I've asked something similar before and received great feedback. It's been a while and we've found ourselves in a similar position, so I'm back with another WWYD.
-Searching for our forever house so we aren't too concerned with resale right now.
-Have been looking for over a year.
-Pretty open to anywhere in town, with the exception of the outlying areas and some rougher sections of town.
-I've lived here 16 years and have over 15 very close friends with kids. The friends live all over Vegas, but are still within 20 minutes of either of these homes.
House #1- Beautiful, guard gated neighborhood. Home is on the golf course. DH is obsessed with golf and we already are members of the club near the home. Location is highly sought after. Lots of children and families, great family feel to neighborhood with some older retirees sprinkled in. Good schools, but we're probably going the private school route anyway. House is nice and wouldn't need any work. Has a pool but the yard is pretty small. Houses are literally right on top of each other. Tract homes with semi-custom additions, so the houses all look very similar. Typical stucco Vegas cookie cutters, but higher end, if that makes sense. Houses are the same price, property taxes are about the same, but this house has $250 HOAs (which is actually low here for a guard gated neighborhood). Here's a picture of a house in the same neighborhood just to give you an idea NOT THE EXACT HOUSE--
House #2--Gorgeous custom home unlike anything we've seen in Vegas. On an acre of land with lush landscaping, big trees, basketball court, tennis court, pool, outdoor kitchen, etc. I'd probably do some painting because there's lots of beige, but otherwise the house is perfect. DH said it looks like a pottery barn ad. Much older, established part of town. Neighbors are all older, for the most part. Coincidentally we have one friend with kids about 5 and 7 who lives on the street, but otherwise not many kids. Safe, but only for a few blocks then it gets close to a seedy area. No where to really trick or treat beyond a few streets, not a ton of kids to play with, not a lot of streets/sidewalks to walk or ride bikes. I wouldn't feel safe walking more than about 3/4 mile in any direction.
So here's my question. #1 has the great neighborhood feel but we aren't huge on the houses because we really want to steer clear of cookie cutter tract homes. #2 is a gorgeous custom home but lacks the neighborhood feel. And this is the predicament we find outselves in over and over and over. If you want a custom home in Vegas with a big lot and nice yard, you aren't going to find it in a big neighborhood, period. So are we being selfish by not giving our kids the neighborhood with house #1? Does it matter that I have so many close friends who have kids for mine to play with anyway? So we'd likely end up at someone's house, if not ours? Has anyone had a similar decision to make and can offer insight?
I would pass one #1 just because of the HOA. No thank you to having someone tell me what I can or cannot do with my home.
I feel this way to some extent, but the problem is that the majority of homes in Vegas have an HOA. Most developing took place within the past 30 years or so and that's just the way it worked out. Of the 30+ homes we've looked at we've seriously considered about 8. Of those 8, 6 had HOA fees. It's too hard to rule out houses here based on HOAs, although not as many homes come with such a high HOA fee.
It would be just like us ruling our foreclosures or short sales. With the market we have here, it's almost impossible to do that.
Dude. I would do #2 no question. I've never lived in a "neighborhood" like #1 and many people never do and turn out fine. There are plenty of ways to give your kids the experiences you want while still living in house #2.
Dude. I would do #2 no question. I've never lived in a "neighborhood" like #1 and many people never do and turn out fine. There are plenty of ways to give your kids the experiences you want while still living in house #2.
One thing that concerns us is safety. Just a few miles away is one of the worst parts of town and there's no good grocery store or shopping nearby that isn't also utilized by those who live in the crappy area. Again, I realize these are problems people deal with all the time, totally FWP, but when we've put so much time and effort into finding something perfect I don't want to settle on what many consider to be the most important aspect--location.
Post by Bob Loblaw on Jan 11, 2013 12:18:26 GMT -5
#2. If your kids are going to private school, most of their close friends won't be from the neighborhood anyway, right? That was my experience as a kid. The kids will come to your house to play because you'll have a tennis court, basketball court and pool I also hate HOA neighborhoods.
Post by goaskalice on Jan 11, 2013 12:19:48 GMT -5
As someone who went to private school I can safely say I never hung out with kids in my neighborhood and I turned out just fine. :-) My friends growing up were either from my private school or dance class and our parents were always driving us to or from each others homes to hang out. Personally, I would absolutely go with the custom home.
No I don't think you're being selfish by going with #2. We made a similar decision. Our choice was between a newer "cookie cutter" type home and an older home built in 1918. We went with the latter because we just really liked the interior features of the house and the neighborhood. It does have cons: our neighbors are mostly older and the lots are tiny. But I drive them to play dates so that's fine and the kids still have fun in the backyard. It's also nice that lawn care doesn't take up much of our time.
I live in a neighborhood with very few kids or kids my DS's age. He is our only child. It does suck because he has no one to play with in our neighborhood and he also goes to private school so kids in his class are all over the city. Also, kids in our neighborhood don't get home from school til close to 5 pm so there is little play time anyway. Any kids coming from daycare/afterschool care are in the same situation. You have two kids however, so it won't be as big a deal as they will at least have eachother to play with.
Post by doctorsbaby on Jan 11, 2013 12:21:41 GMT -5
Taking a random guess at the areas that would fit with the description of #2, I would go with it. The HOA doesn't bother me but the houses being almost on top of each other for the price range you've been looking at is a deal breaker for me.
Yard - bigger the yard, the more uptake. Are you all up for that?
Neighborhood - kind of depends on how social you are. I LOVE my neighborhood. LOVE it. Lot's of families w/ kids around DSs age. Past the kids, though, the parents are all social. We have a book club, just last weekend a few of us went out for an adults night out, other social events are thrown through out the year.
I LOVE it. But i'm a pretty social person and like to hang out w/ people as much as I can. So .... it's just an all around win-win. Fun neighbors who we hang out w/ both as friends and also as fellow parents.
There are much cooler/nicer neighborhoods around us, but they don't have this component to them and I know I'd be really sad to not have the social aspect to my neighborhood. We have plenty of friends outside of the neighborhood, but as we all have kids - life is busy and we don't have as much time to see each other. Simply for the fact of living near one another, the neighborhood crew makes up for some of that lack of time for other friends.
I have just loved having neighbors you can run over to say "hi" to and hang out with and that's definitely something that will be lacking with house 2. The community is older, the neighbors are older and the houses are pretty spread out--very uncommon for Vegas.
All great input though, I really appreciate the feedback. I also realize I'm torturing myself with this house hunting process but we've made some bad buying decisions in the past so I'm taking it seriously and really doing the research this time. We won't buy unless it meets most if not all of our needs.
We sort of have this dilemma--my parents are offering to have us take over their house in 2-3 years. Great layout and yard, they've been doing a lot of updates already, and we know the history since 1985 when my stepmom bought it. The problem is that it exists on a single, quiet road between a community college and nursing home. At one end is a pond, and the other is a busy road. There are about 5 other houses on the street, all elderly neighbors right now. It would be great if we could find a home in the neighborhood DH grew up in on the other side of the community college, or in a section about 10min north, but the good houses go so quickly and odds are they will go out of our price range since bidding wars are common. So we've committed to planning for my parents house. We may have to drive to hang out with kids or friends in the future, but there's still a safe space to play and use a bike, and the house itself works for us. And I would take a house with character and personal details over cookie cutter anyday.
Since it sounds like you're really on the quest for perfection...can you buy land and then custom build a house? Or maybe do a tear down if the price was right?
I don't know anything about the LV real estate market so forgive my ignorance!
I don't know about gated vs non-gated, HOA vs no HOA because those have never been considerations for us. However, we feel strongly about living in a family friendly community.
There are lots of kids on the street, several kids that are even in each of my kids school classes. I love that and would not give up that experience for my kids for the nicest house with the most character.
doctorsbaby- you probably figured it out, but I sent you a PM.
ECB- we were writing at the same time but like I said in my follow up, we are extremely social, and that's one of my concerns.
jenny-it's SO hard to find a non-gated, nice neighborhood here! But the house style is a lot like yours, especially inside. If we get serious enough to make an offer I'll post pictures.
ijack, interesting point. But I've found fault with practically every house we've looked at, so I feel like I'm at a loss.
I don't know about gated vs non-gated, HOA vs no HOA because those have never been considerations for us. However, we feel strongly about living in a family friendly community.
There are lots of kids on the street, several kids that are even in each of my kids school classes. I love that and would not give up that experience for my kids for the nicest house with the most character.
I worry that we'll go the other route and regret it for the reasons you mentioned. I ask my DH all the time--should we forego the nicer custom homes with the big yards and personal touches for the cookie cutters just so we can give our kids the family friendly neighborhood. I guess ultimately, that's what our house hunt will come down to.
Is #2 the house from last night? I saw the pics and it was gorgeous! I think I would pick #2. I spend more time in my house than in the surrounding neighborhood/area. But we do live in a nieghborhood kind of like #1 and the kids all around us hang out together.
ESF- we were writing at the same time but like I said in my follow up, we are extremely social, and that's one of my concerns.
Hey, give credit where credit is due. That was me.
Another thing for me - we bought our house w/ the intention to be here until DS is out of high school. But it's not our "forever" home. It could end up being that, but that isn't our intended plan. Once he's out of the house - we're going to see where we are in life and where we want to be / live. We lived in the city for 11 years and LOVED it - we can both see ourselves wanting to go back down there.
So, since this house/neighborhood is largely "for" DS, that also drove our desire to really be in a family friendly community. I just don't see DH and I living in this house until we're 80.
Is #2 the house from last night? I saw the pics and it was gorgeous! I think I would pick #2. I spend more time in my house than in the surrounding neighborhood/area. But we do live in a nieghborhood kind of like #1 and the kids all around us hang out together.
No, house #2 is nothing at all like the house I posted last night. Edited so as not to give away exact location/house.
Okay then, are there houses like #2 that exist in a neighborhood like #1? Is it possible for your dream to become a reality within vegas, or no? We live in a neighborhood similar to #1 (though I like to think it's not as cookie cutter) and we love it. It's awesome for DD to be able to walk down the street and pick up some friends on the way. We have 5+ parks within 6 blocks of us, and know all our neighbors. That was really important to us. We love our house too, and while it isn't huge and custom, it's still very nice.
ESF- we were writing at the same time but like I said in my follow up, we are extremely social, and that's one of my concerns.
Hey, give credit where credit is due. That was me.
Another thing for me - we bought our house w/ the intention to be here until DS is out of high school. But it's not our "forever" home. It could end up being that, but that isn't our intended plan. Once he's out of the house - we're going to see where we are in life and where we want to be / live. We lived in the city for 11 years and LOVED it - we can both see ourselves wanting to go back down there.
So, since this house/neighborhood is largely "for" DS, that also drove our desire to really be in a family friendly community. I just don't see DH and I living in this house until we're 80.
I don't know about gated vs non-gated, HOA vs no HOA because those have never been considerations for us. However, we feel strongly about living in a family friendly community.
There are lots of kids on the street, several kids that are even in each of my kids school classes. I love that and would not give up that experience for my kids for the nicest house with the most character.
I worry that we'll go the other route and regret it for the reasons you mentioned. I ask my DH all the time--should we forego the nicer custom homes with the big yards and personal touches for the cookie cutters just so we can give our kids the family friendly neighborhood. I guess ultimately, that's what our house hunt will come down to.
Yeah, I think you just need to decide which is important to you. We don't care a tonne about architectural details, but we do care that the home has quality finishes for example. I absolutely love my house, although it would make others on here cringe because they value other things in a home than I do.
Okay then, are there houses like #2 that exist in a neighborhood like #1? Is it possible for your dream to become a reality within vegas, or no? We live in a neighborhood similar to #1 (though I like to think it's not as cookie cutter) and we love it. It's awesome for DD to be able to walk down the street and pick up some friends on the way. We have 5+ parks within 6 blocks of us, and know all our neighbors. That was really important to us. We love our house too, and while it isn't huge and custom, it's still very nice.
If there are, we haven't found it yet. And I feel like I know this city and the real estate market better than anyone I've ever met here. I've literally obsessed over this for 2 years.
And re: buying land and building, we would if we could find land in the perfect area. The one piece of land we found in a nice neighborhood was 350K just for the 1/2 acre piece of land and you had to build your house to certain specs, plus there's a 350 a month HOA. It's still under consideration, but the land price just seems outrageous for our market.