Long time no Post.....I have been spending all my computer time looking at real estate!!!
We are now officially looking for a home in San Antonio! We got our realtor the other day and I think he may be thinking twice about what he got himself into. You see...we have known for a few months about our move and have been searching homes online for quite sometime, so there are about 10-12 listings we have saved in our favorites folder. And we keep finding more. I am constantly sending him new homes to check out for us.
The market there seems pretty good right now. A friend of mine moved during the summer and said the houses were selling like "hot cakes" but now it has seemed to slow down a bit. So, MAYBE we will get lucky and one that's on our list....
There is one in particular that has been our favorite from the start! Everything about it seems perfect. That is how I even titled it in my favorites folder : "Perfect". (Of course this is going off of only pictures we have seen online). Beautiful kitchen, Wood Floors, Nice Backyard, Very well maintained. But...we aren't too sure about the rest of the neighborhood. The neighborhood was built in 1980's so the homes are a bit older (which is really not that big a deal). Our realtor has said that some of the homes in the neighborhood have been very well maintained and others have not. I am sure that could be true for almost any neighborhood. The price is unbelievable for a house that "looks" like one we would love. Especially considering that our second favorite jumps in price by $70K!!!!! So, we have to decide what would be the smartest decision and what are we willing to take a chance on. Because....
We also have to think about resale! We know we aren't going to be there forever. What if...we bought our #1 choice. We know we will be able to break even (at least we hope) and we will have a house we enjoy. Or we will luck out and all the more expensive houses will be so expensive that our older neighborhood looks more pleasing to buyers (in 3 years).
Then there is the option of going with choice #2. This one will more than likely go up in price, but the questions are "how much" and "will it be enough difference in the long run to choose #2 over #1?"
#1 is right in the middle of Joel's drive to work and our school of choice for the kids. Has a fenced in back yard which will be nice for Timber (who I miss terribly) and to let the kids go play alone in the back yard. And it has huge oak trees with nice shade.
#2 is very close to Joel's work and very close to another school of choice for the kids. The lot is a very large size with smaller trees.The yard is 3/4 fenced in and has a detached garage. Very nice appeal until I have to chase Timber (or Claire) around the neighbor's yard. Of course we could put up some type of fence, but your talking more money. It is also close to friends we have in SA.
Now, I want to put in a contract for a house before we leave here so that Joel can help us move in before he leaves for GA for training. Otherwise, I may be moving in alone with three kids in January!!!! Also, if we go that route we may be able to get Timber (our dog)! Otherwise, we won't be able to see him until April. AND we will be able to travel with a lot less from here to there. Otherwise, Joel has to tote all his "TDY to GA" stuff around. Joel isn't against the idea of putting an offer in soon, but I don't think he is as for it as I am. So much to think about...
There are TONS of other houses out there in San Antonio and I don't know why this is such a big deal. There are so many "What ifs" and unknowns. Whatever decision we make (even if it is with a totally different house) we won't know if we made a good decision until it's time to move again!