Opinions

I went to see a house yesterday with my dad and my realtor.

It's in a town we both like, in a solid school district (not my first choice, but it's good enough) and it's selling for a really low price right now, but they're doing some work on it to fix it up after some renters lived in it and made it messy. Pretty much cosmetic issues, and things like, getting the central air working again and cleaning out the pool. Once they're all done, the house will list for slightly more money - still affordable though.
It's on .38 of an acre of flat land with some trees. Set back pretty far from the road, so there's a nice front yard, as well as a pretty good backyard (not just all pool back there). It has a 2 car garage, a porch out front, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, eat-in kitchen, dining room and a full unfinished basement.
It's pretty much everything on our list of things we wanted in a house (except for a fireplace...but i'm ok with that).
Here's the catch. It's bordering a not-so-amazing area. NOT terrible, but not an area I'd want to move into. The block that the house is on is very nice and all of the houses are in nice condition and the property the house is on is all fenced in, so it's very private.

Am I being too picky? It's a great house for a great price - right in our price range....and the house has a lot of possibilities...
But we also don't have to find a house right now, so we could always wait it out a little longer, save up some more money and keep looking....I'm just nervous because in our price range - this is the nicest house we've seen so far that we can afford!

Thoughts?

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Well, it depends. What do you think of the not-so-nice area? Is it slowly improving? At a standstill? Getting worse?

When we bought our new house, I had hesitations about the bordering neighborhood. But, I decided to go ahead with the purchase because, from the research I've done, it looks like the area is improving. I looked at all recent sales in a 10 block radius and the housing prices were going up and many young couples were moving in. On our block alone, in the last 5 months, 5 houses have gone on sale and young "professional" couples moved in. If I didn't see that kind of trend, I probably wouldn't have purchased the house, becuase it's such a huge investment to risk losing money, or worse, having to move within a few short years due to frustration.

Our last house was in a great area, but bordered a heavily trafficked road. When we bought the house I could've cared less, but within 2 years, I was so annoyed with the noise, and the ruckus of neighborhood kids hanging out, especially when my daughter was born and was awoken by the noise on many occasions. That was the impetus for hte move...

So, I can't give you a clear answer, but those are the things I would think about... if you plan on living there for only a few years, then it's probably ok. If this is your "forever" house, I may have my doubts...

Message edited 8/4/2006 12:22:38 PM.

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It would depend on how bad and how close the bad area is. If it were say - two or three blocks away, then i would be concerned. If it was a mile away (say next town over) then it probably wouldnt concern me. Many very nice towns have not so desirable towns very close - Dix Hills is probably a good example of this.....

Also - is the not so desireable area part of your school district?

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I walked away from a very nice house in a very nice town that was 2 blocks away from a not so nice town. In fact, I would have to drive through the not so nice town late at night and I felt uncomfortable with that.

Ended up with a better house in a great neighborhood. I felt like a dodged a bullet.

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depends on which bad area it is bordering

IMO that is a key factor

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I actually like the idea of rebuilding. I like seeing young professionals move into a "not-so-nice" town and turn it into an up and coming area. If you can get in at the bottom, think about what your potential resale could be.

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The house sounds great!
I would drive through the not-so-nice area during different times of the day to see what is it ireally like.

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For me it would depend on just how close this "bad" neighborhood is and like others said if I had to drive through it.

If I had to drive through it everyday - I would not take it.

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Well look at Dix Hills and Wyndanch.

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