Friday night house-buying advice, anyone?

[hymen]

H and I bought our house 4 years ago, right before we got married. It's a great little house but with interest rates being so low, we have started looking for our "forever" home. We aren't in any hurry to buy right now, but we have toured 4 houses in the past month or so and are on our realtor's automated listing e-mail for houses that meet our criteria.

Here is what we are looking for:
- at least 4 bedrooms (with a master suite)
- more open concept
- around 2500 square feet
- possibly finished basement
- a large yard (at least half an acre) and nice outdoor space
- specific location/school district (close to grocery store, interstate access, etc.)
- some character to it (fireplace, molding, etc.)

A few weeks ago we saw a house that meets ALL of our criteria - 3,000 square foot, finished basement, 4 bedrooms with master suite, kitchen semi-open to family room with fireplace, a big yard (1 acre) with a deck AND a gorgeous Florida room and lots of trees, greenery, etc., great location. Plus, the kitchen is completely redone, there is TONS of storage space (TONS!), and there is a bedroom/bath in the basement that would be perfect for my parents to stay when they come visit. The house is PERFECT. It was a little more than our price range but we are rather conservative in that and could swing it (as long as we sell our house first). We wouldn't be house poor by any means. FWIW, we are looking in the 250-325 range and the house was listed at 340.

The kicker?

Most of the yard is sloped. The driveway is up a steep hill. There is a flat spot where the house is and about 15 (?) feet beyond that of flat yard, but then the rest of the yard slopes up. The front yard all slopes up. The yard is nice, with lots of greenery, trees, etc., and while there are neighbors are both sides it is very secluded. However, I don't know how we would take care of the yard. It seems too steep to mow, and hiring a lawn service in the summer could be very expensive. Plus, the driveway is long but steep so there wouldn't be really any place for guests to park except along the road and then walk up the driveway, which seems like a pain. Also, we would fence the yard for our dogs but probably only the flat part and we are worried it wouldn't be enough room for them to run around, plus have room for our swingset, etc.

We thought the yard was a dealbreaker (plus it was a bit high on the price) but just found out the price was lowered to 330. So now I'm really rethinking things.

I really, really love the house, but I'm still iffy because of the yard.

What says ML? Would you sacrifice a flatter yard for a house you love? Does anyone live on a slope and could give me some feedback on pros/cons? I'll try to post pics in a minute of the backyard so you can see what I mean.

[Deleted]

Do you mean the yard slopes down to the house? I would think that could lead to the possibility of some drainage problems in the future. Is that what you mean?

[Deleted]

Oh and - we decided against a house that was gorgeous and that we loved, but that didn't have a yard that was perfect for us, and we ended up with a house that we liked better.

[peekay]

You can always change the inside of your house. For something as extreme as that I would probably let the house pass by. If its an issue now it will always be there.

[hymen]

The backyard does slope down towards the house. There didn't seem to be any water issues from what we could see in the basement (but we didn't look too thoroughly).

[emsumm]

We've had water issues so that spooks me. Does the yard continue to slope down in the same direction in the front? Or is the house essentially in a bowl? Did you ask about drainage and any thing that's in place to rid the water that will flow towards the home?

[hymen]

The front yard then slopes down to the street. The house is kind of mid-way up a hill.

I know we should probably just wait and keep looking, but I haven't been able to get this house out of my head since we saw it. And now with the price drop, it is like it is taunting me further.

[peekay]

I know it's hard, but I would prob let it go by. The inside is beautiful, but not so incredible that you couldn't recreate the look in a house with a better property. Sorry! It's hard to stay cool when house shopping.

[Deleted]

That's a very pretty house! But I see what you mean with the yard. I think the other problem you might encounter is that it could be very dark in the back of the house because of the hill. But mostly I'd be paranoid about possible water/ drainage problems because I've lived through that stuff before and we had to totally regrade a lawn. I'd be inclined to pass on a house that has outside stuff I'm not in love with - esp. since it doesn't look like a lot of the yard will be useable space.

[Deleted]

move on. you can fix a house. you can't fix a yard like that.

[LLL]

I think you should keep looking. Are you working with a realtor? is your home for sell yet?

[hymen]

Ugh. You guys are right. But I think I knew that before I even posted this.

I'm going to DD the realtor.com link though because I don't like the address being out there.

[hymen]

Aug 10, 2012 21:12:33 GMT -5 LLL said:

I think you should keep looking. Are you working with a realtor? is your home for sell yet?

Home is not for sale yet. We do have a realtor (she helped us buy our current house). She knows we are in no rush, though.

I do love the house that we are in. The major problem is there is only 2 bedrooms and 1 full bath. This wasn't a big deal when we bought our house (even though we knew it would be a starter home), but about 6 months after we bought it, my parents moved to Georgia. So when they came up to visit they would stay in the second bedroom, but now that room is the baby's room. We do have another finished room in our (mostly unfinished) basement that we use as a "guest bedroom," but there are are no windows in that room and it gets a little damp down there (we have a dehumidifier running 24/7). My mom doesn't mind sleeping down there but it messes with my dad's allergies, which means he usually sleeps on our couch which is a little awkward sometimes. I guess I'm just anxious to have a house that has more guest space, and this house definitely has that. For this area it's a good price for the square footage and yard size, but I guess the cost reflects the fact that it is such a sloped yard.