House (Not) Hunting

Our lease just renewed last month. We have at least one more year at the Nuthaus, and because we're such good tenants, the landlords raised our rent "only" 5% rather than the standard 10%. Well, gosh, thanks, gracious masters. The fact is that they raised the rent at the house on the other end of the lot 20% when the previous tenants moved out, and I know ours is going to increase next year, too. According to this report, the average PER-BEDROOM rent in our ZIP code is $1161. We are NOT paying that much for our three-bedroom, and that rate includes both some student housing (which seems to be about on target with this, if a kid wants to rent a one-bedroom apartment; if they go with a three-bedroom, they can usually get that for about $900 per month for their one bedroom) and the condos downtown, which are all high-end. Here's a snapshot of the ZIP on Zillow. It actually makes that rate look on the lower end.

So, although we're not "house-hunting" and in no position to move now (between the baby and the legal commitment to the house and the fact that it's so hot, I get exhausted watching our across-the-street apartment neighbors moving in and out), I do keep an eye out on Zillow and Redfin to track real estate trends. There have been a couple of interesting homes that have come up, including a neat elevated house in Lago Vista, north of "Lake" Travis, which has been reduced in price over $50,000 since I started looking at it a couple of months ago. But as much as we love the house, until James can work from home, it's not a great option; ten hours of his time per week is too much to pay, even if the mortgage is reasonable.

This weekend, though, we went and saw a house that James said he "liked... more than I expected to." Here is the Google Street View of the house, which is on a busy road but totally fenced in.

We got to the house a little early; it's only 3 miles from where we live right now. So we drove around the neighborhood and found it to be charming. The houses were built in the late 1940s, so it's very established. Most of the streets are tree-covered, perfect for biking and walking.

There has been an annual 4th of July parade and block party in this neighborhood, which is Austin's oldest HOA, for more than 55 years. In addition to that, it's directly adjacent to a new development that is very popular (more expensive) and growing rapidly.

In fact, this homeowner sold 600 square feet at the back of her lot to the developers so that they could build a pathway to connect this older neighborhood to their hike/bike trail.

Between this house, which is at the terminus of the neighborhood, and the new development is the awesome park where we had Daphne's 11th birthday party.

Behind that is a kids' museum, and in front of it is a food trailer court. The house itself is one mile from a newly-refurbished swimming pool that has slides and a beach entry. Also, the house is only a couple of blocks from the democratic school I've been obsessively investigating for the past few weeks. As much as I'd love Daphne to go there, she's not interested right now... but it might be a good fit for Rooby. The house is no further from James' work than where we live now.

The house is 67 years old, cinder block and stucco construction. It was originally a 2 bedroom, 1 bath home and there has been an add-on, so it's 3 bedrooms now. There is also a mud room that they recently expanded. It is where the washer and dryer are, and it's not air conditioned, which might be a little sticky but will save money. They just put in 14 inches of insulation in the attic.

Apparently, there was a detached 2-car garage and carport in the back of the quarter-acre lot when the current owners moved in, but it was falling apart, so the man tore it down and built an outdoor storage shed, painted to match the house. It looks like it has solar-powered lighting. The current owners also put in a patio, enlarged it, and poured a driveway most of the way to the back of the property. They've recently put in a $50,000 wrought-iron and wood fence, and James noticed that the gate in back has grape vines trailing over it.

Also, there is already a place to plant a garden. And they have a kinkajou, so there's a structure in place outside that is the perfect size/location for a chicken coop, if we decided to build one and get chickens. We don't have to clear out anything; the area's ready.

Our patio furniture would be perfect out back. We'd have to get a lawn mower, but it's really the front yard that requires attention; the back doesn't have a lot of sun-exposed grass. Here's the back of the house from about the middle of the back yard.

So, that's the good stuff. I mean, it's also close to a bunch of local restaurants and, unfortunately, chain shopping, too. And the owner said the house is "basically a bunker" because of the construction.

But here are the main things that give us pause. First of all, the owner's fiance seems to think the house will be ready to list in the next 30 days. If that's the case, we can't jump on it at this moment. The owner is retiring and she said she just wants to be out by next spring. If they do it that way, we'll be in a better position to make an offer.

And there's the biggest rub: This house is expensive. We could spend the same amount of money and get more than twice the house if we bought further out, but neither James nor I has any interest in living in the suburbs. We'd prefer farm land, but, again, the commute is an issue right now.

To go into debt for this much is frightening, and especially I dislike the idea of having the weight of that resting solely on James' shoulders, since I'm not working any more. It is at the upper end of our budget (and for us to buy the house we want, we pretty much need to spend that much), and limits his options as far as taking a gamble on a job he'd really love but that pays less than what he's making right now. Also, if we had any unexpected expenses, I'm not sure how we'd manage without going into more debt. At present, we are completely debt-free. At the same time, if we kept renting our house for 10 years, we'd have paid the asking price for this house (minus interest, of course). 

It seems pretty likely that the value of this property will increase as the development next door gets more popular and builds out. And interest rates are low enough right now that even with a VA loan and no money down, our monthly payments would be the same as what we're paying now for rent. The difference now is that if James wanted to take a different job with a lower salary, we'd just have to move when our lease elapses. No trying to sell a property.

So that's where we are right now. I'm hoping we have a few months to think about it, and to see how James likes the changes at his office, and whether this is going to be a good long-term fit for him. We really like the house. But it DOES only have one bathroom (having two bathrooms is definitely at the top of our "must haves," so that's a giant compromise). It's an old house, and those tend to have surprises fairly frequently. What a great neighborhood and location, though.

It's a conundrum, for sure...