Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Selling and Buying
So now we are thinking about new houses and selling our old house. The logistics seem hard to get right. It is all about timing and money. The first part is selling the old house, which has the equity in it to use as a down payment. I am sure I need to get a new fence before I even put it up on the market. We've got to minimize all of our stuff so it looks like a showroom house. Maybe it is time for a garage sale. Preparing our house for selling will take alot of work. Then there is the painting of the walls. Also I wonder about the old carpet. Is it worth it to get a new one or is it better to let the new person do it? I think maybe we will talk to a realtor.
But then I still go back and forth on this. Will houses around here go up in price by $6500 to accomodate for the tax credit? Will interest rates go down or go up next year negating the tax break? Is it better to wait a year and save $6500 myself and then get a house next year, or will the economy bouncing back making our dream house hard to get to? As I look at houses in the Plano area I can see that our dream house will probably be just out of our reach financially. I we had a larger down payment it would work, but that would mean we need more time to save, but that would also mean that the values could go even higher. However, our house value could also increase proportionally so that might cancel it out. I won't be impulsive on this. All things need to be analyzed.
You start to think about bigger questions. If we make this next house the house we will live in for thirty years we should probably get the right one. I remember it took me 2 winters to find my current house because they were always lacking something. So what is our dream house? Well, it is at least 2500 square feet, has 4 bedrooms, has a flat driveway for a basketball hoop, has a swimming pool and hot tub, has a big enough backyard for a grill and a swing set for the kids, has a whirlpool bathtub, has a media room for the projector and is less than 20 years old. That would be perfect. So the question we have to ask, is it worth it to wait since conditions are optimal? Time to visit a real estate agent and maybe we will get those questions answered.
But then I still go back and forth on this. Will houses around here go up in price by $6500 to accomodate for the tax credit? Will interest rates go down or go up next year negating the tax break? Is it better to wait a year and save $6500 myself and then get a house next year, or will the economy bouncing back making our dream house hard to get to? As I look at houses in the Plano area I can see that our dream house will probably be just out of our reach financially. I we had a larger down payment it would work, but that would mean we need more time to save, but that would also mean that the values could go even higher. However, our house value could also increase proportionally so that might cancel it out. I won't be impulsive on this. All things need to be analyzed.
You start to think about bigger questions. If we make this next house the house we will live in for thirty years we should probably get the right one. I remember it took me 2 winters to find my current house because they were always lacking something. So what is our dream house? Well, it is at least 2500 square feet, has 4 bedrooms, has a flat driveway for a basketball hoop, has a swimming pool and hot tub, has a big enough backyard for a grill and a swing set for the kids, has a whirlpool bathtub, has a media room for the projector and is less than 20 years old. That would be perfect. So the question we have to ask, is it worth it to wait since conditions are optimal? Time to visit a real estate agent and maybe we will get those questions answered.
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