Buying A House: C or D?

http://www.trulia.com/property/3160163140-3925-Pershing-Ave-Fort-Worth-TX-76107

$88k in that neighborhood, "good bones" - I assume the interior must be a war zone.

"Good bones" is something you talk about with your agent after you've seen a house you can cross off your list. In a listing itself? Run away!

I expanded my search area a little bit and branched out into East Point, which is south of SW Atlanta but still north of the airport. I never thought about looking there before because East Point has (or had) a little bit of a reputation. Some parts of it might actually live up to that reputation, but the areas I drove through today seem totally nice and, most importantly, are being revitalized (I won't say gentrified, because I didn't see cupcake shops and organic markets). But it's obvious that the people who live in the neighborhoods I drove through take pride in their homes and their community, so I'm feeling really good about this house:

http://www.trulia.com/property/3144645821-3031-Park-St-East-Point-GA-30344

Damn, that's gorgeous.

A couple other possibilites:

http://www.trulia.com/property/3135366559-3123-Church-St-East-Point-GA-30344
http://www.trulia.com/property/1030765092-1757-Hamilton-Ave-East-Point-GA-30344

East Point has (or had) a little bit of a reputation

It was all about the cess in your chest if I remember correctly

Also damn those are nice houses for the prices

God, I've never wanted to get a hold of my agent so bad!

second house has the best kitchen, third might have the best exterior, but the first looks like (from real estate photos, of course) the best overall package

The kitchen would only be a concern for resale value, really. I cook some, but not a lot. I drove down specifically to look the first one over yesterday, and I'm about to drive back down there and scope out the other two and get a better feel for the general environment. Tomorrow morning I'm going back down with my agent to officially view them. I might have a house before the week's over! Psyched!

Dublin rental market overheating but I'm checking prices back out west and damn I hope we get back in time before it starts to catch up.

I'm doin' it. Agent is writing up an offer right now. woo

!!!!!!!!!

mazel tov

Thanks, although maybe a bit premature. No idea if there are any other offers out there or if the counteroffer (if there is one) will be insane. Cautiously optimistic right now.

good luck!

thanks!

The seller counteroffered, I accepted. Now just waiting for the paperwork. Who wants to come to MAH HOUSE?! (sometime in August?)

grats man

Oh cool, congrats! Is it the one on Park St. linked above?

That's the one.

good pick, that was my favorite one of the three

55k is insanely cheap - that isn't even a down payment for a house like that here.

That's not even a down payment on a 1br apartment here.

Sweet house, JF!

The paperwork and process after the offer is accepted and you actually get the keys to your new house is the worst part of the whole process. Congrats and good luck but be patient and expect some leftfield bullshit to come your way. If it doesn't, you win. If it does, you're ready.

yeah I think I closed a month after I thought I would, stay calm

Cool, thanks for the advice. It's set for a 30 day closing and hopefully because it's been sold by a investor/flipper rather than a regular person they'll be eager to expedite the process. But you never know.

Unless you mean stuff going down on my end. My mortgage company has already vetted the fuck out of me, so by the time it gets to underwriting it should be a piece of cake.

Signed about 60 forms today in preparation for my loan underwriting. Still have to look into insurance and have the home inspection (which I've already scheduled for next Tuesday). I left the mortgage office feeling pretty good, though. They told me most of the crazy part is over, so I hope they weren't lying.

http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Fort-Worth-TX/fsba,fsbo,new,cmsn_lt/mmm_pt/house_type/29100769_zpid/18172_rid/0-150000_price/0-576_mp/days_sort/32.721949,-97.326915,32.689774,-97.362707_rect/14_zm/

Thought this looked sweet... then noticed the railroad 20 feet away.

That one on James a few streets west looks pretty cool. I dunno what kind of market Ft. Worth is right now, but maybe you could offer low and get that asking price down.

I ended up paying $9k less than asking, which equates to about 8.5% of the original sales price. Not bad.

Congrats, JF, good luck on the inspection and closing

Thanks!

What work did the flipper do? It sold for $45K just three months ago

I think it's been a process over a handful of years. Like, the roof is only 3 years old and the hvac is 2 years old and google street view from 2012 shows the house looking pretty much like it does right now from the outside, so I really don't know how the sales history figures into it all. I imagine it's been shifted around from one investor to another (or within different departments of the same firm).

Hoping the inspection on Tuesday morning will be to my liking, regardless.

I guess the market is definitely heating up. In Birmingham, my niece and her husband got more than their asking price within half a day of putting the word out about their move to Huntsville.

Nice. What are they moving to Huntsville for, if I might be nosy? That's my hometown.

Scott, the husband, works for Sysco and is getting a big promotion that involves transferring. They've been in their B'ham house less than a year and are kind of tore up about leaving friends and a neighborhood they love, but feel they can't turn down the opportunity.

They'll like it alright. I visit all the time now since my dad retired and my parents moved back. Way more to do there in 2014 than there was in 1994, that's for sure.

so the mister and I have been looking at places and have decided to put an offer in on a 3 bed 1.5 bath 1600sqft colonial in the neighborhood where we currently live, it's freakin' adorable. we are putting in an offer and i am currently F R E A K I N G O U T

Moving across town today, have spent the last night in a house I've lived in for 7 years, still haven't closed on the new place, appraiser for new place is coming tomorrow, meeting with insurance guy on Thursday, mother-in-law is staying with us until Friday, have a week until the renter moves into our current place and lots of things to fix and clean before that.

I woke up at 5am in sheer panic and it hasn't gotten any better since then.

godspeed to ye

we are putting in an offer and i am currently F R E A K I N G O U T

This was me a week ago. It's been mostly smooth sailing since then, so I hope the same is true for you.

The house got a totally good inspection this morning (only a couple moderate problems, one of which I can fix myself in about 20 minutes). Then I stopped by the insurance agent to get a quote on a homeowners policy and it was right in line with what the mortgage company had estimated (I imagine they're pretty good at making estimates).

Not sure what else I have to be concerned about until closing. The loan underwriting process is moving along, my parents were in town yesterday and they gave the house a thumbs-up, I met one of my neighbors this morning and got playfully molested by his dog. Also found out that, even though the house isn't presently wired for cable tv, going through the crawlspace and up into the living room will be super easy. I don't want to jinx it, but woo hoo!

Has your neighbors asked how much you bought the house for yet?

It's public record, but damn, my neighbors sure could've used a little more tact in introducing themselves.

(Second question was an inquiry to the whereabouts of my regular house of worship.)

No, nothing like that. Just a quick hello.

Ugh, how do I make my dad stop being a complete killjoy during this process? He ground my enthusiasm down to the tiniest nub with an hour of "we thought the neighborhood would be nicer" and "it's an investment first, a place to live second" and other dad things.

What he doesn't understand and I don't think he ever will is that in the price range I'm shopping, no liveable house is going to be 100% sparkly and perfect. If I had three times the budget, sure...I could live in a neighborhood like the ones he's used to, but I can't. From this house, I might see poorer folks walking down the street on the way to the bus. In this hosue, more than one of my neighbors might be a black family. Also, a 94 year old house is not a brand new house no matter how recently it's been renovated. Unless I were to live 25-30 miles outside of the city, this is the kind of situation my homebuying budget leaves me with. I'm being pragmatic and real with myself about this the whole way through, but he's steamrolling the fucking joy.

"it's an investment first, a place to live second"

Console yourself with the thought that he's being a bigoted dinosaur--if I've understood anything iatee ever said, I don't think homes are good investments in that sense anymore, not in most places. Also, living in economically and racially and culturally diverse places is an overall good so he can eat a bag of hammers.