Bye bye San Francisco, hello (again) Alabama...
The decision has been made. After great five years on the west coast, we will permanently re-establish our primary residence in Alabama starting in 2017, for retirement. I will use this thread to keep interested parties updated, to brainstorm, and ask for advice.
We already own a home in AL. We lived in that home for 8 years, then rented it out for a while when we moved to the Bay Area, then put it up for sale 10 months ago when the tenants moved out. We have had no offers on it as the local market is saturated with new constructions (the city expected a population boom that never really materialized) and we cannot compete with brand new houses ("too much updating needs to be done on the house" is what we keep hearing from prospective buyers).
Our house is a 2,500 sqft, 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath house built in the late 70s. It is in good shape. But:
- it has lots of stairs (not a problem now, but could be later)
- the floor plan is pretty fragmented as is typical in older homes (smaller, darker rooms)
- the windows are facing either SE or NW, so not a lot of natural light (trees and hills on the SE side compound the problem).
- the interior is not horrible but it needs to be freshened up (new flooring, new kitchen/baths, new paint job)
The location is pretty good however:
- the property backs up to a beautifully wooded preserve (it is very quiet).
- Technically a suburban area but it is still close to all the important stuff.
- It is within walking/biking distance to a new shopping district with cafes, restaurants, shops, movie theaters, pharmacies, my doctor's office, etc...).
- The non-HOA neighborhood is older (~40 years old), but generally well maintained and still growing (with some new constructions being added recently)
- best school district in the city (not that it matters to us because we have no kids).
We are thinking about 3 possible plans:
Plan 1: Easy. Keep the house on the market, keep lowering the price (we've already cut the price by 25%) until we sell it, and buy a smaller, already updated house in the same general area (a one story, 1,500 sqft house would fit our needs).
Pros: we could move directly into the new house and be done.
Cons: finding a 1,500 sqft house in this area is going to be tough (most houses are 2,000+ sqft). Also this part of town was developed in the 1970s, and finding a house that has been already renovated, let alone to our taste, is going to be tricky. Plenty of new constructions in the outer suburbs but these suburbs are of no interest to us. And we would lose direct access to the natural preserve out back.
Plan 2: gut the existing house. Open up the floorplan a bit, especially in the living areas, upgrade the plumbing, electric, insulation as needed, cut the trees around the house to bring in more light, replace the windows, install new kitchen/bathrooms, install new flooring, repaint the interior to maximize the natural lighting.
Pros: Freshly updated house.
Cons: Some problems will remain, like the many stairs, the windows facing SE/NW (with fewer trees to block the light, but the hill remains), and the fact that the house is way too big for our needs by a factor of almost 2.
Plan 3: drastic. bulldoze the existing house and build a new, 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom 1,500 sqft, single story house. Choose an open floor plan, with windows facing S/SW/W for more natural sunlight, and of course new everything to suit our tastes. Make it energy efficient and low maintenance. Make it accessible for people with limited mobility (for our old age).
Pros: easier to maintain, lower property tax, utility, insurance, upkeep bills in the future. Fewer stairs, more natural light. A "forever" house potentially.
Cons: building a house is not for the faint of heart, I hear. And the higher upfront cost of course.
I like a good project so plan 3 is of particular interest to me (I have started drawing plans
). DW is on board as long as I deal with the contractors. Of course, it is also the costlier plan too.
What do you think?
The decision has been made. After great five years on the west coast, we will permanently re-establish our primary residence in Alabama starting in 2017, for retirement. I will use this thread to keep interested parties updated, to brainstorm, and ask for advice.
We already own a home in AL. We lived in that home for 8 years, then rented it out for a while when we moved to the Bay Area, then put it up for sale 10 months ago when the tenants moved out. We have had no offers on it as the local market is saturated with new constructions (the city expected a population boom that never really materialized) and we cannot compete with brand new houses ("too much updating needs to be done on the house" is what we keep hearing from prospective buyers).
Our house is a 2,500 sqft, 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath house built in the late 70s. It is in good shape. But:
- it has lots of stairs (not a problem now, but could be later)
- the floor plan is pretty fragmented as is typical in older homes (smaller, darker rooms)
- the windows are facing either SE or NW, so not a lot of natural light (trees and hills on the SE side compound the problem).
- the interior is not horrible but it needs to be freshened up (new flooring, new kitchen/baths, new paint job)
The location is pretty good however:
- the property backs up to a beautifully wooded preserve (it is very quiet).
- Technically a suburban area but it is still close to all the important stuff.
- It is within walking/biking distance to a new shopping district with cafes, restaurants, shops, movie theaters, pharmacies, my doctor's office, etc...).
- The non-HOA neighborhood is older (~40 years old), but generally well maintained and still growing (with some new constructions being added recently)
- best school district in the city (not that it matters to us because we have no kids).
We are thinking about 3 possible plans:
Plan 1: Easy. Keep the house on the market, keep lowering the price (we've already cut the price by 25%) until we sell it, and buy a smaller, already updated house in the same general area (a one story, 1,500 sqft house would fit our needs).
Pros: we could move directly into the new house and be done.
Cons: finding a 1,500 sqft house in this area is going to be tough (most houses are 2,000+ sqft). Also this part of town was developed in the 1970s, and finding a house that has been already renovated, let alone to our taste, is going to be tricky. Plenty of new constructions in the outer suburbs but these suburbs are of no interest to us. And we would lose direct access to the natural preserve out back.
Plan 2: gut the existing house. Open up the floorplan a bit, especially in the living areas, upgrade the plumbing, electric, insulation as needed, cut the trees around the house to bring in more light, replace the windows, install new kitchen/bathrooms, install new flooring, repaint the interior to maximize the natural lighting.
Pros: Freshly updated house.
Cons: Some problems will remain, like the many stairs, the windows facing SE/NW (with fewer trees to block the light, but the hill remains), and the fact that the house is way too big for our needs by a factor of almost 2.
Plan 3: drastic. bulldoze the existing house and build a new, 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom 1,500 sqft, single story house. Choose an open floor plan, with windows facing S/SW/W for more natural sunlight, and of course new everything to suit our tastes. Make it energy efficient and low maintenance. Make it accessible for people with limited mobility (for our old age).
Pros: easier to maintain, lower property tax, utility, insurance, upkeep bills in the future. Fewer stairs, more natural light. A "forever" house potentially.
Cons: building a house is not for the faint of heart, I hear. And the higher upfront cost of course.
I like a good project so plan 3 is of particular interest to me (I have started drawing plans
). DW is on board as long as I deal with the contractors. Of course, it is also the costlier plan too. What do you think?
