I'm curious if you guys can give advice to a first time home buyer. I'm a single dude no kids and i'm looking to buy a townhouse hopefully somewhere close to downtown Houston. Do you guys know any good areas that aren't THAT expensive? i'm hoping to stay under 250k but can go as high as 300k. I used to rent an apt in midtown and it seems like the townhomes there have just skyrocketed within the last two years. Is EADO a legit up and coming neighborhood? thanks
I think you should be able to find a ton of places for that range. Personally I think EADO will be best bang for the buck. I do think it's a legit up and coming. You might have to wait a while but I think it will be like mid town. And that's another option for you.
For that price you'd have to look into Eado right now. I know in our area our home that was built in 2011, the appraisal has gone up over 35% in the last two years, it's unreal and the taxes suck, but the investment was great since we paid it off in year. All of the homes that were selling for 400k last year near me are now over 500k or more due to supply and demand. These aren't even large homes, they're around 2500 sq ft, but it's all location.
You sure you want to buy right now? You're young (I assume) with no family and it's a seller's market right now.
250K + how much in maintenance fees? This place looks nice for $244: http://search.har.com/engine/402-Tuam-St-Houston-TX-77006_HAR63233012.htm ... but it has $454 (!!!) monthly maintenance fees.
Get in touch with the Clutchfans member Rockets Red Glare. His wife has helped me buy and sell multiple houses. She is in Katy, but was my realtor when I bought in The Heights. She's awesome to work with.
I'm pretty sure I'm ready to buy, I'm young but i figure now is the best time to buy (actually last year would've been better). The reason I think this is because with so many people moving to Houston, the prices are only going to go up. I just transferred to a new dept last year and about half the people that work here came from out of state and they're all renting right now to get a feel for the city. Come next year they're going to be ready to buy, so I'm thinking demand will be high for at least the next few years. I should have bought two years ago when i was ready but I wasn't sure I would stay in Houston for more than 5 years and now I know I will.
I think I can help you out. I know a realtor that I've been working with if you want me to connect you. I'm looking for investment property (sweet ****ing time to jump in the market - NOT) on the east side. I've been looking at EADO, the area south of EADO (emerging quickly) and even a few really nice places in Carcosa territory, like this - http://search.har.com/engine/3419-Gillespie-St-Houston-TX-77020_HAR10068782.htm - along with the typical blue chip areas - Uptown, Montrose, Heights and the emerging areas like Sunset Heights, Sawyer Heights, Cottage Grove and Midtown (Midtown man, shoulda bought there 2 years ago, that or Spring Branch - ****). EADO has the deals, it's a more speculative search for me, but if you're gonna actually be living there I'd say go for it. If that area can land an HEB it's on. It'll offer convenience and will almost surely go up in value. It's insane how much their building out there right now. The only downside is that area has already gone up in price, you'd be about 2 years late to the short-return party. The real steals are happening further south of EADO and north of it. I think the north is too risky personally, too close to 5th Ward, but a masssssssive construction effort is going on along the south side of I-10 off Jensen. I'm planning on hitting some of the sketchier areas of EADO sometime this weekend with my realtor, maybe you could sneak in. The neighborhood it backs up into isn't that high in crime, it's just poor. You'll see a lot of kids running around, lots of families. On the east side, aim for a townhome or home and not a condo - don't mess with HOA's above $160/mt over there. And congrats on being a single dude with no kids (or little walking Carcosas as I like to now refer to them) and money. It's ****ing sweet.
Listen to this man. Wait for another energy sector crash and then swoop in like a baus and buy a mansion.
Yes my wife can definitely help you out- she works quite a bit in that area. Send me an email through the board and I'll get you her contact information.
I'm glad you brought this up. I'm actually a first time homebuyer in the market right now. However, I work in mortgage banking, so I have plenty of experience. My advise in a sellers market is to bring a strong offer to the table. How much are you planning to put down? More down the better, as this makes your offer stronger from the seller's perspective (easy to qualify when you're not trying to qualify for a loan right at the line of what's allowed). Also, keep in mind that there are folks in this market who'll pay cash, and cash is king, so if you're using financing you'll be at a disadvantage. Furthermore, given that we're in a sellers market, if you do use financing, you may want to avoid asking for concessions from the seller to pay closing costs. Your lender can build in a credit in your rate to pay closing costs, but you'll end up with a higher rate, but your offer will be stronger. Rates are on the upswing, so I'd estimate that rates will not be this low in the next five years, so even at a higher rate, you may be better off buying now. Also, if you don't intend on living in the property for the rest of your years, you may consider doing an ARM loan, and you may also consider looking for a property that will be highly desirable in case you opt to flip it later on down the line.
That is actually a pretty low maintenance fee. We are at $600-700 per month on units in a building built in 1965 (Montrose @ Kipling). The new condos around the area have absurd maintenance fees. The highest I have seen was $2500 per month on a $1.25 million condo...
Damn. I've never really looked to buy in the loop so I didn't realize that's what it was like. I live in the 'burbs of Houston so that's not really something I have to worry about. But I guess if those fees cover utilities, cable, security, etc then it might be ok. I pay $650 annually to an HOA that does nothing.
The maintenance fees that we pay on our small one-bedroom units cover everything except internet, phone and cable TV. The maintenance fees are a bit high on that property, but the units are selling for $100,000 right now because of it. If the maintenance fee got cut in half (which we are working on!), the value of the units will increase a lot. When all these other luxury condos/apartments finally open up, I think our property will benefit. The new property on West Dallas near Dunlavy that opens up in July is listing its one-bedroom units starting at $2000. I have no idea what kind of amenities that building is going to offer... The $2500 maintenance fee included full concierge service, valet parking and everything else the mega wealthy would want/need. The idea of paying for a million dollar condo, and then basically paying a second mortgage on it does not appeal to me.
Y'all pay that higher property tax though... sending those kids to schools. The fees usually work themselves out in the final price. A $300,000 townhome in Montrose probably translates to a $200,000 townhome with a $500/mt fee (typical amount). But once you own it and you're paying that fee... $50,000+ every 10 years. That's just... it sucks.
I wouldn't buy right at this moment. Interest rates have gone up a bit also and it is a sellers market. I mean if you have the money and you can put down a nice down payment on a house then go for it, but if you can wait a little bit, I would wait.
Yeah, $60k in your example, and that's just if the fees never go up, and by that I mean you will be paying a lot more than $60k/10 years
