Made an Offer

Last Sunday, I went to open houses, as usual. I found [1386311 - 20981 W 116th St - $310,000], which has an amazing backyard. It's got a two-story deck with a screened in sun room (which they filled with a hot tub that wouldn't stay). The yard continued on into a park with sand volleyball, community pool, and a basketball court and playground. The location is fairly ideal, and it's got a lot of cool things about it. My mom found the kitchen to be a bit small, and I found the basement to be a bit smaller than I'd like.

We also found [1376482 - 14557 S Greenwood St - $289,000], which was better than [1375753 - 14116 W 53rd Tr - $288,500] from last time, and in a better location. I still wasn't in love with it for any reason, but it had a decent yard, and was surrounded by nicer houses (which can help resale, apparently).

On Friday, JD and I went to 7 houses, including [1385690 - 15969 Clairborne St - $299,950]. It's a very open house, has a large basement (in two main sections), and large bedrooms. While walking through it, I kept asking, "Where are the negatives?" The only two we could find were the small backyard and the tandem garage. But, the backyard doesn't have a fence to the right, so it opens into the neighbor's yard, which is nice for now. A three-car garage would help while having roommates, but it's not necessary, really. If you go look at the listing for this house, don't worry about the two bedrooms in the basement - they're actually on the top floor with the rest.

Yesterday (Saturday), JD, Carrie, my brother Brian and his girlfriend Aimee, and my parents all joined me in visiting these top three houses. We saw them in reverse order. Everyone liked the Clairborne house and found the Greenwood house lacking. As much as we liked the 116th St house a week ago, it just didn't compare to the Clairborne house. It's considerably smaller, a bit more expensive, and more cut up into actual rooms, instead of areas. The greenspace was the main selling feature, we felt. But, you can't add openness to a house, or much size. For the price difference, I could add a pretty nice deck to the Clairborne house, if I really wanted to. The basement wasn't as nicely finished in the Clairborne house, but it was much bigger, should I ever want to upgrade it.

So, I went back to my parents' house and watched some tennis until JD showed up with some paperwork. He talked about how the comparable houses in the neighborhood have been selling for more, often, and how the subdivision is ending its new construction, which means houses in the area should start to appreciate more. Basically, that this appears to be a pretty good deal. So, we drafted up the paperwork and I signed an offer for $280,000. This includes a home warranty, but little else. Being vacant, there is no washer, dryer, or refrigerator to negotiate over. Once we agree on a price, we can add in closing costs so I can finance those as well. The owners bought the house for $265,000, though, so at $280,000, minus 6% in agent commissions, they'd only be taking in $263,000. The $299,950 asking price is after coming down from about $330,000, so I'm not sure how much lower they can go. We'll find out, though!

I'm pretty excited about the house. It's over 4200 finished square feet for under $300,000. It's located right around 159th and Ridgeview, so it's close to at least one friend from work. The basement has a little exercise room or den, which would be perfect for our LEGO room. At 151st and Ridgeview is Garmin, so it's possible my brother can keep me with a supply of roommates. So, my brother can come over and play ping pong or darts after work, and it's got fairly ready access to I-35.

So, probably a $290,000 house, $230,000 in debt, an extra little bit in monthly income, and lots of maintenance. But, I'll have a house of my own, and I'm pretty happy about that.

House Hunting

I was house sitting last week at my parents' house. This means I need to update everyone on both last week's and this week's housing search.

Well, last week, I went out with my agent, Carrie, and my mother.

We found [1385397 - 5347 Gleason Rd - $307,000], which I really liked. I even had a feeling of wanting to make an offer. It has a pretty good basement, which makes up for the deck taking up most of the backyard. It's a bit west, and a bit north, but the location is manageable. Overall, I think it was my favorite.

My mom and JD liked [1375753 - 14116 W 53rd Tr - $288,500] the best. It was the end of the day, though, so Carrie and I weren't terribly thrilled. It seemed like just another nice house. The backyard is also small, and the basement is finished, but not all that homey.

On the value side, we found [1360857 - 5703 Noland Rd - $249,900]. It was built in 1987, but had the feel of a 1970s house. There was a tiny bit of wood rot in the back of the house, only had a 2-car garage and only 2 full baths. But, it was still a lot of house for $250,000. The master bedroom suite was simply amazing, but not always in a good way. It was a bit gaudy.

Sunday's open house search yielded [1382477 - 9930 W 128 Tr - $299,900]. This had a very nice first floor, an amazing basement (though not suited for ping pong), and decent size rooms. The main drawback is the cut up basement and the single shared bathroom for three bedrooms on the top floor.

This Saturday, JD, Carrie and I went back out to a few houses. Revisiting [1385397 - 5347 Gleason Rd - $307,000], I noticed some layout issues. When you walk in the front door, you see quite a few different stairs and not much of any given room. The bedrooms on the top floor are slightly weird shaped and aren't always practical when positioning a bed, desk, and TV.

When we went back to [1375753 - 14116 W 53rd Tr - $288,500], the basement looked more usable, the kitchen looked nicer, and the great room seemed more pleasant. The backyard seemed a bit more usable, but still not big enough for volleyball. Overall, though, it has started to beat out the Gleason house. I just wish it weren't so far north.

We also went back to [1382477 - 9930 W 128 Tr - $299,900], which was still nice, but not as good as the 53rd Tr house, so I've eliminated it. [1360857 - 5703 Noland Rd - $249,900] has changed to backup offers status, so that's out, too. [1356306 - 8136 Lingle Ln - $289,950] from a few weeks ago has also changed to backup offers status. I'm not terribly upset by either of these, though. The California front/back split ([1358668 - 7901 W 155th Pl - $294,500]) is still listed as active, but that was for sale by owner, so it may take a bit of time for that to update. Besides, it only had 3 bedrooms on the top floor, which could hurt resale.

Today, I couldn't find any promising houses online to tour. So, I drove around randomly looking for open house signs. It was kind of fun, but not all that productive, so we quickly lost interest. Everyone else liked a for sale by owner house for $339,950, but the basement wasn't great, in my opinion, and the for sale by owner part means I would need to pay JD's commission. The location was better than the 53rd Tr house, but the house wasn't nearly $50k better.

I've told my agent to show me some more houses in the Lenexa area, so I'm closer to coworkers, family, and social functions. We are going out again on Tuesday. I will then do another tour on Saturday. If I'm up for it, I will then do another open house search on Sunday. I then plan on making an offer during the week on my favorite house. I'm ready for this hunt to be over.

Housing Update, Again

[1335619 - 15312 S Blackfoot Dr - $244,000] is now my favorite house in the <$260,000 range. I'm unlikely to find anything much better for the price, so that's encouraging. I'm sure if I had started looking at three bedroom houses, or houses under $200,000, this would seem huge. But, since I pretty much started looking at $300,000 homes, this house looks a bit small. It's not very open on the main floor, and the rooms upstairs are fairly small and blocked off. It's nice to know that I have a viable option that leaves me money in my pocket, and that I can more comfortably afford without roommates.

Still, my ideal house right now is a bit more north, and a bit larger. So, for the next few days, I will be picking out more houses to go see. They will be on the more expensive side, almost certainly. I will also plan my Sunday open house marathon, since I don't want to waste my time with the agent getting me into houses that will be open the next day. I must maximize my time.

Housing Search Update

I'm a bit discouraged on my search for the perfect house under $340,000. So far, I've really liked [1356306 - 8136 Lingle Ln - $289,950], but my brother pointed out a few major practicality issues with the upstairs, and I never have really cared for the basement. [1376694 - 5323 W 132nd St - $328,900] is by far my favorite, but is on the upper end of my price range, and is in pending status (even if this falls through, I'd have to offer almost full price, too). It really is a beautiful home, and I feel like it wasn't nearly so cookie-cutter as most I've seen. While the floor plan has been reused, this house seems to have the best version, too. I vowed against a split level, but this California Front/Back split is pretty amazing [1358668 - 7901 W 155th Pl - $294,500]. Sadly, it got an offer on it last Friday for $289,000, and he's countering at $290,000. Basically, it's almost certainly going to sell.

[1376880 - 17488 W 158th Pl - $224,900] is the cheapest one I'm interested in. It seems to be quite a bit of house for the money, and has a big back yard. There wasn't anything obviously wrong with it when walking through briefly. Only 2.1 baths and only a two-car garage may be a problem for my prospective roommates, however. Plus, it's just nothing terribly special. Basically, it's cheap.

[1357598 - 15996 W 159 Tr - $264,950] is decent, though a bit smaller than what I'd ultimately like. The main problem is the unfinished basement. The remarks sections states "motivated seller," so if I can get it for $250,000, say, then I could finish off the basement for a final cost of about $270,000. This has the added bonus of having a basement as perfect as possible for the house.

[1335619 - 15312 S Blackfoot Dr - $244,000] is next up, but with only a two-car garage. The three full bathrooms is nice. After I refinished the basement, it would have 4 bathrooms, and a wet bar. I wouldn't have to redo every wall, but quite a few would have to move to fully utilize the space. It had a little nook that would be ideally suited for a dartboard, plus the foundation is poured for a basement fireplace already. It's been on the market for over 250 days, so something may be wrong with it, or it may have just been taken off the market for a bit. I'll bet the ceiling could be raised in the basement a bit, most places, too. Overall, I think this is probably the best value I've seen, since I can get the basement refinished how I like it for a total cost of about $255,000 - $260,000. I'll have to take another look, I guess.

I'm going out tomorrow with my mom and agent to see 3 more houses. I haven't picked out which ones, yet - or I could leave it up to him. If any of my readers care to join the house search, I would appreciate additional opinions.