June 30, 2003
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Well, I was a chatty ol’ hag this weekend, eh? Now it is time for house-buying advice…
Here’s our delimma;
There are 2 houses that we like, sort of….I haven’t looked at them yet, but they both have their downsides…
House #1; On 32 acres, the house is only 2 years old and is built in the manner of an old farmhouse, VERY charming. It does need some serious landscaping, but that is no problem and I’d have a BLAST working with a blank canvas. The rooms are HUGE and it has 2 porches, one on the front and one in back, both BIG Southern Living Porches. The master bedroom is about double what we have now. It is at the top of our price range, The DH doesn’t like that aspect. But the other aspect is this; It’s near railroad tracks. When I did an aerial view of the address I saw that the house sits in the back of the 32 acres (I believe) and that about 1-2 acres away from the house, is a railroad. Granted it’s ONE track and it’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Of course there are a lot of houses surrounding the 32 acres, but hey with 32 acres, that’s pretty damn private. Here are the aerial views; HOUSE and CITY Hopefully, you can get a better idea about what I’m talking about.
House #2; Costs a LOT less than #1, but is a little smaller. Where #1 is one story with 3bdrms, #2 is 2 stories with 4 bdrms. The master and the 2nd bdrm are upstairs then there are 2 bdrms in the basement, along with a large rec room. Now this sounds great. But I sort of have the feeling that I’m not really moving up housewise. From the pictures, the kitchen, family room and dining room are all HUGE, MUCH bigger than what I have now…the bedrooms are what worry me. I’m not overly concerned with the master bedroom…there is no way we’re going to find a master as large as what we have now without paying the price for it. I have come to realize that the people out in the middle of nowhere, think that if they build a new home it’s automatically worth $400K…even on 3 acres. It’s really just frustrating as all hell. So, back to House #2…There are 2 possibilities for screened in porches, one out front then 2 out back. The house does need some minor cosmetic work, like paint and landscaping. There aren’t a ton of trees right next to the house, but there are some about 1-2 acres away (like the railroad track to house #1, only with trees!). Also, this house sits on 18 acres. AND has an above ground pool, complete with fence surrounding it and partial decking. So far this house has the most possibility, but….It isn’t the big, stately, plantation that I had in mind. Also, there is a house somewhat close to this house…not right next door and across the street, and everything like I have now…but still somewhat close. Here’s the Aerial and some other photos..HERE
Maybe I’m just in the suburbia mindset of ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’…I need to get out of that, break free and live my life how I want…and unlike 99% of the Joneses that live around here…I don’t want to be house poor….I can make my house what I want, right?….ok, someone give me some moral support or SOMETHING!!!!
The Mom and I are headed out Weds to look at these two houses. If neither work, then I’m just going to give up for a while…I’ll start back looking in the fall, when all the spring houses that didn’t sell are reduced and maybe I can finally buy a house for what it’s really worth and not some flim-flam’s inflated pricetag.
And hey, just to get an idea of what I’m moving FROM…here’s the view of our current house….HERE
Comments (6)
Well I am not sure what to say…
I know I moved into this house because it was located where I wanted, the school district I wanted and the neighbors are great. I thought I could make the house what I wanted but the truth is I can’t. I wish I had bought a bigger house (four bedrooms as opposed to three). When I buy another house I will make sure that I find the perfect house in the perfect location. I don’t care if it takes ten years of looking. I won’t mind the things like floors and paint but the size and location need to be right.
If it was me in your situation I think I would be leaning towards number 1 even with it being in the top of my price range. To me my house is the most important thing. I can do without the cars and clothes and crap but the place I spend my times needs to make me feel happy.
Blah blah blah….
I guess this was really no help at all.
I agree that you should wait and find the house you want. 36 acres is great, but also a lot, maybe more than you want to keep track of.
If you don’t like your neighbors now, you certainly won’t like a train track. You’ll worry about the kids and animals. You won’t like the noise. Is it definitely an active track?
Why don’t you buy some acreage now and build in a year or so?
I’ve lived maybe half a mile from railroad tracks and found that I very rarely heard them. Maybe there’s some way that you could find out how often they’re used/what kind of a schedule they run on…?
Make your house what you want it to be by GOD! You’re an American, it’s your right…sorry, I was channeling George C. Scott as Patton. Good luck!
-M
Whats the chances of spending the day at the house to get an idea if the track is active? Can’t make a great judgement call on either house just cause theres no shots of #1 house… but it sounds really goood to me… with large acreage just make sure that if trees fall and such that your house isnt’ in the way and you can get out the freaking driveway…hell i dunno where you are located so what i said is probably shit anyway…
lets see… house at top of price limit won’t give you much room to do stuff for awhile so make sure it doesn’t need a tune up… and i dont’ like house number 2 at all …. ziltch nada!