If You Had to Choose: Perfect Home or Perfect Yard/Neighborhood?

[davebarnes]

Buy new in a gentrifying neighborhood.
Find one with some amenities that is still down (but will come up).

 

[Doribe]

Buy new in a gentrifying neighborhood.
Find one with some amenities that is still down (but will come up).

That would be hard to do around here. A new or gutted house in a gentrifying area would be 1M+. A more affordable house will come with a lot of work.

No easy answers to this.

 

[Scuba]

The cardinal rule of real estate is location, location, location. For me, much more important than the home. A home can be improved/changed over time. Location can’t unless you move.

 

[Huston55]

We just went through this, retiring and relocating to my DW's home town. DW limited our search to two high school areas for our youngest, who starts high school in the fall. Limited our options. We ended up with a great house, nothing like we would have pictured with a very pretty, but fairly unusable yard (we are on a steep incline with deep woods out the back of our house). Great neighborhood and we really like the house. One of the pluses of the yard is I gave away my mower, just not needed.

The beautiful Shenandoah Valley!*

Brings back lots of memories.


*Cultural region

 

[hesperus]

We live in a fantastic neighborhood, in the historic district of Durango. Homes are all from late 19th century, renovated and with mature trees along a wonderful boulevard. In todays market, one can rarely find a home under $1M along here. A minute or two walk to downtown. The neighborhood is everything to us.

 

[haha]

etc. I'm not a fan of the open concept.

What is this?

 

[Aerides]

A lot of newer homes (see this a lot in S. Fla) have a very open floor plan of great room, dining, kitchen, with no real walls in between. Usually vaulted ceilings, and some half walls on the kitchen, or maybe just a bar kitchen counter to semi divide the space.

But either way, you end up with about 1000 square foot, pretty much anything not a bed/bath, being all technically one big space.

 

[RunningBum]

What is this?

I think he is referring to an open concept home, where you have a kitchen, dining room (or at least an eating area), and living room (or family room), all open to each other rather than walls in between making them distinctly separate.

 

[Midpack]

What is this?

If a picture is worth a thousand words.

A traditional floorplan has a formal living room, formal dining room and kitchen - all distinct, separate rooms with walls separating them. Very few homes are built with a traditional floorplan except very high end homes where lots of rooms are typical.

An open concept has no formal living or dining room, but it has the kitchen, dining or breakfast area and living family room all in one large space without walls between them. Most homes under $500K these days are open concept.

 

[foxfirev5]

I guess by now you realize that only you can decide what you want. Your primary residence is your number one lifestyle choice. It doesn't have that much to do with net worth and appreciation. Best wishes.

 

[kgtest]

I think he is referring to an open concept home, where you have a kitchen, dining room (or at least an eating area), and living room (or family room), all open to each other rather than walls in between making them distinctly separate.

Like an A frame with no interior walls? That is like the original open concept. As for neighborhood vs house, the trade-offs will always be there. We aimed for as much of a balance of both. Privacy, newer home, at the expense of a poorly positioned home next to rail, but with added bonus of deeded lake access within a blocks walk with the reduced property taxes from actually living ON the lake.



My wife would move in an instant, I like the place. Its on my list to move to fulfill her happiness a bit more.



Full disclosure we looked at over 100 homes before deciding on the past two home purchases each (200 homes in three years), and we still aren't 100% satisfied.
I did buy the realtor a new sedan with the commission check though, so I didn't feel bad about that volume.

 

[kgtest]

I guess mine is not open, only my breakfast nook/porch, kitchen and family are opened together with a formal dining room and maybe a "formal" family area seperated.



Complicated.



Although I think it was advertised as "open floor plan" on the listing. I digress.

 

[HI Bill]

Good neighborhoods, and good neighbors are paramount. My wife bought a condo that looks like it's from the third world on the outside, but is really nice inside. But the neighborhood is the problem. 1 block from a fire station (sirens at all hours of the day and night), we are in the flight path of military helicopters that like to fly around 10:30 PM, AND we are right across the street from a 24-hour laundrymat and Pizza Hut. These attract all sorts of interesting folks...many of which decide that 2:30AM is a great time to start a fight and start yelling at each other. Overall, the decision as to where to buy has impacted my wife's health adversely (sleep problems). Me, not so much. I'm kind of used to it. That said, any house or condo, if it has 'good bones', can be easily remodeled. But you can't boot your neighbors or neighborhood.

 

[haha]

Thanks to all who replied to explain open plan to me. I realize that my one bedroom is also this open plan. This is a very good thing.Otherwise i would feel like I was living in a box. I have never had to have a studio. And I kind of wish that I had paid up for a two bedroom when I bought my condo. Though I do have a long couch for overnight guests, I forgot that we would all be getting older, and less easily satisfied by floor or couch.

I had a house when I had children at home, but once that was over i realized that no more SFH for me. I remember how depressed I would get when I visited some divorced or separated friend, living in some giant suburban house with a TV, a treadmill and a makeshift liquor cabinet.

ha

 

[rayinpenn]

Just some random thoughts...

I loved my first home, it was a small cape cod with little more then a driveway width separating the homes. The kitchen was too small for a table - we had a breakfast bar. The dining room barely accommodated the hutch and table we bought. The den/nursery barely fit the tv and the love seat. We redid everything and it was cheap to heat and air condition.

My goal for the next house is to downsize and get rid of stuff... keep it simple and with lots of light. Oh and no dining room i want another eat in kitchen. Somewhere less congested.

 

[rayinpenn]

Oh and as if I need to say it one level living...

 

[imoldernu]

Please forgive this long reply, but this has been our choice, that i've shared in bits and pieces, before. Bought here since 2004, @ age 68.

A short video of the interior of a home just like ours.
https://simplythefinest.net/villas.php I don't expect anyone to move here... not likely to be able to buy anyway, as most homes don't even get to a realtor when residents move to the estates. This is the type of all inclusive CCRC that is growing very popular.

We did the snowbird thing between 1989 and 2014 between Florida and Illinois.
We still have our place on the lake in Woodhaven,25 miles away... but it's becoming a little more than I can handle, and don't expect to be going there as often, as we age. (first pic)

Second pic is our street in LV. and the third is our house 2 days ago.

When it's time, we'll move into the apartments part of our CCRC.

The LV Estates... Two buffet style meals per day Weekly housekeeping Safety features and a secure environment All utilities paid, except telephone Satellite or cable TV (depending on location) Internet Building and grounds maintenance Trash removal Use of all common areas Choice of recreational, social, and educational events Scheduled transportation on the facility van or bus Modern kitchen Individual heating and cooling units Plush wall-to-wall carpeting Smoke alarms and a complete sprinkler system Large bathrooms with special safety features Spacious closets Blinds Pre-wired for telephone Covered parking (depending on location) Beauty salon and barber shop Elegant dining room Warm, comfortable furnished common areas Personal laundry areas in convenient locations.

Less than 4 minutes from Walmart, Target et al., and 3 minutes from the best hospital in 50 miles.... and 1 minute from our favorite .. Aldi's.
Two minutes from Hy-Vee.. (like Wholefoods). Jeanie goes there for the special sales.. too big for me.

...and about the neighbors... our social life circles about the Estates... the equivalent of what used to be the "clubhouse" in Florida or Woodhaven. I miss having kids riding their bikes and playing ball in the street, but that's the only downside.

Not everyones' choice but it has worked for us.

Updated our finances and found that last year's total cost of living was a little more than 37K. Affordable for us.

 

[hesperus]

The thing about choosing for a neighborhood rather than home is that financially speaking, a great neighborhood can float a crappy home's value pretty well. A great home in a crappy neighborhood will usually be sunk near as much.

 

[RunningBum]

OP wasn't talking about a crappy neighborhood. Just a neighborhood that did not meet their desires like the other one did. I have a guess of which two areas the OP is referring to since I know the area I assume they are still looking at, and I think the less optimal one for them might be pretty ideal for growing families and people who work in the big technology park or want quick access to the airport.

 

[harley]

OP wasn't talking about a crappy neighborhood. Just a neighborhood that did not meet their desires like the other one did. I have a guess of which two areas the OP is referring to since I know the area I assume they are still looking at, and I think the less optimal one for them might be pretty ideal for growing families and people who work in the big technology park or want quick access to the airport.

I agree, and I think that's what is missed in this discussion. It's not great home crappy neighborhood, or vice versa. It's perfect home or perfect neighborhood. Obviously it's a personal choice. I'd still go with the home. I can't imagine anything less fun than buying a home and having to remodel to get what I could have gotten in the first place. Especially since you'd be buying for the same price, then having to remodel for additional expense. Of course, I don't mind driving to the store. Where we live in the summer it's 15-30 minutes to anything, except the beach. No big deal. For me.

 

[kcowan]

I notice the cost of DIY seems to have skyrocketed in the last couple of years. Has anyone else noticed that?

 

[brett]

duplicate

 

[brett]

Yes. Our first home $25'd us to death. The second $50 'd us to death. The third $100'd us to death. The last one we completely renovated for top to bottom, then got transferred a few months later.

No renos required in the new lock and leave pile. But I have been in to Home Depot. Prices are up substantially. So is labor.

I suspect that we are in for another round of price increases and inflation. The recent economic numbers are pointing to this. Not good.

 

[W2R]

I notice the cost of DIY seems to have skyrocketed in the last couple of years. Has anyone else noticed that?

Nope! The reason is that I don't DIY. I have a terrific handyman, who knows terrific tradesmen of all types (plumbers, carpenters, electricians, roofers, you name it). So if something needs to be done, I call him and he coordinates everything. He is a nice person and gets me decent prices, and what I like best is that he always does everything perfectly. A couple of times I have thought the prices were high, until I looked into it; he really doesn't overcharge me for anything.

Also, I love my home just as it is, so I have no intentions of doing further renovations any time soon. I haven't needed his help for a year and a half.

 

[RobbieB]

The only reason DIY is costing me more these days is I buy better materials.

Like that security screen door. I could have bought one for $250 but I got the $800 model instead because it looks nicer.