- Oct 28, 1999
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Ross, ranch style homes are typically homes with all living space on one floor. They are typically longer than they are wide. Rectangular basically. You can get them anywhere from 800sq/ft all the way up to 3,000+ sq/ft if you want. They are great for older people and handicap people since they don't have any stairs needed to get in and out of the house, or to get around inside of the house.
They sometimes have basements, sometimes don't. Just depends.
They sometimes have basements, sometimes don't. Just depends.
Amused
Elite Member
- Apr 14, 2001
- 57,522
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A traditional "split level" home is where the stories are staggered. You have three levels in a vertical triangle formation. From the main level, you go down half a flight of stairs to the lower level, and up half a flight of stairs to the upper level which is directly above the lower level, and adjacent to the main level.
Get it?
How the levels of a split level home is typically laid out when seen from the front (ignore the periods):
Main level_____-------Upper Level
Lower Level......--------
Get it?
How the levels of a split level home is typically laid out when seen from the front (ignore the periods):
Main level_____-------Upper Level
Lower Level......--------
Why I will never be able to move back home unles my parents die and leave me thier house: This thing is $500,000
$399,000 - The cheapest thing listed for sale in the area.
$399,000 - The cheapest thing listed for sale in the area.
- Oct 28, 1999
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Ugh, my first house of almost 8 years was a split level and I never really liked it. The "main" floor had the kitchen, dinette and living room. Everything else involved using the stairs.
Geez, I can't believe a 2br 1 car house goes for over $100k. Why don't you try getting a used house with a little more room for about $70k, and build up some low-interest equity. You may be able to swing an extra principal payment or two a year. Then sell it in 5-8 years, and use that equity to upgrade. We did that with much success.
Geez, I can't believe a 2br 1 car house goes for over $100k. Why don't you try getting a used house with a little more room for about $70k, and build up some low-interest equity. You may be able to swing an extra principal payment or two a year. Then sell it in 5-8 years, and use that equity to upgrade. We did that with much success.
Vi-Edit hit the nail on the head....I would also look into buying one in a development area where a contractor has purchased the lots and his company is building the homes in there. This will also save you money bigtime
Ausm
Ausm
BrunoPuntzJones
Lifer
- Feb 24, 2001
- 14,513
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Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones
Kills me to see stuff like that
Here $500k could get you 150 acres and a 5000+ sq. foot house.
Try $5,000,000... closest thing I could find. (3 bdrm, 256 acres, $7.9million)
ThePresence
Elite Member
- Nov 19, 2001
- 27,727
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Originally posted by: DaZ
You seriously need some help.. check yourself into an institution asap!
If you don't mind doing some work, look into a HUD or VA house. They are typically foreclosures that are a little run down, but can be had on the cheap. As long as there aren't any major problems (you will find out in the inspection), they are GREAT starter homes. My brother's first house was a HUD, and I helped him add a new roof and convert the garage into a room. Now I own the house and it's worth 85% more than it was when he bought it 5 years ago from HUD
- Feb 24, 2000
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vi_edit - That link you gave me is really helpful, thank you again!
I found the Sunrise Terrace community but there are no pictures or floor plans!
So I searched for and found the builder with Google.
I wanted to check out the 1310 and 1308 but they only have the 1308 floor plan online.
Seems really simple then again I did want a simple cookie cutter house.
Decisions, decisions.
What's the best way to spend $120-$130k on a new home in a development?
Any ideas?
I found the Sunrise Terrace community but there are no pictures or floor plans!
So I searched for and found the builder with Google.
I wanted to check out the 1310 and 1308 but they only have the 1308 floor plan online.
Seems really simple then again I did want a simple cookie cutter house.
Decisions, decisions.
What's the best way to spend $120-$130k on a new home in a development?
Any ideas?
- Feb 24, 2000
- 79,091
- 457
- 136
Originally posted by: wyvrn
If you don't mind doing some work, look into a HUD or VA house. They are typically foreclosures that are a little run down, but can be had on the cheap. As long as there aren't any major problems (you will find out in the inspection), they are GREAT starter homes. My brother's first house was a HUD, and I helped him add a new roof and convert the garage into a room. Now I own the house and it's worth 85% more than it was when he bought it 5 years ago from HUD
But in order to qualify for a VA loan, don't you have to be a vet?
Originally posted by: wyvrn
If you don't mind doing some work, look into a HUD or VA house. They are typically foreclosures that are a little run down, but can be had on the cheap. As long as there aren't any major problems (you will find out in the inspection), they are GREAT starter homes. My brother's first house was a HUD, and I helped him add a new roof and convert the garage into a room. Now I own the house and it's worth 85% more than it was when he bought it 5 years ago from HUD
My mom did this when I was 16. She paid $15,000 for the house w/ a HUGE front yard outside of town. 3 bedroom, two bath, two car garage. The house needed work. We put in new windows, removed the old deck and put in a new one, new carpet, two new bathrooms, kitchen counter tops/cabinets. I think total what she puit into the place including cost is ~$30,000.
VA offers assistance on getting loans to vets for houses not owned by the VA. The houses the VA sells to the public are the foreclosures on the vets that didn't keep their house (VA offers a guarantee to lenders on their loans). Those houses can be had for a song in many cases, to anyone who knows where to find them. A year ago, I went onto the VA site for North Texas and found several houses they were selling (to anyone). I went and did a lot of research on these houses and almost bought one. But I never got my bid in on time, because a lot of investors snatch these houses up and use them for rentals or to flip (fix and resale for profit).
edit: for clarity
edit: for clarity
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Originally posted by: wyvrn
If you don't mind doing some work, look into a HUD or VA house. They are typically foreclosures that are a little run down, but can be had on the cheap. As long as there aren't any major problems (you will find out in the inspection), they are GREAT starter homes. My brother's first house was a HUD, and I helped him add a new roof and convert the garage into a room. Now I own the house and it's worth 85% more than it was when he bought it 5 years ago from HUD
But in order to qualify for a VA loan, don't you have to be a vet?
Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon
up with that
Yes, if you want a new home, do some homework and build it yourself. You could even hire a builder to assist you in decision making, but they won't actually be doing the job since you are looking to save money, just advising you on contractors, scheduling, etc. On a house that costs $150k to buy, somewhere around $100k may go into building it, and the builder pockets $50k for a couple months worth of work (talking subdivision developers here of course), and they do several houses at a time, just staggering the schedule - that's why they're all millionaires, they can easily pocket $200k to $300k in a single summer. The only hard part about doing it yourself is that you have do all the hiring and organization, dealing with problems, etc. It can be a pain, but you also have the chance of saving $20k to $50k on the size house you are looking at. And of course on your first home it will take longer. You could still start when the ground thaws in the spring though and be safely done with the house towards the end of the fall, the perfect schedule for building a house (building in the winter is NOT fun
). There are plenty of books and videos on building every aspect of a house, including ones on just building it yourself with advice and schedules and such. Get them, read them, watch them, learn what to look for, and what you can do yourself (adding thousands of additional dollars in savings on labor). Building your own house is the most cost effective (unless you completely absolutely screw every single portion of the building process up, but that is what your advising builder is for and the homework is for, even then you won't end up much worse off than you would have been buying the house already built) and satisfying way to get a home (knowing you organized the building and may have actually done some of the work yourself).Another thing is that you gotta watch these developers if you are planning on buying one of their "cookie cutter" houses. A lot of times they will design things poorly or build the homes cheaply. I've done a lot of work in new homes after people have already moved into them, and they end up griping about some of the stuff the developer skimped on or whatnot. You may think you are buying a $150k house, but it may only be worth $130k if you had it appraised right away. I was working in this one guy's house that was just starting to move in, someone upstairs flushed the toilet and you could hear the waste water flowing down the drain really loud right in the living room and entrance. We listened a little closer and it turned out that the developer planned and built the house so that a drain line ran right through an inside wall on the living room. The owners didn't like that after a couple more flushes when the noise kept getting more and more annoying. Also, be wary of the "options" when buying a house. You have to make sure everything is included with the house. I know of people in new subs who didn't have a shower door in their house because they didn't order it with their house - yikes!
This is also an idea I would recommend. Buying a used house with a little bit of fixing up might not be that bad of an idea. Even look around at existing subs that are a couple years old and you'll find people already moving out, and you can buy the house for a true appraised value rather than the developer's advertised value.
-
Vic
Elite Member
- Jun 12, 2001
- 50,422
- 14,337
- 136
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Originally posted by: wyvrn
If you don't mind doing some work, look into a HUD or VA house. They are typically foreclosures that are a little run down, but can be had on the cheap. As long as there aren't any major problems (you will find out in the inspection), they are GREAT starter homes. My brother's first house was a HUD, and I helped him add a new roof and convert the garage into a room. Now I own the house and it's worth 85% more than it was when he bought it 5 years ago from HUD
But in order to qualify for a VA loan, don't you have to be a vet?
He's not talking about getting a VA loan, he's talking about getting a HUD (FHA) or VA foreclosure. While FNMA/FHLMC have default rates of less than 1%, and "predatory" sub-prime lenders (who are out to take your home!
Anyway, they're not new homes and foreclosures are ALWAYS fixers of some type, but you can get a very good deal if you look around. "HUD homes," as they're called, are a little difficult to get though, lots of hoops to jump through just to buy one.
Oh, and Amused? That's a tri-level...
good luck with all this, i just bought a condo, and all i can say is that i will be broke as a joke for a minimum of 3 years
IMO it's silly to build a new house nowadays with anything less than a 2-car garage. JMO.
edit: jeeze there's some insane real estate prices! this is what you'll get for $100k in my hometown - 3/2/2 w/ 1621 sq. ft, built in 2000
here's one for $270k - 5/3.5/3 w/ 4000+ sq. ft! in a nice neighborhood with big lots where lots of doctors live.
edit: jeeze there's some insane real estate prices! this is what you'll get for $100k in my hometown - 3/2/2 w/ 1621 sq. ft, built in 2000
here's one for $270k - 5/3.5/3 w/ 4000+ sq. ft! in a nice neighborhood with big lots where lots of doctors live.
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