What house to buy?

[Asiel]

I would probably go with no.2 . I'm a bit claustrophobic and no. 1 sounds like it would be pretty crowded if the dogs all come inside. If the market is healthy enough that you're sure you can rent no.1 you could have your cake and eat it too. Seems no 2 has more advantages and you might need all the room if you decide to hve kids later on. Besides the fact that it's lots of fun fixing the downstairs by yourselves.

[cassiesmom]

750 sf is really small. I'd vote for #2

[krazyaboutkatz]

My vote is for house #2 or to keep on looking. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[kokopup]

When i was your age I THOUGHT I needed a large house especially one with a basement. House #2 is basically what I have now. Now that I'm old and retired I wish I had house #1 because a large house is a lot of work to maintain, not to mention cost of heating and cooling.

Since your are young I say go for it and buy house #2 and keep house # 1 for rental. Unless the tax laws are different in Utah you can come out ahead because the interest and property taxes are deductible on at least your federal tax return. if you rent for the payment you can claim a net loss also.

[Cataholic]

House #2! My house is just under 1000 sf- finished. It is too small for us, I think. I want a larger house to have an official 'office'/guest room. Plus, more cats.

BUT, I love the house payment on a small house, and the heating/air charges, the yard...etc.

[wolf_Q]

Well we have an offer in on house #2. Someone else has an offer in too, so what will be will be, not going any higher. The house has great potential if the basement was finished and some cosmetic work done on the upstairs it would definitely be worth considerably more...just for the fact of the yard alone. It's huge, fenced on all but one side, has pine trees, garden, 3 sheds, cement pad, covered patio. It's more than we need but its a good deal. We'll see.

[pomtzu]

Congratulations. Fingers and paws crossed in the hopes that you get it.

IMO you made a good decision. House #1 is so small, as is the parcel it is on. Might be fine for a single, but after a year or so as a couple, you would most likely find it very cramped, and you might not be in a position to find something more suitable.

Good luck!

[Seravieve]

Catching this rather late in the game.. but I'd go for #2 as well. We currently live in 1492 sq ft townhouse.. two people, 3 dogs.. Its enough space for us, but it'd be wonderful to have a basement of that size! We don't even have one.. much less that large.

I hope your offer goes well.. I know short sales can drag on and on!

[CountryWolf07]

Good luck, Amy! I'd go with house #2, if it falls through, I'd keep looking for that perfect house.

[wolf_Q]

Well they accepted our offer. It's still not for sure, we'll see what happens. This is scary and exciting at the same time.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Well they accepted our offer.
It's still not for sure, we'll see what happens.

Well now ... TWO Houses, huh?
Congrats!

Back to the Wedding Plans.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Congrats!!! I hope that everything will go smoothly. I'm asuming that you'll also be getting a home inspection done so hopefully that will go well too. Do you have any pictures of the house yet?

[wolf_Q]

Soooo...I bought Corby's house, the 800 sq ft house (at least that's what the records say, not 750 as we thought). Got the tax credit to buy it, got a better interest rate than he had. We're doing well here, its small, but we're okay, Corby really wants a two car garage though. I just can't seem to think its worth adding a two car garage to this tiny house when we could buy a bigger house with one for not much more than it would cost to add it.

Well we just looked on the net and the other house is back up again. I do not believe it was ever sold, lots of offers, all the offers have fallen through or something. It's right by my parents house so I've seen it a lot, it looks abandoned. I just called a few weeks ago and she said there was an offer in for about $10k less than what we were going to pay. Well now its up for almost $30k than what we were going to pay. Ahh what do we do? With the tax credit we're supposed to live in this house for 3 years. It makes me wonder why nobody will buy it though. It does need a lot of work, but it seemed to be a structurally sound house. The entire basement is not finished and the upstairs only has 2 bedrooms (but there's a huge "great room" you could easily put a bedroom in). I don't know if that's enough reason for people to not buy it or if there's something else. The yard is huge, I think I just want it for the yard ha ha. Corby is worried about the economy if its going to get even worse. Help me.

[Lillycat]

but in this economy unless you have unlimited dollars, i would stay where you are in your little house.....and watch the world go by for awhile.....that three years you mentioned sounds like a good while time-frame to me.....

[ramanth]

If you are supposed to be in your current home for 3 years, I'd really read the fine print.

My HUD contract says I must live in my home for at least a year. Stiff penalties if I try to sell it or lease it out before a year is up.

Good luck!!