[Real Estate] Need advice from experienced home buyers

This.

You are also buying at the highest time annually a few weeks before school starts when buyers start rushing more to grab inventory.

Prices are high right now, but so is the inventory. Sellers are really guilty of overvaluing their homes right now.

Don't be afraid to put an offer in for a house that YOU CAN AFFORD. You aren't a greedy investor so sellers will respect your offer even if its a lowball if your real estate agent tells them your story. You never know how desperate sellers are to play ball, and no offer is a bad offer if it starts dialog.

That's another thing with new builds. You know the seller, and you know they aren't going to bend over backwards to drop the price. Some sellers have a good chunk of the house paid off, and you never know how much they will drop.

Good luck.

 

I work in mortgage and I would recommend that you avoid the new build if you're looking to avoid losing money on a five to ten year turn-around. If you look at home values over time, new builds usually depreciate by a large margin in the first five years before the value starts trending up after that.

 

Came to post this ^. My parents old home electricity runs about $300+ during summer while my new home is about $70 in summer. You could save over $1,000 per year just on utilities with a new energy efficient home.

Btw, the other forum you posted in are more knowledgeable about home purchasing.

 

Depends on the market.

Really does.

We have communities in San Antonio that have jumped from 175k to 500k in 10 years.

All about the land in reality.

 

Are there still going to be unoccupied houses around the new home in five years? If it's a really new subdivision and there is still a lot of land to build on you could be competing with brand new homes a mile or two away when you decide to sell.

 

99 and 1464 is out there. My brother lives around there. Nice area but pretty far. You'll probably get a considerable amount more than what you paid 5-10 years down the line.

What about Lakes of Bella Terra? That's at 99 and Westpark so not as deep. The burbs are so pricey these days.

I ended up staying in the city. Building a house 1.5 miles north of i10 and Bingle. Can't wait!!

 

This is a good point that you should consider, OP. My experience has been based on the Houston market with new neighborhoods in the suburbs. It won't be the same everywhere.

 

Be careful with "lifetime warranties" on foundation repairs. They usually only cover the part of the foundation that was actually "jacked up". The problem is that sometimes jacking that part up causes issues elsewhere in the long-term that may not be covered. Also, was a plumbing test done after the foundation was jacked up? Sometimes foundation problems are caused by slab leaks and also slab leaks can be caused by foundations being "fixed". Catch-22's abound. lol.

As advice to anyone living in the DFW area (and possibly the Houston area, too), I would never buy a used/existing construction home without getting a foundation inspection done by an independent structural engineer (should cost about $300-$400) and a plumbing test done that tests for leaks in the sewage/plumbing by an independent plumber (should cost about $250-$400 or so). It could save you in tens of thousands of dollars in the future.

 

correct.

 

By the time you finished posting this, I imagine the properties had multiple offers. Good luck. My advice is to not buy. Htown is NOTa buyers market.

 

I imagine after six months the oil price job lull will hit the market.... Wait right before oil hiring begins... That's when you buy....

 

NY times rent or buy calculator

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/buy-rent-calculator.html

 

JV's advice is solid.

If it's close, buy the one most suitable to your folks.

your speculation about future prices is subject to too many variables.