We’ve been house shopping. We live in a lovely rental in a beautiful neighborhood. We were in escrow on the home across the street when we discovered it had several un-permitted additions and there was no way to bring everything up to par legally while closing within 45 day as planned.
We had to cancel the contract and we moved on to another home down the street. $11k less and larger, but I just couldn’t love it. I was going to go along with it, as hubby really wanted it. Then we found out another home across the street would be coming up for sale soon and our agent got their agent to show it. It was $55k *more* than the second house and was absolutely gorgeous, but to me it didn’t flow.
I ended up spending a couple days and some sleepness nights crunching numbers and I realized that just because we could qualify for $345k, this does not mean we *should* spend that much. Or even $300k, which was the asking price on the first two homes.
Hubby was very opposed to lowering our budget at first–he really had his heart set on buying our “forever home” or “dream home” right now. My thinking has been, since we haven’t owned a home in 8 years and that last one was a disaster that nearly bankrupted us, that we should basically consider that we’re starting over and be looking at homes more in a “starter home” price range. Which in my mind would be no more than around $200k unless the home was *really* special. And I would define *really special* as having five or more bedrooms, a huge yard and great location.
Yesterday, we found *the* house. It’s a bit of a fixer. It needs a bit of work on the drywall in places, paint throughout and eventually new carpet and flooring everywhere but the kitchen and entryway. It also has a lot of nice upgrades and custom features that make it unique. It’s dirt cheap and has five bedrooms AND a loft with two built-in desks. And the best part? It’s the same model we lived in for almost two years back before we rented our current home, but instead of being east of Ironwood in San Tan Valley, it’s right here in Queen Creek in The Villages (and I love The Villages for it’s parks, pools, greenbelts, etc.). We *loved* the layout of that home, which was slightly different because it has an extended garage instead of bedroom five, which we REALLY need so none of the kids have to share bedrooms.
We’re getting our offer in and hoping that it works out…it’s perfect and a much wiser financial decision long-term. We’d also be purchasing it for quite a bit under market value, so it wouldn’t be long before we could get our FHA-required PMI removed, which would save another $230/mo. It’s a total win-win so far!
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