Which house? Home buying opinion, please..

[WakkoSS]

Well, it's time to buy a house and I have two in my area I can afford. One of em is in the city of Delray Beach, which is two cities north of where I work, with about a 20 minute commute. (I pay nothing for my work car, so fuel cost is irrelevant, just my time). The Delray House is a 2/2 with a 1 car garage, has a tiny front and rear yard, but has a nice quiet neighborhood. I have 4 cars between my roommate and I so one would be parked in the street at all time. Taxes are 1000 a year, house is $135k and is NOT sold as is (built in '85). $78 a month maintenance including lawn.


The other house is in Boca Raton (where I live now, 1 city north of where I work) and the commute would be 15 minutes to work, 7-10 minutes max home. Built in '74, sold as is. Also a 2/2 1 car garage, significantly larger lot. Neighborhood is not as nice (even though it's Boca), very working class with old cars out front and not all the houses were kept up like this one. Oh, it's 139 with 1200 a month financing, no homeowner's.

I like commuting 10 minutes to work, and not being cramped up...though the Delray house doesn't really need anything and is walking distance from Mom and Dad. I hang out in Ft. Lauderdale, with is 25 minutes south of Boca, 35 of Delray. Both have older roofing, the one in Delray apparantly was patched at one point.

http://www.geocities.com/wakkoss/HouseBoca.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/wakkoss/HouseBoca2.JPG

http://www.geocities.com/wakkoss/HouseDelray.jpg

Any thoughts? I need to decide tomorrow and have 100% financing.

 

[AsphaltAnihil8r]

Wow thats a hard desicion you have to make ,What did this look like..
http://homepics.realtor.com/image10/http/westpalmbeach/listings/large/081/2365189.jpg

Sorry look here
http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/Hom...21A83D4E689C&snumxlid=1031985827&lnksrc=00001

 

[Axle]

I personally would take the second house simply because of the convenience of being closer to everything and because even though the neighborhood may not be as nice, that may be an advantage as the rule of thumb with nice neighborhoods and noisy cars is usually that the two don't mix and bad things start to happen with constant calls from the neighbors and so on. Several years back, when we lived in a decent but not perfect side of town, our neighbors had a Pontiac Catalina with a built 400 and whatnot and although it was hard to sleep with the thing running, no one ever really complained because there was also traffic to hear, airplanes flying by, and so on. However, when the owners moved to another neighborhood which was a good bit nicer, they got complaints left and right, and eventually, the police had to "settle" the commotion by making them do something ridiculous like be allowed to only start the car if it's going onto or coming off a trailer, which sucked because the owner swore the car would never see a trailer. Anyways, hope that helps sway your decision because it certainly would sway mine. Good luck.

 

[DCEPTCN]

I think the second house (delray?) is much better looking. If the entire house has been kept up as well as the landscaping, you might be better off as well.

 

[Crazy87GN]

those houses are 139,000?!
around here they would go for 80,000 at the most..........
i'd go with the second one

 

[99Formula]

Originally posted by Crazy87GN
those houses are 139,000?!
around here they would go for 80,000 at the most..........
i'd go with the second one

And in certain parts of San Diego they'd go for $500k, what's your point?

Peter

 

[TR Custom Parts]

DelRay looks nicer in the pics. Don't make any hasty decisions though. I am sure there are plenty more houses for sale down there.

 

[galoush]

yeah in NY you couldnt buy a burnt down crack house for 140k much less 80K . Those Fla houses would be 300k easy

 

[DKREDT]

BOCA=$$

Which area will sell better in the furture when you are ready to upgrade etc?

The old real estate adage is location location location....

Joel

 

[VADER]

I think you should choose the better area, whichever that is. The're both 2 bedrooms, can you afford 3? 100% financing is probably costing you more than if you put $$ down. You could probably afford more house if you did.

I dont know the area, but I would keep looking.

 

[WakkoSS]

That house listed for sale was sold already, thanks for the link though. I went ahead and put in an offer on the Delray house, and we're working out the details. Should be able to close by the 20th. The house was purchased like 5 years ago for $70k and now is 135k...talk about a real estate boom.

The Delray house does have very nice landscaping and they take care of it for you, which is cool. Though I do have a 1950's Wheel Horse tractor/lawn mower that I don't want to get rid of.

I figure I'll live in either house for a couple years than upgrade. I will keep you guys informed as to what deal works out. Thanks for the input!

 

[DCEPTCN]

Congratulations! Enjoy your new house, hopefully the aforementioned real estate boom will continue to escalate your the value of the house for you.