So here's the deal- I've got a long drive to work that I'm getting tired of, so we've been looking at houses lately. Nothing real serious, just seeing what is out there on the interwebs.

I work on the south side of Phoenix, but live about 30 miles south in a small city. As there isn't much to do in our small city (very little shopping other than Walmart), and only 10 or so places to eat- we tend to drive up to the Phoenix area at least once per weekend.

As we bought near the bottom of the market, we stand to make about double what we paid for our house if we sold today (the cheap house was a lot of the reason why we moved down here). There is potential that it could go up again by the same dollar amount (as that is what the house originally sold for when new: roughly triple what we paid)- but it might take some time to get there. Some undesirable type people moved into the city while houses were cheap, so it is possible that it may never get back to original value. There is some promise though as they are still adding on to the city (Holiday Inn, car wash, another gas station, and a couple of restaurants currently under construction), but it's hard to tell.

We just so happened across a house that meets just about everything on both of our wish lists.

Here are the pros and cons of each:

Current House
Pros
-Newer (built 2007)
-Larger (~3600 Sq Ft)
-Lots of upgrades (hard wired security, hard wired 2 ports ethernet and cable in all rooms, etc)
-No emissions testing
-Built in out door grill / bar area with built in seating and gas fire pit
-Has a lot of curb appeal, but is somewhat a cookie cutter house.

Cons
-Maintenance heavy yard (grass front and back, lots of trees/bushes, always have minor issues with sprinkler system)
-Bad school systems
-45 minute - 1 hour drive to work
-1-1.5 hour drive to weekend car meet spot
-Higher taxes
-Expensive to cool in summer due to size
-Tight garage. It's a 3 car, but the 3rd bay is short- you can barely get a car in there lengthwise. There is very little work room with 3 cars in there as the other bays don't have much room in front of them.
-HOA. I always liked the idea, but in practice it sucks. They pick and choose what rules to enforce, and let some really big things go in the neighborhood.


Proposed House:
Pros
-Huge garage. 3 bays wide, 2 bays are double deep plus some. I could park 5 cars in there no problem, and still have a nice work bench area, space across the back of the garage, plus a small 8'x11' room that is dedicated just to the garage.
-Much closer to work ~10 minutes away.
-Ultra low maintenance yard- artificial grass front/back, remainder of plants are relatively low maintenance.
-Built in pool w/ adjacent built in hot tub
-No HOA
-One of the best school systems in the valley

Cons
-Older (mid 1980s house). So it has minor issues, and is a bit outdated.
-Much smaller (~1750 SQ FT). We definitely wanted to downsize, but were shooting for 2000-2500 SQ FT. We don't necessarily need the room right now, but don't want to feel cramped either.
-Very uncertain of the future market. It's in an area that won't be able to develop much further, and isn't one of the long running hot spots for real estate (like Scottsdale, etc). It certainly can't develop much further (unlike our current house where the city has a lot of space to grow still).


So I'm not real sure what the best bet is. I'd kick myself if I left our current house too soon and the prices continued to climb back near what the house originally sold for because we would miss out on a lot of profit. At the same time, I'd hate to miss out on this new house because it's a lot better fit for us, and the upkeep (cooling, taxes, wear/tear on cars, etc) is far cheaper.

Thoughts?

 

To get a better idea of the differences:

Current House (old pics from back when we moved in). The garage has had a good number of upgrades since then- I put in 2x 220 volt in-wall heaters, the biggest LG window AC unit I could get, a 220 volt plug for my welder, more 110v outlets, a 220 volt plug for my compressor, and some more overhead lighting. I also took out those cabinets.... I've got enough storage space elsewhere.

 

And the proposed new option. Plus, keep in mind- that laundry room is 8'x11', and there is a ton of open space in there. I could easily use more than half that room for garage related stuff (storage, etc).

 

I like the new house a lot! The old one too tho.

I can talk from experience anyways bumpin'. I live in a crappy little semi detached w/ no garage cuz I like being close to work. I'm 5 minute away - I can literally run to work when I have to (it's happened). When I was 25 I lived in a 450 sq/ft apartment just because it was attached to the building I worked at - I didn't even have to go outside to get to work. I could afford a much bigger spread if I wanted to move out of the city a little. I'm willing to sacrifice quite a bit to get back that 1-2 hours most people throw away every single day commuting stuck in traffic. Time is the hardest thing to earn!

The pool and low maintenance is neat! 80's doesn't seem that old to me. I know you'd use the extra garage space. I'm a father, so I'm thinking the school system improvement should the most important thing anyways.

I like your current house a lot, but IMO opinion this is pretty much a no-brainer. If you can financially make this work, I'd move

 

I've never bought a house, yet anyway. So I'm not going to pretend like I know what to do. However I will say that garage on the new house looks amazing, so much room for activities lol. Good luck with the decision.

 

I suggest, doing what makes you happy > "Life is a Gamble"
Do some intense homework & do what is best for you, your family & your super rides....Life is Short & Ends.

Live/love/learn>>>>EnJoy>>>>> your `NOW >Good Luck

 

Go for it if it will make you happy! Love the garage! What does your gut tell you?

 

That's a good point. I would save about 1.25 hours / day on the commute and about 2 hours / week on yard work. That works out to about 8 hours per week which would be really nice.

Financially, it'll be close to a wash. There might be about $30-40k difference at most, but it depends how much they're willing to come down, and how much we can squeeze out of our current place.

Thanks Space. We're currently checking comps and such on the new place, and will need to get someone out to our current house to appraise it since there have been so many changes in the local market lately.

See, that's the bad thing- I'm not particularly unhappy in the current house. For our first house, it's really not bad. So my gut is confused, lol. This new house has some great features at the expense of downgrading in other areas and being a bit of a fixer-upper.

 

If you're worried about space, 1700+ sq ft is a good amount of space. Our house is 1850 or so and it is plenty of room for 3 adults and a baby. So if it's just yourself and a lady, you'll have too much space in my opinion.

To me, it would come down to the distance of your drive to work/to stores. We live in a small(ish) town, population of like 20,000 and we don't have much as far as shopping besides of course Walmart, grocery stores, and a podunk "mall". It's all about what you want. I can get whatever I NEED in town, if not I can drive an hour to Hampton Roads.

Best of luck with your decision. Keep in mind though, with an older house, expect the central air/heat (if applicable) to be on it's way out and keep an eye open for other potential issues.

Although if I knew then what I know now, I would've bought something that wasn't in a subdivision. Different strokes I guess.

 

Wow the 2 story appears really nice in the Mid west would be about 350K the other about 160K, I hate houses cause they are a money pit. Early in the adventure of life I had a friend that would buy and sell the house he lived in every 2 years, he always made money on the deals. I never did that I live in the 2nd home we ever purchased this house will be paid for in Oct. this year.
I used to build commercial buildings, then I sold the components for them then in 08 all that fell apart, if you can make a profit on a house selling it, and its a comfortable one that may be a good move. Don't buy one without getting rid of the other unless you are Flush. If you rent to somebody make sure you have rules in the lease prior to them moving in.
One thing to consider and this is just a preference with me if you drive to get to work. Gas is expensive, the Impala might get better mileage. How much can you save in fuel costs by not driving so far, every year. Weigh that against the cost of the financing, taxes and upkeep on the house. One thing to also consider is a new HVAC system. We did that 2 years ago and so far it's paying its way in efficiency. I just wish I wasn't gone so much so I could enjoy the place now.
Another thing to consider is when you move how well to the Children adjust to the new school. Sometimes that can be really challenging for them. Good luck with your decision.