i haven’t seen newguy’s place – but it sure sounds like a great deal!!!!
location wise – I prefer the sausalito area better – which is where my home is. that’s just personal preference. I am walking distance to the lake – Prescott where newguy bought is not. Date street is a major surface street that will eventually connect to I-15. Prescott is part of “harveston” but it is separated from the “core” of harveston by date street. many of the original harveston homes are all within a central part of harveston and they are 1-3 minute walks from the lake, parks, clubhouse, and pool/spa facility – making them more convenient and useable. we are a 3 minute walk from all that stuff which we like. if i were in prescott i woul dhave to load everyone up in the car to get to any of that stuff. very short trip – but loading three kids into the car is more of a drag than just putting one or two kids in a stroller and walking 2 minutes…
the prescott homes struck me as more or less larger houses with backyards that butt up against one another – none of them seemed to offer any sort of privacy. most of them would have large two stories immediately beside and to the rear of them – with all their windows peering down at them. my home sold with a 10-15k lot premium due to it being on a greenbelt with no rear neighbors. i back up to pine trees, and bushe, with a 50-75′ deep sloped embankment behind me..with no street behind me – resulting in a fairly private/secluded backyard. that is fairly rare in harveston. I”m not saying that my house is worth a ton more b/c of it – but it was a factor my wife and I considered when buying. to US – that was important. our last house backed up on a street and we HATED the noise…this house has a nice quieet and private rear yard..the yards are small..but for sitting outside to enjoy a cigar, glass of wine, or let the kids play in the grass or their sandbox and enjoy the cool evenings – it’s ideal.
our personal opinion is taht despite our house being “small” in terms of square footage – our location within harveston is ideal (proximity to the luxuries of harveston) and private/secluded yard.
a neighbor who lives across the street said they could have bought my house when they orignally bought as both lots were still available – they passed on my house b/c they said the lot premium made it too expensive. it’s not any bigger – just a better location. were i to try and resell, i have no idea if my lot would honestly command more $$ b/c of location, but i know it would sell before a house on the other side of the street – location location location.
if you price my house out vs. new guys per sq ft – no question – he got a much better deal. although candidly, I couldn’t have afforded his house. I have a comfort level in what I wanted to spend and 350k was getting about to where I refused to go any higher. I *could* have stretched my budget and made it happen – but my wife and i have been “house poor” before – we dont want to do it again. we are very comfortable on the payment with 350k. bumping up to anythign close to 450 just adds enough $$ that other areas of our life, saving, spending will get impacted.
we also really wanted a one story. neither my wife or I have ANY desire to go up/down stairs. we insisted on a one story house – adn those are not that prevalent in harevston. prescott did have one floor plan that was a one story – but we preferred the location we were in to prescott.
the “extras” and location our house came with, combined with the price being relatively low compared to what we could have got anywhere else made it a relatively attractive choice. for our needs, and situation – i think it worked out for us. i’d rather pay 350k for a smaler house that is loaded up with a good $50k in options, vs. pay only $300k up front and be faced with $50k in costs over the next few years.
we took that into consideration too…we can afford the house..but to buy a house, THEN get hit with landscaping, window coverings, etc… is $$. i’d rather get a house that had it all done – nicely – and not have to come out of pocket for it.
in NO way am i trying to say that i got a better deal than newguy. if anything – on purely square footage – his deal is by far a better one than mine. for my personal needs, however, i like what i got. a nicely upraded one story in a nice area that costs me about as much to own as it would to rent.
