3 ms·
Do people still think about "starter" homes? The first house I bought was tiny. Two small bedrooms, a bathroom with a sink, tub, and toilet, a living room and
by ams6110 8y ago
Do people still think about "starter" homes?
The first house I bought was tiny. Two small bedrooms, a bathroom with a sink, tub, and toilet, a living room and a kitchen. Carport in back on a small lot.
I knew it wasn't what I wanted forever, but it was adequate at the time (no kids when we bought it, one when we sold it) and the payment was lower than rent on a similar sized apartment.
Gave me a tax deduction, and though it didn't appreciate a lot I didn't lose money on it either. When I sold it, I parlayed the original down payment, the small increase in equity, plus additional savings into buying a bigger house.
If you start off with a big house at the very upper end of what you can afford, you have a hard time saving more money and can be really hurt by unexpected maintenance and repairs.
- LeifCarrotson 8y agoThey do, but that 1200 sqft 2br might be sold for a cash offer of $160k, not $40k after a few weeks on the market like it was a few decades ago.
- swagtricker 8y ago>Do people still think about "starter" homes? Yeah. With fond memories of 20+ years ago when they actually existed in competitive markets. Unfortunately, house flippers have killed the "slow growth, sweat equity" path to ownership. Everything that can be improved, updated, or expanded in a competitive housing marked is done by flippers. Then, even 2 bedroom 1 bath "small" homes cost a fortune because they have stainless steel appliances & granite countertops covering up 50 year old galvanized pipes and electrical work with a limited number of grounded outlets. Flip with flashy improvements, drive up the price, and let the expensive infrastructure problems be a time bomb for the sucker that wants to live in it.
- makotech222 8y agoWhen i first started looking, there were none in the area below 170k that were what I needed in a home. None of them were in good condition and all required extensive work. I ended up with a 219k home, which was a bit more than I wanted. Unfortunately, all new construction in the area is for 300k+ homes. Same with rental apartments.