This is the house we are thinking of buying..advice wanted.

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Count me in on the sticker shock. You could have that home in my neighborhood for around $190,000 - $200,000.

As another poster stated Centex makes me a little leary. They built a community in the adjoining town and there were several lawsuits against them for shoddy construction. Things such as decks falling apart after 6 months. Drywall falling off the wall, leaky roofs, etc.... It's not suprising as fast as they built these homes (4-5 months).

Centex builds a good home here. It's Pulte that builds like crud in Houston.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

check out what the same range will get you here:

ETA: sorry, couldn't link it. try http://www.mauiboard.com/find.mv?task=form and type in MLS#: 316690

OMG! I'm cracking up!

 

[Galahad]

Centex builds a good home here. It's Pulte that builds like crud in Houston.

I second that about Pulte!

 

[mickeyboat]

OMG! I'm cracking up!

Me, too. It's amazing, isn't it?

Denae

 

[Steamboat Marti]

I carefully read through everyone's comments and everybody seems to have caught all of my concerns except one: In the upstairs laundry room (which I would DIE to have!) if you have a front load washer and dryer (the new kind) and you have them on the pedistals, I think they would be too high and block some of the window. If you don't have them, or don't have any plans to upgrade to them, you should be fine.

I had sticker shock too - and I just left Long Island New York for that same reason. Sold a little house for $450k (and owed over $425 on it) and bought a bigger, nicer home for $165k. Gotta love the USA!

 

[bananiem]

The pans under the washer are code here too. They don't catch all the water every time. Sometimes the drain can't keep up with how fast the water is coming out of the washer.
If you're going to be upstairs the majority of the time I can see wanting the laundry room upstairs. It's nice that it's a room instead of just a closet. My sil has just a closet in the hall and she hates it because there's nowhere to leave piles of sorted clothes except the hallway. And she is Miss Neat and Tidy.

 

[bekkiz]

We're from Northern CA, and are planning on moving to that same area in June. We are so excited to be able to actuallly afford something up there. Just for a frame of reference, friends of ours bought a cottage, 2 bed, 1 bath that is, I kid you not, 800 square feet, including the garage (so like 600 sq.ft. living space) for 700,000. And that was about 8 months ago. It would probably go at 750 now.

The fact that we can buy a really nice place, with 4 beds and a good yard for around 500 is outstanding!

 

[KAMLEM]

I know that I have already asked this question twice but nobody has answered me yet. I'm just trying to find out if these Centex homes are manufactured homes. My sister has a friend who is moving to this area and when I told her about this home she said the price sounded a lot lower than what her friend had been looking at. She asked me if it was a manufactured home so I told her I'd try to find out. Can somebody please answer me? Thanks!

 

[bekkiz]

Do you mean like a mobile home or a trailer home? No, these are actually single family, stand alone, built to order houses with a yard and everything
However, most of the houses in the nieghborhood are very similar in construction, and so you kind of get that cookie cutter thing going on.

 

[nwdisgal]

check out what the same range will get you here:

ETA: sorry, couldn't link it. try http://www.mauiboard.com/find.mv?task=form and type in MLS#: 316690

..and no need to hire a carpenter, the termites will handle all the woodwork

 

[nwdisgal]

I know that I have already asked this question twice but nobody has answered me yet. I'm just trying to find out if these Centex homes are manufactured homes. My sister has a friend who is moving to this area and when I told her about this home she said the price sounded a lot lower than what her friend had been looking at. She asked me if it was a manufactured home so I told her I'd try to find out. Can somebody please answer me? Thanks!

Those don't look like manufactured homes, and the price seems about in line with that particular area.

BTW, OP, I know you probably don't want to add to your commute, but have you thought about looking East (Union Hill, ED Hill, Novelty Hill) areas for larger older homes in your price range?

 

[clm3]

Wow! I don't mean to highjack this thread, but that just blows me away!

I was thinking the same thing !! I guess I can put up with 100+ summer temps in trade for our lower housing costs. That is unbelievable.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Nice looking guess. I guess its all what your use to. That seems like a bargain for that size of a house. We are moving back to South Orange County and will pay at least 1.2-1.4mil for 3000 sqft home on postage stam lot. Also we could possibly move to Melbourne, Australia. We were just offered the Australia oppurtunity and are seriously looking at it.

Matt

 

[Fan2CSkr]

Wow! I don't mean to highjack this thread, but that just blows me away!

Most of you DISers could sell your homes and buy a HUGE house here! Just for grins, look here: http://realtorshelp.har.com/search/...8365554&class=1&leadid=6&sTYPE=0&backButton=Y

Wow! Thats some house. Do you know what the taxes are? That a $2 million dollar house around here.

 

[FreshTressa]

By the time we get the two extra room, the square footage will hit 3441! That scares me.

I looked at a bunch more houses yesterday, but nothing was close in that price range.

I wish I felt more for sure about this.

 

[KirstenB]

I know that I have already asked this question twice but nobody has answered me yet. I'm just trying to find out if these Centex homes are manufactured homes. My sister has a friend who is moving to this area and when I told her about this home she said the price sounded a lot lower than what her friend had been looking at. She asked me if it was a manufactured home so I told her I'd try to find out. Can somebody please answer me? Thanks!

In the Richmond area, Centex homes are not manufactured. They're stick-built, with a crawl space etc. They build out an entire neighborhood. Generally there are 4-5 home plans to choose from. Just like any other large builder, Horton, Ryan Homes, etc.