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Found a very tempting house in 76112, Woodhaven Country Club, of course is a lot of house for the money, but at the cost of desirable location, which I can deal with because I don't have children and if I do, they will go to pvt school anyways.
Area surrounding neighborhood is high crime and about the worst ranked schools imaginable.
Above all, my concern is being able to resell the home later without losing money. I don't care about making money, just don't wanna lose. Life happens, and if I need to sell I want to be able to do so within a reasonable time frame (<3 months) and w/o a loss.
I just don't know how to approach making an offer, or if I should just walk away from it. Any guidance would be helpful.
I wouldn't do it. We bought a house years ago, nicest house in the area. When it was time to sell we took a huge hit and lost tens of thousands of dollars.
The only way I would think about it is if you are looking at an up and coming neighborhood.
Have you ever heard the expression "location, location, location"? It's not just a clever cliche, it's the essence of property value. Here's another...Q: Who lives in bad locations? A: People who have no choice.
Some areas undergo renaissance-level revitalization and property values go up as a result. If you know this is going to happen or have good inside info that it might, maybe it's a good risk. Without that knowledge, it's far more likely that it's a really bad risk. Sometimes, even a bad risk can payoff. You need to decide if you are up for that kind of risk and for the bad times that might/will affect you in the meantime.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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It's a gamble. If the area continues to be bad, or gets worse, you could lose a lot of money when trying to sell. On the other hand, if it's near nice areas and those prices become less affordable, yours could start to gentrify and you can come out ahead. No way to predict, unfortunately.
How long do you plan to stay there? Less than 10 years, tread carefully.
The surrounding neighborhood: Is it on the downslide (i.e., was nice, but has been sliding downhill (lots of renters, etc.), or has it always been a rough neighborhood? Are you seeing signs of revitalization? (other than this house :-)
There's a reason this house is a "deal". Unless there's some serious neighborhood revitalization in the works, I'd probably steer clear.
How long do you plan to stay there? Less than 10 years, tread carefully.
The surrounding neighborhood: Is it on the downslide (i.e., was nice, but has been sliding downhill (lots of renters, etc.), or has it always been a rough neighborhood? Are you seeing signs of revitalization? (other than this house :-)
There's a reason this house is a "deal". Unless there's some serious neighborhood revitalization in the works, I'd probably steer clear.
The only sign of revitalization is a very large $25M charter school built essentially next to the subdivision.
If your main concern is selling, don't do it. If you're looking for a place to stay for awhile and realize this is the only way to get that nice of a house, probably not a bad idea.
I'd prefer buying a bad home (with good bones of course) in a nice neighborhood. Easier to doll up a home than a neighborhood. Exception for a bad neighborhood moving in the direction of being good but that's nice easy to predict when the gentrification will take place and for how long it'll last.
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