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Hi all,

This is my first time using this forum...but I am confused as **** and need your advise.

My husband and I are looking for a house to buy..we have a list that we would like in our new home.
- Should be in a good school district
- Should have equity value
- Like to have a yard
- Like to have a pool and club house
- Must have a basement
- Must have curb appeal

We have shortlisted two homes...both are foreclosures. Both in good school districts.

The first one:
- Not too far from city,
- walking distance to grocery store
- walking distance to golf course
- walking distance to a lake
- no swimming pool or club house
- no yard
- needs a lot of renovation
- basement unfinished
- a very small drive way

The second one:
- a bit far from the city
- has a beautiful yard
- does not require a lot of work
- right next to an elementary school
- has swimming pool and club house

Both houses have the same asking price. they have the same number of rooms. the first house has approx 500 sq ft more than the second.

I am confused because...the second house fits our needs more..but I feel that the equity we can gain from the first house will be far more...

If you have any suggestion you can share..please do...

Thanks.

You said the second is right next to school. Have you considered the noise and the traffic from school buses and parents dropping off and picking up kids. That goes on nine months a year.

First of all, make sure you have a Realtor versed in foreclosure sales. Make sure she or he pulls neighborhood comps for you to see how listing price and whatever your offer is compares to the marketplace. That will tell you if you are getting a good deal or not.

You will be buying a foreclosure as is and the bank rarely does any repairs, when asked after home inspection.

Also you may be in a Multiple Bid situation where there is a bidding war..and I have seen prices run up to current market value..

While a foreclosure can save you some bucks, don't rule out short sales or traditional sales
where the seller is distressed and these homes could be in better condition. Just remember short sales can take months, however I have closed them in as short as 31 days.

If you want you can post MLS number of what you are looking at here, and can give you our thoughts.

Don't rush or be pressured to buy..think things through..and look at your town inventory of homes with your criteria. New listing come on the market everyday.

By the way.. USDA has a "country property" program with 0 down.

Welcome to the boards..and tons of good advice and great folks here to help.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: real estate lady,

Mama is right..and talk to neighbors about the neighborhood..ask about any issues, etc.

Do not buy next to commercial property or church... school, etc.or on a busy road. These are things you can't change.
Buy for resale!!

malhotneha, First, Welcome to the Real Estate Boards and I hope you will post back with more information as the dilemma you are in is the same for many others...

BUT, quite honestly, there is no way we can give advice with the information you have provided; both places sound nice but WHICH is the right one for you? No way to tell w/o seeing each place - please post the MLS numbers for both places and THEN I think you will receive some valuable suggestions.

Why? Because you talk about equity for the first place but offer no numbers; you talk about subjective factors such as desirability of certain factors, you talk about distance to schools but I have no idea if you even have any children now or if this is just one of those "future" things.

Bottom line, post back with more information; we obviously can't make any intelligent comments or suggestions without more information, our hands are tied. Wishing the best for you - hope you will let us help. There are a lot of smart people here on this board!

Agree with Idaho. Your requirements are different than most that I see. How many bedrooms do you need, how many bathrooms, how big is your family, do you guys do renovations and like fixer-uppers, or are you more a "hire a contractor" - but still like older homes with character and that works for you. Do you have dogs, or do you like gardening (looking for definition of what you consider a good yard)? Do you mind noise (thinking about near city center or next to school)? For the pool - will you really swim - or maybe your kids (reason I ask is that our neighborhood has a gorgeous pool, and we have never actually used it - just never got around to it.....). AND - give us the MLS numbers as suggested for real looks at the properties. How is the flow of those houses - do they seem comfortable to live in? For the basement - is that for storage or living space - again, size of family helps here.. For Curb appeal - what does that mean to you? Pretty landscaping is something you can do (again, looking for what you like to do), so are you talking about that, or the architecture of the house?

So sorry for not replying earlier...we got tied up looking at houses...

Yes, you are right I didn't provide a lot of information...
1) We do not have any children yet but we are thinking of starting a family soon..
2) We both are not at all handy..so we would need to hire a contractor
3) We do not want a pool due to costs associated with it
4) I am fond of growing my own herbs and veges...so a small backyard would be nice...
5) We do want privacy and want to be close to basic amenities..grocery etc..

The first house is still available. MLS#5014124. This particular house is a foreclosure.

We found another house which is a resale and my husband loves it..MLS#4334754...

Let me know what you guys think...

Take your time.. many areas have high inventories. Certainly you can find a house in good shape. Make sure you have a good buyers' agent. If you are planning to start a family make sure you get at least a 3 BR/2 bath with a tub.

these 2 houses are both lovely, but if I'm looking at the right 2 (in GA), they're big, and will take alot of work. From your initial post, it sounds like you might be new buyers, so I second REL's advice - get a good buyer's agent, really - really think about what it is you are looking for (how many BRs, how many baths, how much yard, how old is the house- will factor into upkeep, etc. There are so many houses - and really think about how big a house you want. Bigger tends to take more work and costs more to heat/cool - so really think about that. But - find a great buyer's agent, and it will definitely make it easier.... Good luck!

Having lived in a big house I can tell you they are a tremendous amount of work and very expensive to heat and cool. Also, the bigger the house the more expensive everything is...like painting, window treatments, new carpeting...anything you want to do.

We moved into a more manageable sized house (about 2400 st not including the semi finished basement) and it was such a relief.

Bigger isn't always better.

I agree with everyone that said location is everything.