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      02-20-2020, 01:54 PM   #54
saeyedoc
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Drives: 2013 Carrera S, 2013 Panny GTS
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: San Antonio, TX

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Quote:
Originally Posted by PoorLurker View Post

My advice is to always buy the cheapest house in the nicest area you can afford. Live in squalor for a while and establish comfort with your new expense. Then, start to plan a remodel that is exactly what you want. Then, live in a house that is exactly as you want.

(I didn't buy the cheapest house in the nicest area - and sometimes wish I had... but the area I Want to live in is too pricey even for a 1,300 sq foot house haha)
That approach can backfire too, we bought a house that was in teardown pricing for our area (low $200s a sq foot), but it was built by a famous architect, was on a nice lot in a area where new homes go for around $400/sf. Our house was built in the 50s in the mid century modern style. Developers will buy homes like ours (2200 sf) and put the biggest house they can on the lot (around 5000 sf) and sell it for close to 2 million. The construction business is so horrible here that we've been through several contractors and put in more than we paid for the house because of incompetence and waste. The often have no assets that you can get to, so suing them is a losing proposition except for the attorneys. The only positive is that the tax value has only gone up a little because we haven't added much to the square footage. Even if we could sell it for what we have into it and find something we like for that amount, our taxes would go up by $15-20k a year. Real estate taxes are very high here because we don't have a state income tax and we're in the best school zone (our kids are older and don't even live with us).
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