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Dh and I are looking at buying our first house. We have until April until we need shelter, so we're taking our time.
We found a house convenient to where I go to school (a bike ride away), in a nice neighborhood, great neighbors, over half an acre (in a subdivision, fenced), 15 minutes from both of our jobs. The house is gorgeous, but I'm hesitating to jump at it so soon.
There are no repairs that need to be made, but it's just over the county line from much cheaper property taxes. The master bathroom is teensy tiny (smaller than the guest). There are high tension lines in the neighborhood (but not visible from the house).
The house is going for more than 20k less than its worth, in an area with only one other house for sale. Recent sales in the neighborhood have been at a profit from when they were sold in the "boom."
My question is, should we jump on it? If my only real concern is the bathroom and property taxes, but the place is a steal, should I just not be so picky? A house like this for just over $100k is an amazing deal, in a safe, desirable area.
Can you see yourself living there for a while? Have you worked out all the numbers and are you comfortable with the payments including tax and insurance? I think after this if 80% of the house meets your needs, you should go for it (as long as the other 20% is horrendous and it doesn't sound like it is). Chances are if you think this is a good house, someone else will also.
My first house was perfect for me...back then. Looking back on it, it was not perfect at all...but I have fond memories of it.
My thought when buying our first home was that it should leave room for improvement--that our next house would be better than our first. So, for example, our first home had one bathroom. Our next place had two but the shower was downstairs and the master bedroom was upstairs. Now, my house has a master bath right by the bedroom...but it doesn't have a tub. I figure I can look forward to a jacuzzi tub in my next place. :-) Of course, I don't expect others to move around as much as I have. The question you have to ask yourself about the bathroom is, is it good enough for now?
it's just over the county line from much cheaper property taxes.
There are high tension lines in the neighborhood (but not visible from the house).
The house is going for more than 20k less than its worth, in an area with only one other house for sale. Recent sales in the neighborhood have been at a profit from when they were sold in the "boom."
Do the homes, across the county line, have the same services and school district? I live in a sub division where homes are in two counties. The property taxes are as much as 30% higher in one of those counties, yet the schools and services are the same. It matters.
The high tension lines will be a factor at resale time and often the reason why certain neighborhoods do not appreciate as well as those without such fixed defects.
For a first house, buy the cheapest one that you can stand to live in while you work on it to make it a little nicer.
Lets say you buy a 50K house instead of a 100K house.....
If you make the same payment as you would for the $100K house, the 50K house gets paid off in five years instead of 15. If you work hard on that cheap house while you live there, you'll probably build up enough sweat equity to sell it and buy that $100K house outright.
Or you can move into the nice one first, and have to drag yourself into work every day for an extra ten years knowing that you have a mortgage to pay.
I'm a first-time buyer, ready to buy like you are, and I'm still sitting on the fence. Lots of smart folks believe we're leaving a global liquidity crisis, and heading into a massive global recession, so further depreciation is likely. That doesn't mean you shouldn't buy, just that you are right to be careful.
Would you rent the house? If you'd rent it, and you find its price appealing (relative to your other options), then it might be a good buy for you. For me, I will have to make sacrifices, too. Maybe it will be smaller than I want, maybe it will be ugly as sin, maybe it will be in a floodway, maybe it will be built in the 50's. When choosing which sacrifices to make, I try to limit them to things you can change. You can't change high-tension power lines, for example.
I don't understand what you mean by "20k less than it is worth," though. Don't underestimate your personal ability to determine this property's "worth".
Please check further into the high tension lines. Does the power company have the right to expand the existing right of way possibly taking down homes with it? Can they increase the amount of power going through the lines? Some suggest there are health hazards associated with EMF particularly in children. I suggest you proceed with caution until you have every possible question answered in writing.
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