advice on buying a home

[PaDisney02]

Hi! My husband and I currently rent an apartment. We would like to purchase a home. We have 2 kids. We love the area we live in now and especially love the school district (one of the best in the area).

Here is our dilema....the only homes we can afford in our area are townhomes and twins (singles in our area are very large, expensive, new homes). The townhouses and twins in our area are nice homes, but we always pictured ourselves in a single.

I have found many nice single (ideal) homes for the price we can afford but they are located in the city about 20mins from us and the school district isnt very good.

What would you do?....is it worth it to live in a smaller twin/townhouse in a great school district vs living in a larger more ideal single home located in a "not so good" school district? Buying a home is a major move and I want to LOVE the house I buy but the school district is is equally as important....right?? Thanks!

 

[Buckeye Princess]

We will be moving to a new city this spring so I too am beginning house hunting. For us schools trump all else. Although we would not have a problem sending our kids to private school if needed, we much prefer to save that money and send them to a good public school then use that money instead for other types of enriching activities. One thing to consider is how long you plan to stay in the home. We know we may have to move again in 6 years so the saleability of home is important. I'd rather live in a home that was slightly less than perfect for me if I know that I can sell it easier than my personal perfect home. What I like isn't necessarily what others like and priorities. If a school is a good school and is likely a good school, than that can be a huge source of security in that if you ever needed to sell, it could be easier.

However one word of caution, schools can change. When I grew up, the school I went to was the best in the area. People would move from a relative distance and parents would suffer hour commutes to go to this school. It was still good when I graduated but was beginning to hint at sign of decline. Now I am 28, so only one decade later, and you couldn't pay me to send my children there if we ended up moving to that city. It has become one of the worst schools in just a 10 year period. Scary that your kids could start elementary school in a great district and it could turn out that way before they are even finished with high school.

 

[mtemm]

our first home was a townhouse and it was the best thing we ever did! we loved it, it worked well for us. granted, the market was very different when we bought it (9 years ago) and we moved to a single family home the following year (dh got transferred out of state).

I would personally rather have a town house in a great area with a great school district than a single family in a not so great area/bad school district.

 

[dakcp2001]

You would be better off getting the better school and smaller home UNLESS you can afford to buy the single home and send your kids to private school. Good schools are invaluable, and will helpo your property values in the future as well!

When shopping for a townhome make sure you get all the details of the association fees or HOA dues BEFORE you go to look at it. My realtor had a bad habit of forgetting to mention them unless we asked and some were outrageous.

I would also be clear on how they go up & how often they are raised.

 

[PaDisney02]

Thanks for all the tips! The twin we are interested in is listed at a great price and actually qualifies for a special program that offers no money down! It has so many pluses (nice yard, good schools, finished basement, nice kitchen, dirt cheap, etc.) the only negitive I can think of is that its a twin not a single.

Like I said...we always pictured ourselves in a single but I have found that the twins/townshouses in my area are the same sqft as the singles in the city. You are all right, school district is more important....I guess the reason why the singles in the city are so cheap is because of the bad school district. It just stinks though having to settle....but then again it is only our first home, we wont be there forever.

Thanks!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Schools are most important when you have kids. 4 1/2 more yrs here and we are DONE. It goes by fast.

 

[minkydog]

our first home was a townhouse and it was the best thing we ever did! we loved it, it worked well for us. granted, the market was very different when we bought it (9 years ago) and we moved to a single family home the following year (dh got transferred out of state).

I would personally rather have a town house in a great area with a great school district than a single family in a not so great area/bad school district.

Me too. Our first home was a townhouse and it was a great fit for us. We had never been homeowners before, so it was a pretty steep learning curb ("what do you mean, the toilet stopped up?") No landscaping, no mowing or watering. Our townhouse had 1500sq ft with 3BR and 2BA. We had one child at the time and it was plenty large for us. If we had waited to buy a "real" house, it would have been at least 10 years, maybe more, to save up the down payment. We're in our 3rd single family home and frankly, I can't wait to downsize. I am so not into renovations and yard work.

 

[Desnik]

Schools are the most important. Go with the twin, sounds like you really like it!

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

Our first home was a twin, it's all I qualified for. We planned on 5 years and stayed 8. Unless the market really really tanks you should at least build your equity and not just give your money to someone else. We lucked out because our market grew and when we sold in June we took this huge lump sum to put on our new detached home.
Also remember if you're in a really good area with a starter home there really should be no issues selling later on. We found with ours not too many people had done the work we had done and in our price range our house sold in 3 weeks. Apparently the new bathroom with the soaker tub was a selling feature.
Now for the new house we looked everywhere within a one hour radius of work and settled where we are because of the kids ans schooling.

 

[Hannathy]

you are also coming from an apartment to a townhouse so you are used to having someone beside you or over/under you, this helps a lot with moving into a townhouse. It is a lot harder to move into a twin if you have been living in a single for years and years.

I would go with the house you can afford the best and meets your needs and that sounds like the townhouse.

 

[tvguy]

Well, you can have the best of both worlds.
If you spend time participating inyour kids education to bring it up to the level of the good school district, you can have the house and well educated kids.
I guess it depends on the part of the country, but selling a Townhouse can be much much more difficult than a home here, okay, I'll say it, darn near impossible. My nephew bought a Townhouse in a college town, took him 5 years to sell it because people only want to rent Townhouses there, not buy them.

 

[shelemm]

My answer is.... that you will love whichever one you choose.

Sometimes schools that are not so great have programs for the better students. You might want to check that out.

We live in a really great school district - people definitely pay a premium in these houses - but my son chooses to go to a magnet program in a different neighborhood. No way is the school as good in general, but he really loves his new school.

 

[barkley]

find out if the districts are willing/able to do transfers. you might be able to have the home/school district both.

we live in a school district that we love, but a number of other families in our neighborhood want their kids to go to another (bigger and offers more in the way of the extracurriculars their kids are into). all they had to do was get the other district's permission on a form that they provided to our assigned district (we don't even live in the city where these kids attend).

parents just take the kids to the bus stop that's within the other district's route that's closest to our home.

 

[arminnie]

Location, location, location ......
Took me a long time to figure this out. And I sure lost a lot of money on 6-7 homes before I finally learned that you can fix almost anything inside, but you can never change the environment. That may not matter if you don't need to sell and your family tends to be more inwardly focused.

Years ago I bought a beautiful, large new home on the outskirts of the city at the same time my best friend bought a tiny, little dump (really) in the middle of everything in the city. When the economy tanked my house value was cut in half and hers tripled. She sold easily while I could go months at a time with not one showing no matter how low the price went. Mine finally sold for about 45% of the purchase price after 4 years.

 

[HelenePA]

trust me when I say you do NOT want to live in sucky school district.. I live in a townhome and have no problems with it.. its what I grew up in too.. we wanted a single but they were double the price of the house we bought for the same sqft and yard. My neighbor just sold her home It was on the market for less than a month. We still haven't met the new neighbors. My kids are praying they have kids!

 

[bethy]

You want good schools. Your kids are going to be spending a large portion of their childhood within the walls of those schools. One question I would ask is make sure you know what "good schools" means to you - what's important. We live in an academically outstanding school district. But we've found that there is a downside to us - the kids and parents are also extremely competitive here.

So that brings me to the next thing you should think about: what sort of community do you want for your kids? Culture can really vary from town to town and neighborhood to neighborhood. Do a lot of drive by's and drive thru's in the neighborhoods you are looking at to see if you like the culture and the people there. Those will be the people your child grows up with. Check out any community newsletters and websites. Use networking to uncover the real facts about each area.

GL!

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I agree with everyone else here when they say that the location & the schools are what is most important, especially for resale. I would like to offer a little more advice that I have learned over the years. You may already know about these things, but it may still help.

1) Do a 15 year mortgage if you can. This would be so worth it.

2) Have the home inspected. (so many people don't)

3) Buy, or ask the seller to provide, a one year warranty on the house. I think they run about $500.00. This can be done on used homes, and it would have saved us a bunch of money on the house that we live in, and we had the house inspected. I was told that we should buy the warranty, but I was trying to save money.

4) To make things easier, have your property taxes & Ins included in your mortgage payment to be paid through escrow. It's easier than scrapping up that money when it's due. IMO

These are all things that I didn't think to much about when I was younger.

Happy house hunting!!

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Long term, your child's education is the most important. Heck, if they're super successful maybe they'll buy you that house down the road.

 

[kacaju]

4) To make things easier, have your property taxes & Ins included in your mortgage payment to be paid through escrow. It's easier than scrapping up that money when it's due.

If you plan and save, you will not *scrapping* up the money when it is due.
When we refied 7 years ago to a 15 year mortgage we could not excrow the taxes and Insurance. At first I didn't like it, but now I prefer it this way.

 

[disneydreamersx4]

Hi! My husband and I currently rent an apartment. We would like to purchase a home. We have 2 kids. We love the area we live in now and especially love the school district (one of the best in the area).

Here is our dilema....the only homes we can afford in our area are townhomes and twins (singles in our area are very large, expensive, new homes). The townhouses and twins in our area are nice homes, but we always pictured ourselves in a single.

I have found many nice single (ideal) homes for the price we can afford but they are located in the city about 20mins from us and the school district isnt very good.

What would you do?....is it worth it to live in a smaller twin/townhouse in a great school district vs living in a larger more ideal single home located in a "not so good" school district? Buying a home is a major move and I want to LOVE the house I buy but the school district is is equally as important....right?? Thanks!

We had the same problem, we could only afford a townhome and it is a blessing that we did buy it! It was move in condition, whereas the single homes needed work in our budget. My kids found lots of kids to play with in the neighborhood and they don't have to cross a street to play with them. DH loves the fact that he doesn't have to spend tons of time on yard maintenance and we still have a little yard space but it had a deck. We have lots more room here in the townhome than we would have had in some singles, we have 3 floors (4 counting the attic that we don't use) We have 2 pools, tennis courts and a clubhouse. The clubhouse has been a lifesaver for parties many times! Our taxes are much less than a single. The best part is the school system is one of the best in the State! The only downside I find with the townhome is we only have one assigned parking space. Good luck in your search.