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Which house would you pick?

post #1 of 11
5/12/12 at 7:29pm
Thread Starter 

Today we looked at two nearly identical houses.  They were in the same neighborhood and had the same floor plan (which we LOVE).  The main difference was that one had been freshly painted in fancy colors and had really nice flooring throughout - fake wood and really cushy carpet.  The other one hadn't been painted (yet - people were still living there, but I think they'll just paint it plain ol' white).  There was kind of old, blech carpet, and tile in the kitchen/dining room.

 

The other difference was that the nicer one was 10% more/month.  Both were within our budget, but 10% is a big difference.

 

Which one would you pick?

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post #2 of 11
5/12/12 at 8:11pm

Well, 10% in Southern CA can be really big money. Or is it? Can you justify the difference buy the price of the carpet alone?

 

I'd probably look at other factors. Which house seems better maintained? Look past the paint. Did the people who just painted do so to try to cover up some major errors in the house, or to edge out their house over the other one and make it more 'sell-able'?

 

Is there a difference in landscaping? On where they are situated on the street? Direction the front door is facing? Condition of the neighbor houses?

 

Lastly, are you leaning toward one house over the other? And do you LIKE the new paint?

 

My feeling is that walls get dinged up as people are moving in and out and there is always the marks left on the walls when pictures are removed, etc. Do they have the left over paint still available?

 

Since you're moving from out of state, I'd lean toward the house that is ready to move into.
 

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post #3 of 11
5/12/12 at 8:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cookie2 View Post

Well, 10% in Southern CA can be really big money. Or is it?

 

It is, that's why I didn't give you a dollar amount ROTF.gif  Everything here is in a "community" so things like landscaping are all the same by the HOA.  We've actually already picked one, I just want to see what you all would say.  As far as moving from out of state, the one that has people living in it actually gives us an advantage because we aren't moving for over a month.  The other one wants a renter ASAP and might pressure us to sign early.

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post #4 of 11
5/12/12 at 8:53pm

With CA prices, I wouldn't pay 10% more monthly for paint and floors. Especially when you are already having to pay a HOA. But, we don't mind dealing with things like that ourselves and would not mind living with less than optimal options until we had time to deal with it, as long as it was safe and clean.

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post #5 of 11
5/13/12 at 8:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by liamsmom View Post

With CA prices, I wouldn't pay 10% more monthly for paint and floors. Especially when you are already having to pay a HOA. But, we don't mind dealing with things like that ourselves and would not mind living with less than optimal options until we had time to deal with it, as long as it was safe and clean.

I totally agree!  If you can afford the extra 10% on the first house every month, then can't you afford to just paint and put in the floors that you like in the other house? 


Edited by mamax3 - 5/13/12 at 8:34am
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post #6 of 11
5/13/12 at 9:07am

Oh, I forgot you were renting, not buying. I'd go for the cheapo rent.

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post #7 of 11
5/13/12 at 12:54pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mamax3 View Post

I totally agree!  If you can afford the extra 10% on the first house every month, then can't you afford to just paint and put in the floors that you like in the other house? 

 

We're renting, or else we totally would!

 

We decided to go for the cheaper house, and they accepted our application almost immediately.  The realtors are trying to talk the owner into redoing the floor and painting it something other than white, so we'll see where they get.  But we'll be SO much under budget with the cheaper one, that we can afford to do things on our own to spruce it up, even if we can't paint etc. 

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post #8 of 11
5/14/12 at 7:37am

I would go with the cheaper one. Although I did live with my oh so white walls and hated it. But part of hating it was in that we were going to paint so it meant nothing was going up on those walls. What do I really like seeing more the walls or the photos of my kids. 

I would also ask about if you could get a discount on rent for doing work around the house. Ask If they let you paint it can you get some money off.

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post #9 of 11
5/14/12 at 11:45am

I vote cheaper as well. 

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post #10 of 11
7/5/12 at 7:42pm
Thread Starter 

Just a little update on this.  We went with the cheaper house and talked them into painting it "not white."  It's two-tone beige, which is a thousand times better, at least.  The carpet and tile is one thing I do not like about the house, but it is such a perfect layout and location for us, we can't help but love it!  We were just commenting today on that extra 10% under budget.  Can't beat that.

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