We went for a bit of a drive this afternoon, scouting out areas where houses are being built, and we made two discoveries.
First is, expensive houses are going up all over the place. The least expensive was about three hundred thousand dollars.
Second is, these places are fifteen to twenty minutes off the main road -- and the connectors are two lane roads. By contrast, we're three minutes from the main road. Also, we have local infrastructure, such as malls and shopping -- they don't. They likely will, and sooner than I think -- but not at the moment.
Both of those increase the perceived value of this house, we think. Not deciding factors, but certainly affecting the decision.
2 comments:
We deliberately chose a place away from the "services". We also made a bit of a mistake - the nearest place to buy (expensive) milk is 5 miles away. The nearest Starbuck's: 22. (Or was it 24? I'm not sure it makes difference when it gets to those sort of distances!)
On the other hand - I'm still not convinced we would have been wrong to purchase "that" entire valley in southern Utah for a couple of hundred thousand. The nearest neighbors were about 40 miles distant, and the nearest mall was maybe a 100...
Well, we did purchase this house with an eye to escalating prices; while we didn't think they'd go up in the short-term, counting your house as part of an overall financial strategy can be "reasonable". Just don't get attached to it.
Ever helpful, or maybe not,
Carolyn Ann
(Darn it! I need new glasses!)
I think that there's a lot to be said for living the isolated life, but I really like internet access, bookstores, and twenty-four hour shopping. We've already determined that we'd prefer to buy property in a development that's going to have public sewer and water access. Neither of us likes the idea of sump pumps and drainage fields. The image of a quiet house atop a hillside is attractive, but not that attractive.
As for the value of our house and long term planning: we realized about five years ago that if we replace this house, we'd end up paying half again the value received to get a new one. Granted, the new one would be new, with all that that means, but it would be half to two thirds the size (which would be okay). The difference, though, wouldn't buy Berber carpet in the library, tile in the bath, granite in the kitchen. It'd be stock. Most of that glam stuff doesn't mean anything to us, but we do want to have a house thats better than stock. Right now, it looks like the options around here are stock or tract mansion; neither's appealing. Thats not to say we've 'decided to stay'. We're going to talk to an architect, work up plans, and get a feeling for what it would take to do the minimum to make this a long-term-sustainanble house... and then some. That'll give us the sense of where we need to be thinking for replacement pricing.
As for attachment? We like this house.
Not sure about your glasses, though.
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