometown. Inventory was (still is) very, very low. I got tired of waiting, so I bought in the next town over. I did end up buying about 1/4 mile past my 'strict' boundary, but it was the right house. My boundaries were mostly chosen to keep me within 30ish minutes of my family and not make my already long commute even longer. Then I took out the areas I wouldn't live in and considered everything that was left. Had I not been bound to my commute, there are a couple of other towns I would have strongly considered.
Crime wasn't a direct consideration because the towns I was considering all had low crime.
Shopping was also not a consideration. I can find almost any store within a 30 minute drive, most within 15 minutes. The few I can't find are high end and are 45-60 minutes, depending on traffic.
My whole family lives in the area, so that wasn't an issue, either.
I knew my commute would suck- it already did. I was at 55 minutes in my apartment. I'm now at 65 minutes from my house.
I like my house. I still miss my hometown even though I am barely outside of it. I'm about 2.5 miles from the border of my hometown. Homes are cheaper here, so I have a way nicer house than I would have gotten in my hometown. My house would be nearly double there. (Schools are not as good here. They used to be good, now they are mediocre at best. I don't regret my purchase and I'm content for now. I will eventually end up back in my hometown.
Take your price and open up a MLS listing map of your area and filter by price and type of homes you're interested in (single family, condo etc)
This will tell you what you can get for the money you want to spend.
Then from there start looking at amenities of the homes. Big things first like Age, SQ/FT, bedrooms, baths etc. This will filter out the bulk and leave you with some left.
Then depending on what is left will tell you how realistic you can be with your expectations.
If you have no homes left you have caviar taste and a pizza budget.
If you have 100 homes to choose from you can be picky and select your super preferred areas or amenities. Hey living in X area costs 20k more but it is worth it or why the hell am I going to pay 20k more to live 2 streets over? I really want a pool or I really want a new house etc.
Play with it and then once you figure out what you want get on the phone and go look at some properties with an agent.
I have a high income and near 0 debt for a single earner, the budget generally won't prevent me from getting what I want, as I am a pretty reasonable person (not looking to get a McMansion). The debate is more about location more than anything.
Generally I have 3 options:
Option 1: Smaller house/older (900-1300 sq ft), close to the city, short commute to work (<25mins), not the safest/nicest neighborhood, not the best schools, super affordable
Option 2: Older house but good size (1500-2000 sq ft), close to the city, short commute to work, safer but not the safest, nicer neighborhood, ok schools, lots of amenities, buzzing nightlife, pricey real estate my income will probably only get a 1500 sq ft place in this area without going house poor.
Option 3: Newer house, far from the city (30 miles from city core), long commute to work (45mins-1hr each way/50 mi), safest suburb, nice neighborhood, great schools/amenities, affordable.
I personally have lived in the neighborhoods of option 1/3, but not 2, as I'm trying to save money. I personally like 3 since it's obviously a nicer neighborhood. It just has a killer commute.
We had been in a home in a Chicago suburb for 10 years and both my husband and I grew up in Illinois. We made the decision to leave based on Illinois high COL and are high property taxes. We moved to NW Indiana so my husband could still commute to Illinois for his job. The town we picked has the lowest crime rating in NW Indiana. It also has excellent schools and a close community feel. Our property taxes are also capped at 1% of our homes assessed value. We are very happy we chose to move here and wished we had done it sooner!
How is your husband handling the commute? That's kind of the dilemma I'm having also.
We moved to 'the beachside condos' in 2002 for the location, view and convenience. By default, upscale condos are invariably located in good, low crime, gang-free neighborhoods with access to shopping and other amenities -- Problem solved!
(The cost is not much higher than SFH's and sometimes less; the size, resale and appreciation are comparable and the privacy, noise levels and maintenance-free living are excellent!)
I believe in living as close to work as possible since commuting to work is almost an everyday thing. I also live in a ski resort community, a 30 minute drive in the summer can be an hour+ in the winter. We bought a place a couple years ago and paid double what friends did that live 30 minutes from us but it's also appreciating faster than theirs and we are 10 minutes from work. We bought within our budget and it was a smaller and older house than we have had before but the location is great so it works for our lifestyle
Crime isn't really an issue here but else where a safe neighborhood has been paramount in deciding where to live.
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