What would you think about a two story house with 2.0 baths?

Haven't we had this conversation before?

Oh... the search function is down (temporarily disabled)...

I vote no

 

It's a HUGE issue....mostly in terms of resale.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. Besides the things your inspector finds, you should hammer this point home with the seller's agent. That house should sell for a lot less per square foot than any of the area's comps.

That being said, if you can live with the house (for a while) the way it is, and you can get the great price....go for it.

But my going-in position would be that I would add a bathroom (even if that means adding square footage) at sometime in the future. The sooner the better because then you could enjoy the benefits of the addition instead of whomever you sell the place to.

Just my $.02

 

I wouldn't get it. If you gotta go real bad when you get home... can you imagine having to run up the stairs?? If you could add one downstairs (a 1/2), then that'd be different. That'd also be expensive.

This is a bit weird to discuss.

 

That's called functional obsolescence. I think it will decrease value of home.

 

I had a similar problem when I was in college one year. The bathroom was upstairs from where my bedroom was. Towards the beginning of the year, I trudged up the stairs to relieve myself. Then as time progressed I grew lazy and decided walking up the stairs was just too much work. That's when the milk jug got cut in half and served as an economical, effortless way to take care of business. You may want to try this method if the wife is ok with that kinda thing...

 

It wouldn't bother me. We have a house that had an upstairs loft and only ONE bath downstairs when we bought the house.

The thing to remember about houses is, if you plan to stay in them a while (10 years + would qualify), EVERYTHING is changable. Whever I see people buying houses in wierd areas or with very little space because of the interior or people passing on houses that don't follow a traditional configuration, I always shake my head. Location, location, location, then needs (number of bedrooms, size, etc) then quality of the house. After that, everything is up for grabs.

I don't know about you guys, but I didn't buy my house as an investment. I bought it to be my home. If it increases in value (which mine has by more than double), that's great. But, I bought it to be lived in. If I want an investment, I'll buy a house to rent and wait for the value to go up. I want a place I know I'll want to be in 10, 15 or 20 years.

I knew there were changes that would need to be made in our house when we moved in and we've made a ton. That's the beauty of owning a house. Change whatever you want. Don't have a bathroom downstairs??? Just add one! Hell, just watch DIY-TV or HGTV or This Old House.

 

Heck, my Dad can't stand to not have some construction project going on at his house. There's always some addition or remodeling being done at whatever house he's living in. And when he runs out of things to do, he buys another house (as a matter of fact, the house he lives in now was about 2,500 sf when he bought it. It is currently just over 5,000 sf).

 

Nope that is pretty industry standard here in my neighborhood (Hyde Park - Austin). For instance, my buddy has put a down payment on a 2 bedroom 1 bath that is $210,000!!! And unfortunately, that is a REASONABLE price for a house in this area.

You Houstonians dont know how good you have it!!

Also, I would consider building a 1/2 bath downstairs for guests, etc. Figure $3-$4K for that kind of addition (may be cheaper).

GOOD LUCK!!! Intrest Rates are at an all time low, so the time to buy is right now!!!

 

Hey, that's almost exactly where I live! 39th and Red River to be exact. And yes, the houses around here ARE expensive. We're renting this one as opposed to buying and it costs a $1750 a month for a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house.

 

WOW!! Renting is like throwing money in the toilet every month. The first chance I get, I am buying something......

Im at 45th and Ave D, but plan on moving within this area (getting a roomate) in Jan.

 

a two story bathroom...

dreamy.

 

Thats freakin disgusting dude.

 

Jeff, that makes a lot of sense, but how much of those renovations did you do yourself? If not, what percentage of the purchase price did those costs end up amounting to? My question is: is that truly an economical philosophy? I'm not being rhetorical, by the way. I'm really asking.

 

HEY, R0CKETS03!!!

Is that you that's selling a Francis Finest RC Gold Refractor on eBay? This is just totally out of curiosity... sorry if it's not you and you have no idea what I'm talking about.

 

I disagree somewhat with what Jeff wrote. I agree with most of his message, but for one part.

Besides an emotional investment, a home is also a financial investment. It's also one of the better ones today, and it's one of the better vehicles out there for retirement planning. The monthly mortgage payment is a "forced" contribution. The more it appreciates, the better off you'll be.

If you're insanely wealthy, sure...go ahead. Buy what ever you want without regards to whether or not it will appreciate.

But if you need (and you know whether or not this is true) to think about your future, then please, look for a home that offers you the best of both worlds: living needs and investment potential.

Of course.....desiding what is a good investment can be a little trickier. It's probably easier to decide what isn't a good investment. Like that big 6 bedroom, 5 bath house that you can pick up cheap in "beautiful" Vidor Texas.

 

LOL, this reminds me of my college roommates ... basically anything would do for a urinal ... left over containers, Tropicana juice bottles, glasses, plastic cups, One guy stole some flasks from the Chem labs for the emergencies, hehe.

 

One thing to consider is the heating/cooling costs too. Depending on how old the home is, it might have a unit for the downstairs and one for the upstairs. If the master is up, youll have to cool/heat the whole house, versus just the bottom if the master is down.

Also, someone mentioned this already, but its very true with regards to resale. A good majority of home buyers want the master down. So that could hurt when it comes to resale.

 

We've spent probably $30K on our house over the 7 or 8 years we've lived here on a wide array of things.

Fact is, remodeling is the BEST way to increase the value of your home. Kitchen and bath remodels, in particular, increase the value of a home.

I guess I just don't view homes as transient in nature. My grandparents spent 50 years in their home. My aunt still owns it. My mother just sold the house I grew up in after 35 years and she only sold it because she got remarried and they are building a new house. My maternal grandparents lived in their house until they passed away (over 35 years) and then my aunt owned it for another 20 after that.

Obviously, things can change. But, houses are a HUGE investment in terms of just sheer cash. If you buy one, I always figure you should be pretty convinced you are staying for a long while.