House - no, not the series

[bobquasit]

We went to the bank and started the process of getting a home equity line of credit to have the roof done. It's going to be a bit pricey, but Teri thinks we can afford it; the monthly cost will be slightly less than our old car payment. We still need to get a fair amount of paperwork to see if we can actually get the loan, though.

But...

As I wrote recently, the realtor come over about a week ago. She thinks we can sell the house for around $155,000. The next step is to talk to a lender to find out how much we can afford to spend on a new house. But there are a number of points that are confusing me.

Well, the truth is that I think both of us are very nervous at the thought of selling the place! We don't know how it would work out. Would we be able to buy a new place right away? Would we have to put our stuff and storage and maybe rent for a while? It feels a little bit as if we're being rushed. But the truth is that if we sell and are in a new place (renting or owning) in a good school district before the school year starts, that would be good for Sebastian.

I gues we just weren't quite ready for the decision to come at us so fast. And now that we're actually facing the prospect of leaving, I have to say that I'm going to miss this house! It has been kind of fun living in such a unique place. And we've fixed or are fixing every major problem that could possible go wrong with the place: the main drain line. The electical system. The furnace. The roof. Whoever buys this place will be getting a considerably better house, infrastructure-wise, then it was when we bought it.

Here's what we'll be looking for in a new house, in approximate order of importance:

1. A good school district


2. A good neighborhood, with kids for Sebastian to play with


3. A decent commute for me - preferably within walking distance of the commuter rail


4. An energy-efficient heating (and possibly cooling) system


5. No major repairs needed - we really don't want to have to replace ANOTHER roof or main drain line!


6. More space - not a lot more, necessarily, but enough living room so that we can be comfortable


7. A decent-sized yard, at least large enough to barbecue in


8. I'd like to be closer to Boston, so I can see my family and friends more often. Teri doesn't agree with me on that one, and it may not be possible anyway; houses get a lot more expensive the closer they are to the city


9. A decent-sized kitchen


10. A fireplace


11. What else?

I need to figure things out.

Comments

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

12. Tankless water heater. They really are a godsend!
13. Realtor.com
14. Make sure you get the new place before moving out of the old place. I've seen how these things can fall apart badly.
15. Don't Panic!
16. Get the new place inspected before signing anything. Lead, asbestos, temites, etc.
17. I'll think of more later.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Great points all - I'm looking forward to hearing more!

[oldwolf.livejournal.com]

I'd worry about #14 more.

Some friends of mine found a nice house for $160K, and while going thru the proces of getting it(escrow), it was sold to someone else. (yeah, sold out from under) Who was actually an agent for another realtor, who in turn, turned around and sold it for $200K 2 months later.

Realtors like to play these sneaky games with each other so they can make more $.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

The question I have is where does Teri work? Do you need to stay south of the city? There are places about an hour north of the city, fairly close to commuter rail lines, that might be worth looking into if it doesn't make Teri's commute nasty. Also check out the Worcester area. I'm not saying Worcester, but the towns surrounding it.

You might want to consider renting for a year or two and "feeling out" a town before putting down roots. If you buy a home in a town and then find out that the town is not what you expected, you don't want to be stuck there or having to sell in another year or so. Renting, even with paying for a storage unit, will be less expensive than a mortgage right now, and anything you don't spend on rent can go into savings for a higher downpayment.

Unfortunately, Massachusetts is going to be more expensive no matter what town you move to. When we were looking last year we were just amazed at how much the prices dropped when one moved just north of the Ma. border. Nearly identical houses were $100K less in NH. than in MA.

Good Luck.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

Teri works part-time at the Wrentham outlets. But the reason we need to stay south of the city is because she is bound and determined to stay as close to her mother as possible; she lives in Blackstone.

I, on the other hand, want to move closer to the city for four reasons: 1) my parents in Brookline, 2) my job, which is near Fenway Park, 3) my friends in the general Boston area, and 4) the city of Boston itself, which I have always loved.

This is going to be a bit of a tug of war between Teri and me, so we'll see how it goes. I'm certainly willing to live south of the city; to be honest, I'd like to be within reasonable driving distance of some of the restaurants and businesses in the Woonsocket area. And there's no denying that prices go up the closer you get to the city. Still, right now we're about 50 miles from Boston. I'd like to halve that distance.

Renting is definitely an option, although it would probably cost more than our mortgage.

[klyfix.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I'm not really seeing how you can have, well, what amounts to an upgrade in the actual house if you move. The main issue really seems to be the neighborhood and the schools if I'm not mistaken, and if that's the case I'd expect that if anything you'd pretty much have to end up with a smaller place. It's not as if you're planning to move to a state outside New England where larger houses might well be cheaper than yours.

On the other hand, a place in Massachusetts on a commuter rail line but actually farther away from Boston might not be bad if in fact you could get within semi-reasonable walking distance from the station. Eliminating the auto portion of the commute might actually save time and money even if you were actually significantly farther away from Boston. And in such a circumstance some degree of actual house upgrade might be possible.

Of course to me the idea would be if you somehow managed to be able to get a place in Brookline 'cause the schools are really good and you'd be back where you really want to be. But that would pretty much require money falling from Heaven, I'd expect.

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

We bought close to the peak of the market, and now it's crashing. But we got our house at a comparatively low price at the time.

That's why we might be able to get a better house than the one we have now. I've also received a few 5% and 10% pay raises since then.

Brookline would be ideal, yes. But you're right, it's unimaginable.