Which would you pick?

DH & I are thinking about putting an offer on one or both of the following options. If you had to pick between one of these, which would you pick?

Option One:

The house is located on a quiet cul de sac, but there is a super small nail salon at the end of the block. There is one house between "ours" and the salon. There's a total of 7 houses on the block. Definitely the type of block that DD could ride her bike on, draw on the street w/ chalk, etc. No scare of her getting run down by a speeding car. The house is old and needs a new kitchen and bath on the first floor. The attic space has a walkup staircase and would be dormered and converted into bedrooms and a second bathroom so the two downstairs bedrooms could be made into a large family room and the present living room, which is very small, would be made into a dining room. The property is 100' across by 77' back. The house is pushed back so the backyard is, in my opinion, on the smaller side and an L-shape. There is a full unfinished basement, but we would eventually finish it, carpet in every room (including the kitchen) but hardwood underneath. Once the kitchen and bathroom are done we could live comfortably until the upstairs is done, but all of our extra money would be spent on those rooms so upstairs would take longer. DH knows the owner through the FD so we could get a deal, probably.

Option 2:

Located on a nice street south of Montauk Hwy. Crawlspace basement, smaller bedrooms, new bathroom & kitchen. Property is 75' wide, 150' back, but the house is situated so the backyard is much larger. Same with the other house, the attic would be dormered and expanded, but it's a pulldown attic so we'd need to add in a staircase. Since we don't have to re-do the first floor we'd be able to do the upstairs faster, but it would be MUCH tighter living space until it was done. We would also be able to eventually expand the downstairs because we have alot of room. The yard is more private and we could put a deck in the back. This house is $4,000 cheaper and taxes are $600 less.

Help!

Re: Which would you pick?

I would go with the first one - you are going to want to have a basement. Do you know how much it is to dormer? Could be very expensive. Also keep in mind how high are the celiings? We found out during our inspection that the attic ceilings were too low to put bedrooms in and basically we will have to take the entire roof off and build it all over rather than just putting dormers. I say get the one that had room to grow but you would not be cramped if you couldn't do those renovations. I would not buy a house on the sole basis of planning to expand because you don't know what could happen down the road. It could cost up to $100k to do the renovations you mentioned...

ETA - I would not pay too much attention to the $600 difference in taxes, it could very well be inaccurate...

Message edited 10/24/2010 6:11:29 PM.

Re: Which would you pick?

One!

Re: Which would you pick?

Where is the first house located? You said the 2nd one was south of Montaulk is the first one too?

If you dormer the second house will you be able to see the commercial properties from your house?

Re: Which would you pick?

One! Just for the fact of the basement! If our house we bought didnt have a basement I have NO idea what I would have done! I would also want bigger rooms and have enough living space. Redoing the kitchen and bathroom will be great to make it how YOU want it! Are they in Lindy?

ETA: homeowners insurance might be more expensive south of montauk bc now you have to pay flood insurance.

Message edited 10/25/2010 12:36:59 PM.

Re: Which would you pick?

Well it turns out the one South of Montauk has become a very difficult to attain short sale. Nevermind.

Re: Which would you pick?

I vote neither.

If you are in a borderline area with basements vs. crawlspaces... i'd look for a full basement. So #2 is out.

If the cul-de-sac has a Nail Salon on the corner, that probably means the adjacent road is probably more of a main road. So no go on #1.