A) Buy a nice and brand new but smaller house with no yard in a cookie cutter neighborhood outside of town in a semi-inconvenient neighborhood full of families your age? No unexpected surprises like leaky pipes or money-pit syndrome and a possibility to build and choose all finishes and floor plan. Resell value shaky; not a lot of opportunity to make money on it.
-or-
B) Buy an old and major fixer upper with 3500+ square feet on almost an acre in a really affluent and convenient neighborhood that has settled families of all ages? Cost and pain of remodel unforeseeable, bad layout, but you could have chickens and a pool someday. Comes with water rights. Resell value/possibility for flip very good but only after major/expensive renovation.
We keep going back and forth. What would you do?
Can you believe this before and after?!?! THESE PEOPLE in slc make me lean toward the later... THEY ARE AMAZING! ...but is our money better spent with a fixer upper or upfront with shiny and new?
Very interested in your opinion.
6 comments:
Hmmm.... tough choice. But, I think I will always go for chickens if given the opportunity.
The draw back for me(which may or may not be something you can deal with) would be living in the construction for what may possibly end up being YEARS.
Also, I don't think shiny and new is all its cracked up to be. And, neighborhood diversity would be a must for me.
Good Luck. Change is exciting!!
Location, location, location. Trust me, when Annie is a tiny bit older you will be DYING for some sort of a yard.
But then again, repairs are so stressful. Our whole basement got soaked in that rain and we've been in a panic to get the baseboards and drywall ripped off and put back together before babe comes. Brandon has also been re-doing all the drainage outside of our house... total nightmare.
So, I see your dilemma. This IS A TOUGH CHOICE. I might have to ponder some more.
As of right now, still leaning towards good neighborhood with big lot.
The older house may by a bit riskier, however it has a lot more appeal for sure. While the new build would be a fairly safe choice, the potential with a fixer upper could go great or be a huge headache for awhile. We have really enjoyed our house in our cookie cutter neighborhood. And all of those houses get built eventually, so I never thought that having new construction going up all of the time was that big of deal. Good luck, it's a very big decision!!
I say option 2 is the best. You will appreciate the yard especially as children get older.
Nicole think about this: Annie in a little wading pool, splashing and giggling, while you sit in your comfortable patio chair with a good book- catching some rays in your spacious, private back yard. Annie climbs out of the pool and runs across the beautiful green grass, past the blooming and fragrant flower gardens that you and she planted in early spring. She reaches up for you to put her on her the homemade wooden swing that Quinn made that is hanging from a well-established tree. I dream about things like this for my girls:)
Also: you and Q are resourceful. SO talented. Driven. Handy. Creative. Dedicated. Wise in making decisions. Good with money. You could TOTALLY fix-up an older house and make it ultra fabulous! I love the feel of older homes that have unique little nooks and cranny's. They have character. The newer houses are so...cookie cutter (like you said). Plus, you don't have to do all the rennovating at once.
Anyway.
I guess you know what I would choose-but I am certainly not the expert! I am obsessed with HGTV, so I am all about the fixer-uppers. Me and The B will have one some day........................................
Back yard all the way!!!!!!
Oh goodness. I always wanted a fixer-upper. I too love old house charm. But having this cookie cutter house of ours is HARD work (adding shelves, putting in a yard, painting, etc...just the regulars)...so I can't imagine how hard a fixer upper would be. Course, my hubby works really long hours and has a huge commute. That definitely puts a damper on things. And you guys did do a great job with your apartment remodel... Ugh I dunno.
A nice big yard with big trees and no block wall sounds nice too.
But all the stress of a remodel! I'm like a yo-yo, huh?!
Hard decision.
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