Getting Ready
3 weeks ago
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Torn
Well, we looked at four houses yesterday. One was way too small and we immediately ruled it out. 2 were nice, but the bedrooms were too small. For now, we still want to keep the 3 boys together and we couldn't do that in those. The last one was pretty good. It has a great kitchen, amazing bedrooms, the master closet could be another room. It has a second floor laundry room and a little bit of woods in the back yard. It met all of Bens criteria and almost all of ours. The house is only 2 years old. They built it and are now relocating for a job. The basement isn't finished, but its in really good shape and would be easy to finish. It doesn't have a deck or patio so we would want to do something out there, but Jon is a pro now so he's not too concerned about that. The things that are really holding us back are first: the location. Its in Olmsted Twp. Yesterday was the second time I've been there, ever. The first time was a month ago to look at another house. I don't know the area at all and there doesn't seem to be anything around there. We'll have to do more exploring, but it looks like 98% residential and the other 2 % are gas stations, an IGA and a couple crappy restaurants. Not my ideal location. Second, the taxes are $3,000 more than we pay now and they have a HOA fee. That would add a decent chunk to the mortgage. The third thing is a little silly, but still important. The outside of the house is not the most attractive thing I've ever seen. Its not hideous, but it has 3 different things going on. It has some brick and 2 different kinds of siding. Its just odd. We love the inside of the house, the problems is everything else. That is the only house on the market right now worth considering. So do we go for a house that has just about everything we wanted and more, but has a few setbacks in other ways or do we wait for a better location with less taxes and hope it has everything this one has? Oh, another way they are trying to sweeten the deal--they have an FHA loan which can be transferred. They are willing to just let us take over their mortgage at their 3% fixed interest rate. Jon has amazing credit and he couldn't get 3%!
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2 comments:
Congrats on your home sale! That one house has some steep property taxes. I thought Lakewood was expensive! Maybe if you keep the big picture in mind (what are your long term plans? do you see yourself still in this house 10,15,20 yrs down the road? will it be easy to sell when the time comes to sell it? etc) it may help direct in your decision making. For example, if we were to buy, we are willing to compromise being outside of the city if the view is right, but otherwise, we'd rather stay in-city and close to local neighborhood shops, restaurants, etc. If that means taking a 3 bedroom, then I'd rather do that than be so far away from stuff even if it meant getting a bigger house. Of course, Aaron would be happy if we moved to one of the islands where we can't even see our neighbors...but I'm kind of a city girl at heart and I don't see myself lasting very long living the country life. It's good that you're looking at plenty of homes...keep your options open. Keep us posted!
For keeping the boys together, have you considered possibly
letting them have the master bedroom, which is usually bigger?
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