silverbullet555
WKR
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2018
- Messages
- 988
Last time I bought a house was the peak of the last market. Yeah me! Now we’re going to buy again at the peak of this market. I’m only a little worried about the housing market coming down hard, but it could happen.
Anyway, running three scenarios and thought I would hear from some that might have experience in the arena.
Our goal is to be on about an acre, on the edge of town, with room for the kids to play. Wife wants neighbors in the vicinity and not too far from town. I want to be in BFE with no neighbors, but I like my wife so we will be close enough to keep her happy. She grew up in Bay Area and I grew up rural so we come from two different backgrounds.
We have 2 kids, lots of stuff, a boat, 3 cars and many hobbies. Storage is often a challenge. Currently, we are in a 2000 sq ft house and have a 10x40ish foot storage unit for the boat and some stuff. The boat takes up 30’ of it. But, we have a lot of stuff.
Option 1: Buy subdivision home in a decent neighborhood, keep the storage unit and deal with subdivision life. Take money that isn’t spent on larger mortgage and save it to buy a piece of land somewhere to perhaps build a cabin one day. We’d be in a house around 2500 sq ft and maybe be a able to build a shed in the back to be a workshop, but not what I envision.
Option 2: 1.3 acre property with 15 year old 2300 sq ft house. Half is sloped and terraced and half is flat. It is on the east side of a hill giving it protection form our normal breezes. In a subdivision but CCR allow for livestock. 2 car garage and oversized 1 car shop (won’t fit the boat without expanding it). Pasture on the property which could be used or could be room for a 1000 ft^2 shop in 5 years or so. In the meantime, the shop would become a workshop for me and storehouse for hunting and outdoor gear.
New septic system with second tank, supposedly to bring it up to current code with 5 bedrooms. At the end of a court on a cul de sac. Really the only house on the cul de sac. Needs exterior paint, interior paint and the shop needs some of the paneling replaced and to have gutters to prevent future water issue. Will need to fence the back yard to make wife feel comfortable with letting the kid run wild back there.
Option 3: 2.25 acre property with 40 year old house that has been impeccably maintained. It is in really good shape. Challenge here is that entire finished basement is one room making it great for an office for me, but useless in it’s current format as a bedroom. Not sure what it would take to split it into 2 rooms and finish them both as bedrooms. Main floor would be pretty small for us and could be tough with 2 kids running around. I would estimate the top floor at 1200 sq ft and bottom floor at 800. The lot is flat so no protection from the breeze, but the entire lot is useable. Currently there are cattle grazing on about 1.5 acres. The garage is really a 1.5 car garage which will present challenges. When we build a shop, it would mitigate this, but that is further out. Current shop could be used for storage in the meantime.
There is a shop on the property, but it is really a wood shop. Can’t drive a car into it and not sure how it would hold up to a really heavy weight being stored in there. I could work on stuff and reload, but heavy work isn’t going to happen. Has an RV awning thing that I think I could buy sides for enclosing it so the boat could go in there. Would need to bury a pipe for the irrigation canal as my wife has a fear of the kids drowning in the canal (it happens from time to time here) and add 200 feet of fencing. The nice thing is the lot can be split in two and a house could be built in the field behind the current house. Not sure we will ever want to embark on that. But, if we did we could rent out the front house or just sell off that property and recoup a bunch of money
Option 2 and 3 are the same price. However, option 3 has lower taxes and no HOA saving about $3000 per year total. Eventually the government will assess option 3 at a higher level.
Neither property is going to allow shooting and neither one has hunting opportunity. The properties are less than 2 miles apart.
I like the house on option 2 and the small neighborhood. I like the protection from the wind and the fact that I would have turn key place to do automotive or shop work. Could put heavy stuff in there and not worry about the floor. We might be able to expand shop back another 5 feet to put boat in. But, it needs some TLC to start and the current owners think their house is worth more than the market is bearing.
I like the space in option 3 and the potential to split the land later though I’m not sure we ever would do that. The outbuildings are really nice and the street it is on has all larger lots. It’s in much better shape, but it is older. Furnace, a/c and carpet are new. Unknown about the roof.
Any thoughts on situation based on experience?
PS - I have to keep my wife happy too.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Anyway, running three scenarios and thought I would hear from some that might have experience in the arena.
Our goal is to be on about an acre, on the edge of town, with room for the kids to play. Wife wants neighbors in the vicinity and not too far from town. I want to be in BFE with no neighbors, but I like my wife so we will be close enough to keep her happy. She grew up in Bay Area and I grew up rural so we come from two different backgrounds.
We have 2 kids, lots of stuff, a boat, 3 cars and many hobbies. Storage is often a challenge. Currently, we are in a 2000 sq ft house and have a 10x40ish foot storage unit for the boat and some stuff. The boat takes up 30’ of it. But, we have a lot of stuff.
Option 1: Buy subdivision home in a decent neighborhood, keep the storage unit and deal with subdivision life. Take money that isn’t spent on larger mortgage and save it to buy a piece of land somewhere to perhaps build a cabin one day. We’d be in a house around 2500 sq ft and maybe be a able to build a shed in the back to be a workshop, but not what I envision.
Option 2: 1.3 acre property with 15 year old 2300 sq ft house. Half is sloped and terraced and half is flat. It is on the east side of a hill giving it protection form our normal breezes. In a subdivision but CCR allow for livestock. 2 car garage and oversized 1 car shop (won’t fit the boat without expanding it). Pasture on the property which could be used or could be room for a 1000 ft^2 shop in 5 years or so. In the meantime, the shop would become a workshop for me and storehouse for hunting and outdoor gear.
New septic system with second tank, supposedly to bring it up to current code with 5 bedrooms. At the end of a court on a cul de sac. Really the only house on the cul de sac. Needs exterior paint, interior paint and the shop needs some of the paneling replaced and to have gutters to prevent future water issue. Will need to fence the back yard to make wife feel comfortable with letting the kid run wild back there.
Option 3: 2.25 acre property with 40 year old house that has been impeccably maintained. It is in really good shape. Challenge here is that entire finished basement is one room making it great for an office for me, but useless in it’s current format as a bedroom. Not sure what it would take to split it into 2 rooms and finish them both as bedrooms. Main floor would be pretty small for us and could be tough with 2 kids running around. I would estimate the top floor at 1200 sq ft and bottom floor at 800. The lot is flat so no protection from the breeze, but the entire lot is useable. Currently there are cattle grazing on about 1.5 acres. The garage is really a 1.5 car garage which will present challenges. When we build a shop, it would mitigate this, but that is further out. Current shop could be used for storage in the meantime.
There is a shop on the property, but it is really a wood shop. Can’t drive a car into it and not sure how it would hold up to a really heavy weight being stored in there. I could work on stuff and reload, but heavy work isn’t going to happen. Has an RV awning thing that I think I could buy sides for enclosing it so the boat could go in there. Would need to bury a pipe for the irrigation canal as my wife has a fear of the kids drowning in the canal (it happens from time to time here) and add 200 feet of fencing. The nice thing is the lot can be split in two and a house could be built in the field behind the current house. Not sure we will ever want to embark on that. But, if we did we could rent out the front house or just sell off that property and recoup a bunch of money
Option 2 and 3 are the same price. However, option 3 has lower taxes and no HOA saving about $3000 per year total. Eventually the government will assess option 3 at a higher level.
Neither property is going to allow shooting and neither one has hunting opportunity. The properties are less than 2 miles apart.
I like the house on option 2 and the small neighborhood. I like the protection from the wind and the fact that I would have turn key place to do automotive or shop work. Could put heavy stuff in there and not worry about the floor. We might be able to expand shop back another 5 feet to put boat in. But, it needs some TLC to start and the current owners think their house is worth more than the market is bearing.
I like the space in option 3 and the potential to split the land later though I’m not sure we ever would do that. The outbuildings are really nice and the street it is on has all larger lots. It’s in much better shape, but it is older. Furnace, a/c and carpet are new. Unknown about the roof.
Any thoughts on situation based on experience?
PS - I have to keep my wife happy too.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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