AboutDottie Worthington Expertise I can answer questions on buying a home or a ranch in Texas. I have been an active broker since 1984. Realtor of the year, Board president, and I own my own real estate company in Weatherford, Texas. CRB designation.
www.worthington-realestate.com
Experience
Past/Present clients Walt Garrison
Bob Kingsley
Will Clark
Question We bought this house in Allen, Texas in 2002. I have always spent my
time cleaning up the house and also missed a chance to buy the house of
my dreams. I am bitter that I missed such a great house for such an
awsome price and came to this one. This house was 200,000 at that time, and
today it is 245,000 according to some online site. We did 20K down.
The time has come to replace the carpets, change and update the
bathrooms,yesterdays storm borke the whole fence, replace the dying appliances
and so on. Looks like about 100,000 worth of work in the near future (to
make the house to my satisfaction). The house seems to be bulging in
the bathrooms and the living room, and also some chipping near the
stairs. My husband thinks that the house is settling. His job is in downtown
and he has to travel two hours up and two hours down. Instead of
spending all the money in fixing and maintaining this house, I want to sell
it and get whatever I can and move to an apartment close to my
husband's job and also look for a job for myself. He thinks we will lose money,
and the children might not be happy in the apartment. Also safety in
Tx apartments is a huge concern. He is willing to travel and keep on
investing to better this house. It is almost impossible to find a house
for 200,000 or even 250,000 (in the 3000 sq ft range that we are
presently living in). All the prices have gone up. The newer houses in the
neighborhood are too expensive and make our community look a little bleak.
I strongly feel that moving to an apartment will help me save money on
repair, maintenance, and property tazxes. My husband thinks we will be
wasting our money on the apartment and we are better off here. I feel
that I don't want to wate my time and money on this piece of property on
which I have several little complaints (like the laundry is downstairs
and all the bedrooms are upstairs, two car garage instead of the three
car, back yard too slopy to do anything......)
We are confused right now. So please help me gain perspective so we may
make wise choices.
Thankyou in advance,
Answer You are facing one of the most common decisions in real estate. Update or move? My suggestion would be to have a Realtor come out and look at your home and advise you on a selling price as is and with some improvements. Also I would have a foundation expert come out and give you some advise on the foundation. He wouldn't charge for the initial look. Then you will know where you are on the foundation.
If the Realtor gives you a good price on the listing price, then I would advise selling and buying a new house closer to work, with the price of gas and all. Your husband is right on the money wasted on an apartment, it is a good time to buy right now, and that is always a good investment.
I could recommend some people to help if you will e-mail me.
dottie@worthington.bz
