Yes – hipmatt is right. lots are small. this home we are in has a lot size of 5500sq ft or so. but other homes in Harveston – the cottages – have 2500-3000 sq ft lots with NO yard…. it’s not uncommon in parts of temecula/murrieta to find the ultra small lots. personally, i don’t really mind. i have a community pool, 3 LARGE parks within walking distance…so my rear yard is usally used to sit/relax with a drink or cigar, and to bbq. we don’t use our yard as a place to play ball…it’s there to relax in….so it’s just fine for what i need.
as to the property taxes…. good luck finding ANY House up in this area, built nit eh last few years that doens’ thave 1.8-2.0% property taxes. that’s the norm up here.
i’m trying to focus on teh cost to rent/buy and also to focus on whether I honestly want to stay in this house for the next decade. it’s only 3 bedrooms….and we have 2 kids, plus one more. I don’t feel compelled to give each kid their own room, but it would be nice. there’s nothign wrong with making them double up…i have one boy, one girl…so whatever comes next…there is a room waiting with a roomate of the same gender. 🙂 when they are small…my kids are 5 and 1….i don’t see being roommate to be as much of an assue for teh next 10 years..maybe when they are teenagers it will be more of a “problem”…in their eyes. 🙂 for now, a 4th bedroom would be nice..a luxury..not a need.
renting my current house at 1400 has been a steal of a deal..but if i don’t buy, an di move, i’m realistically going to be looking at 1800-2000/month for rent. now for THAT much money I probably coudl find a larger house…2500-2800sq ft… easily. lots of room…not that i need it..but for the money, i coudl get more.
the last comp for my house sold at $430k. buying at $350k would be pretty far below the comps…and my house is in a better location than the one that sold at 430k. mine backs up onto a greenbelt..no direct rear neighbors.. that one at 430k backs up on a street = noise. the house we are in sold with a 10k lot premium… i’m not sayuing it’s worth it.. but apples to apples…ours is better…to some degree. interior upgrades, they are very very very similar…so the only difference is location really…
i figure if i got the house at about 350….and he paid all my closing costs…so I effectively just walk into the mortgage (and HOAs, and property taxes, and insurance…) I’m looking at a ballpark monthly pricetag of $2700-2800. factor in another couple hundred for upkeep and the gardner…and i’m at an even $3000. i’d be saving roughly 700/month or so in taxes…at least. so i’d have a net monthly housing cost of 2200 or so. if i got a better deal on teh interest rates..maybe i could shave it down to 2000 even… if you factor in the *principle* that goes back into my loan you can sort of count that as a benefit..and on a 30yr fixed, that’s about antoher 300/month…
i figure i can rent someting comparable for about 1800…
so the spread between the cost of renting becomes very close. rent of a comparable house is about 1800/month.
cost to buy = $2800-3000/month. Minus $750-800 in tax savings, $300/month principle reduction… net housing costs = 1700-1900. almost a wash.
the big question is what will this house be worth when the market finally stops falling and begins to rebound. will it have fallen to what i paid or will it have fallen so low that i’m $50-100k upside down.
if i buy NOW at $350..and the house falls to $325… i don’t care. if it falls to $250k…i’d be pretty bummed.
if i pass this deal up…and houses like this fall to only 380-400k…i’ll feel like i missed a great deal.
