[quote=xtina]Requirements to me seem simple:
– good school district
– 4+ bedrooms
– 3,500 SF or greater
– about a $1M
– newer home / modern style
– nice area
– not too much street noise
– move in condition, no renovations needed
Not to be taken into consideration:
– high HOA/MR/CFD costs
– commute (as he’ll be working from home)
– large yard not necessary
Good luck in your search! Seems like you have done a fair amount of research and should be armed and ready for your trip out next month![/quote]
Yes, Xtina! I missed your post but just noticed it now. That’s exactly correct in terms of what we are looking for. The only thing I’d add to your list are:
– Safe area / safe neighborhood
– Long term potential for the area to stay higher end and not go to crap
– Ideally west of I-15 or not too far past it
But your list mixed with these 3 things pretty much sums up what we are looking for. I know it’s fairly picky but we can wait until we find this.
Of course like anyone, I’d prefer lower HOA fees but most of the areas don’t seem to be as nice as Santluz. We did see several homes in Carmel Valley last year. The ones that we liked that were in “move in ready condition” with renovated bathrooms and kitchens went fairly quickly.
Also, we are already used to paying high HOA/condo fees. We live in a penthouse apartment now and our monthly fees are over $700 a month so we are already accustomed to paying these kind of monthly fees on HOA/condo fees.
Right now there isn’t many properties on the market that meet all of our criteria. I might be open to doing some slight renovations now as I’m finding it tough to get all of these things we are looking for.
As to the backyard/lot size. It will be nice to have some outdoor area for the kids to play but I’m not one of these people that needs some huge spread or acre lot. It’s a hassle to maintain and just really not necessary for us to have a huge yard/lot. Proximity to a park or playground area will be ok if the yard isn’t big.
But I have a lot of experience buying real estate and have purchased hundreds of properties in the past decade so I’m not really flustered with the process.
