old house vs new townhouse

[blackdogdeek]

$299k in Upper Montclair

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/51-Northview-Ave-Montclair-NJ-07043/38684487_zpid/

This location is right near trains and buses and the main commercial part of Upper Montclair.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I would not buy a townhome (or a condo) around here. They are typically bad investments because all it takes is a few units going downhill and the whole place can be devalued relatively quickly unless the location is prime. It gets worse if there is more competition or construction in the area to drive prices down. It's rare that 20-30 year old condos are worth a lot more than when they were new unless they are in the city center or near other attractions.

Having said that, consider the costs of a neighborhood with a private pool, rec center, etc.. If you get a workout facility, pool, outside maintenance, etc....many of those costs may offset if the HOA fees aren't too high. Square footage of the workout facility, for example may offset square footage required for equipment in the home.

You should look at comps in the area for both property and see what the value is. Figure out how often you want to go out and go downtown and see if there's value there. Now that I'm in my 30's with kids, my desire to go out and spend money has decreased. I'm looking more at investing in what matters more to me.

Old homes have problems, but consider that homes built in the last 30-40 years in many parts of the country are typically constructed of soft #2 yellow pine. Older homes are made of more hardwoods that will often be much higher quality.

 

[88keys]

Short answer: new townhouse
Long answer: it really depends on the condition and build quality of the old house and the rules associated with the town house community. Old houses can and often need a lot of work and can be expensive to heat and cool because of lacking insulation (if there's any insulation at all) which can drastically increase your utilities. I live in a newer town house and my utilities are dirt cheap and is usually around 25% of what my friends pay to heat and cool their homes.

 

[JackBurton]

that would definitely be the dream, but such a house meeting my #1 priority (walking distance to a train station, ideally a train that has a "one seat ride" into Manhattan as opposed to the trains that make you get off and transfer to a second train in Newark/Seacaucus/Hoboken) either would be prohibitively expensive (+$500k) or just doesn't exist (in most towns, train station = downtown = oldest part of the city, which translates into older houses or new multi-unit developments)

Then I'd do the older house and fix it up. There may be some extra money you need to put into it, but it should all hopefully go into increasing the value of the home.