Buying a house: which is more important, the house or the neighborhood?
So I’ve been looking to buy a house in my town (currently rent) for about a year now. The pickings are very slim in my price range (under $200k). I’d love to find a house that 1) is a nice house for our needs and 2)is in a nice family neighborhood with 3) well-cared for houses around it. However, it seems that I’ve been only finding two out of three requirements.
The latest house is a “flip” where the owner bought it last year for a song and is re-doing the entire thing. It will have the charm of an older home but have all new interior (new kitchen and baths, new hardwood flooring, new carpets, etc. – I get to pick the colors and stuff) and a lot of new exterior things (siding, new roof, redone garage, landscaping). I really love the house, it’s big enough to fit our needs without being too big, a decent-sized yard, and I like the idea that everything will be new, in our price range.
However. I’m not so sure about the neighborhood. It’s in an older established neighborhood so all of the homes are older. Most of them are well cared for, however there are a few that are not-so well cared for. Some are rentals and some are owner-occupied. It seems a little mixed, not entirely good and not entirely bad homes; and I can’t tell if the neighborhood is on its way up or down. Mostly older folks in the surrounding homes which tells me that there will be some turnover coming up in the next 10 years or so. I went around last night and met some of the neighbors; they all seemed friendly and helpful, decidedly middle-class (which is me too, I guess).
I’m not sure whether to make an offer or not. As I’ve been shopping, I’ve seen lots of crappy houses in nice neighborhoods, but the houses don’t suit our needs. This is the first house I’ve seen in our range that fits our needs, in a residential neighborhood (many homes for sale around here are rural) but I’m hesitant about the neighborhood. Is location really the most important thing?
You can change your house, but you can never change the neighborhood. I’d much rather live in a so-so house in a great neighborhood than a great house in a sketchy neighborhood.
We bought a pretty nice house in a pretty nice neighborhood on the edge of a poor part of town. Our house was burglarized about 6 months after we moved in. If you take a chance in an iffy part of town, make sure you are vigilant with home security (good system or a dog).
Generally speaking we’ve picked the neighborhood first and then looked for a house within that fit our wants and needs. If there wasn’t one to be had we looked at another neighborhood. That’s worked really well for us.
My thought is that if you don’t like the neighborhood, eventually you’re not going to like the house either.
We’re looking for a house too and finding it equally hard to meet those requirements. I would say number 3 is the least important - just because a house doesn’t look well cared for, doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the occupants, necessarily, though of course it can be an indication. From what you say in your post about the neighbours, it sounds pretty good to me. But it’s probably one of those where you have to go with your gut feeling.
I would be hesitant to buy a flipped house as well. People engaging in that game usually go for the fastest and cheapest fixes they can do regardless of the quality. It may be hard to tell if that is the case because most work looks good when it is brand new but it may be a different story in five or ten years. If you have the patience, you can get a better deal buy fixing up a somewhat neglected yourself in a neighborhood that you really like.
Our first house had fatal flaws that we couldn’t fix (well, not without paying A LOT of money) in a good neighbourhood. Our second house is a very nice house in an iffy-er neighbourhood (sort of what you’ve described - mixed middle and working class people and renters). Neither one is a great choice - I’d hold out for a house that does everything you need it to do (or has the potential to do so without spending tons of money) in a good neighbourhood.
What you want is the crappiest house in the nicest neighbourhood.
ETA: Shagnasty is right - flippers do everything cheap and fast usually. I’d prefer a older, dated house that hasn’t been “flipped.”
