House Buying Question(s)

[cricketwife]

I would not look at a house now if you aren't ready to buy...especially for 1-2 years.  You'll fall in love, you'll decide you're ready now, you'll start making bad money decisions.  If you want to wait 1-2 yeas to buy, then you should wait 1-2 years to look.

I'm sure that there are lots of good books.  I'd check some out from the library.  It's too early for a realtor because you aren't a buyer yet.

[Deleted]

Why were you planning to wait 1-2 years?

[y4m]

Why is this house half price?

I saw some stuff that looked amazing in Redfin but was anything but in person. My guess would be this house falls in that category.

[Deleted]

If you think you will be looking at other houses, I'd look into getting a realtor of your own. If it's literally just this one, I would make an appointment via Redfin, see it first, make sure you like it, and then worry about all the other stuff. y4m is totally right that sometimes listings can be super duper deceiving.

To answer your other questions, we did not use a buyer's guide so I can't recommend one. We went to friends who had purchased before us and our realtor with whatever questions we had and felt they were answered to our satisfaction.

The seller should pay the realtor fee. You should be able to find online calculators to help you with guessing the closing costs and inspection. I think we paid $250 for our inspection. 

[sporky]

Home Buying for Dummies. Seriously, it will give you tons of useful information.

[y4m]

I guess I'd just go with the Redfin agent.

But if its really a good and rare property, it's going to go very fast in this market, and you are probably already behind because you don't have a realtor to help you manage that process, pre-approvals, etc.

Go look for sure, but don't get your heart set on it.

[y4m]

So it's a flip and has been on the market since January. I don't know that area, but knowing this market that makes me think there's something wrong with it.

But go--worst case you waste half an hour. And you'll learn from it.

[Deleted]

The kitchen and first floor look cute. There are only a few pictures of upstairs so I am guessing the bedrooms are tiny. Also, one of my friends lived in a rental that had a staircase that looked like that and they could not get a box spring up the stairs - they slept on a mattress on the floor for a year - and they had to put the dressers and such they already owned in storage b/c they needed something in flat pack boxes (Ikea) that they could assemble upstairs.

[chia]

Since you're a first time homebuyer, I'd definitely recommend talking to a great real estate agent - they can help walk you through all of the details.
There are often recs given on the local boards - and, there's one poster (dawnmichie) who has helped several former nesties buy their first place.

[mollybrown]

I would guess that the rooms are tiny. 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths in less than 1200 sq ft seems like a lot of rooms for the space. I'm no expert, but it doesn't look like those windows have been replaced. Between the fire station and heating/cooling bills, that might be another large upgrade that needs to be budgeted for.

[MrsE]

Honestly, I hate to say this, but a 4 bedroom house for $200K makes me think something must be seriously wrong with it. Don't get me wrong, you might be able to get a good deal on a tiny home in the $370-$380 range, but $200K? Something must be wrong.

It wouldn't hurt to set up an appointment through Redfin to browse through it though.

Ditto Chia's rec about the local board.

[KaraOrNot]

I second House/Home Buying for Dummies.

[stephm0188]

It looks like a flip. Pretty cosmetically, but I'd be very wary of major things. and 4 bedrooms and under 1200 sq ft? IDK.

[chia]

Oh, also, I don't know exactly what you're looking for - but I've seen some cute houses in my neighborhood for around $300'ish, give or take. Most are probably 1200-1400 sqft or so. We live within 15-20 min walk to Metro.
Personally, I'd rather live in a crappier part of MoCo than some of the areas in pg co. Even if the local public school isn't the best, MoCo county schools are better overall.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using proboards

[ssmjlm]

Apr 9, 2013 23:54:03 GMT -5 chia said:

Oh, also, I don't know exactly what you're looking for - but I've seen some cute houses in my neighborhood for around $300'ish, give or take. Most are probably 1200-1400 sqft or so. We live within 15-20 min walk to Metro.
Personally, I'd rather live in a crappier part of MoCo than some of the areas in pg co. Even if the local public school isn't the best, MoCo county schools are better overall.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using proboards

Yeah, you lost me at PG county, sorry. 

[mrshandy]

That is crazy cheap for this area. There is something up, and you might discover it when visiting. How long has it been on the market? Is there an open house this weekend?

We read house buying for dummies, which was really useful. I would be happy to give you our copy if you want since we just bought a place.

[ssmjlm]

Man, I'm going to show my age, but I remember when National Harbor was all swamp. I still can't believe it's become a "hot spot" all these years later.

[mrshandy]

Apr 10, 2013 8:54:30 GMT -5 jjwritergirl said:

Apr 10, 2013 6:59:13 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Yeah, you lost me at PG county, sorry. 

 We live in PG county now and don't mind it at all. We're right by national harbor, a minute from the bridge, and basically do our shopping and important tasks in Alexandria... with the cost saving benefits of living in PG. I would have no problem buying a house in PG if it's in the same general area we live now. 

mrshandy  If you're willing to pass that book along, that would be great! Thank you! I am so glad you got a house. I know how long you guys had been working towards that goal. 

Thanks! I'll send you a PM.

[glynn]

The rooms look tiny, but go see for yourself and go from there. If you fins a realtor that really know the area they may be able to tell you what is up with the house.
When we were looking our realtor knew so much able the house because they had sold the house before or knew why the house did not sell for people looking. Knowledge is power in my book on anything. Go look and decide from there.

[hocus2]

THere are a lot of houses like that near me and aren't interested. It is really small and they fact that they have two rooms (a foyer and a living room) on the main level makes it feel smaller. They have very little furniture in it to make it feel bigger but I know that with 2 kids and a big TV that sort of house would feel really tight. I also think the layout is poor. When you go see it think about where you'd put a TV. Where you'd put your coat and shoes.

[Deleted]

I would talk to a realtor. If you make it clear you are not really looking to see a bunch of places I would think they would be happy to spend a short time showing you the place on the chance you buy it (easy money!). I also think they can keep an eye out if similar properties go on the market and can tell you if that place is not a good place for whatever reason. Our realtor was invaluable when we bought and he walked us through the process. I did some research on my own online too, but his advice and expertise on our market was really so much more than any book would have provided

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using proboards

[chia]

Apr 10, 2013 9:50:12 GMT -5 carrotsmakemefat said:

I know the area JJ since I used to live in Waldorf and travel down 210. That said, there is still no way I would buy right there. I wouldn't call it a horrible area by any stretch (I think many people overstate how bad PG is...it really isn't TOO bad), but if you buy a home there you should be prepared for the long haul in terms of where your kids will go to school (you are TTC right?). We looked at rentals in that exact area, but instead just decided to move to Alexandria, right across from National Harbor.

If you were originally thinking out by Dulles area or in VA, stick to that. Don't waiver on what it is you are wanting.

carrots made the point better than me.
I used to live in PG county for a while, and wouldn't have minded it as a single person or as a married couple not having kids... especially if we were renting.

But, buying a house is a different matter.  And, when you add kids to the equation, it's even more complicated.  I don't think you need to be in the "best" school district with a house feeding into the best highschools.  However, IMO, to allow for some value and flexibility, the overall school district should be able to allow for opportunities for your kid - good magnet schools, specialized programs, better services for special needs kids, etc.  In general, I don't think PG county has that.