Hunting home with 1.5 M not getting a house which I want. Hoping things will settle in next 2-5 years. So my plan is to take this instead of renting and hoping for decent return or rent Vs EMI in near future. Buy the better house when the situation is good(I know lot says nothing will be better in SV then today).
Renting expected in the current market is 2750+/- with 300 of HOA
You want to sort of flip this house living there for 2-3 years to take advanatage of the tax capital gains to trade up later? Trading up is one of the most stressful things you can do. I’d just bite the bullet and buy what you can afford now. The odds of $1.5M getting you much more home I’m the future are small.
True, I would also say to OP that get max size SFH he likes with whatever lot and location he prefers than going to low end home. With 1.5M, there are plenty of SFHs he can choose and bid for it.
I would agree that you want to try to buy ideally what you want now. The thing is, that awesome place you really want is just going to be that much more expensive later (all other things staying the same of course). With 1.5M to spend, may I suggest you buy perhaps something less dolled up but has great potential (big lot)? As long as you can get into an ideal location for schools, commuting or whatever, you can always remodel and make your home your dream house later. More often than not, people end up moving for those non home reasons again but if you can get the location, location, location down you are more than half way home…
decent schools, atleast 6000 sqft lot, 4 member family with 2 elementary school kids. location fremont southbay. so far focuced on fremont and almaden , cambrian etc.
Just buy a place you like the most with the constraint of still being able to afford. Too much consideration on investment can lead to unsatisfactory life and unsatisfactory investment return.
Or rent a house you really enjoy and buy 2 or more rental properties. You’ll experience a good life and potentially proud investment return.
Yes, Fremont has been good to me. I bought in South Sundale, which is obviously more ground beef than filet mignon, but in what 3 years that small 3/1 bought for under 500K should fetch easily high 700s. I would like to think remodeling it lightly to 4/2 would be more than worth it. What I love about Fremont is the decent sized lots (yes, remember, I am from SF ok?).
Hmm, didn’t your Oakland house appreciate more than Fremont in the last 3 years? Fremont is a nice place to live, but my impression is that its appreciation rate lags
Well, different animal (4plex vs SFH) and different area and different price point. Too late now, we are in contract on both ends of the exchange and fingers are crossed on the inspections…
Thanks, a semi kudos to my agent who worked both ends and found me something. Yes, this was a tough deal all away around and it could still fall through. I want to do an additional inspection on my end purchase to clear up a concern but if the concern is legitimate it could jeopardize the sale on the front end or I need to go hunting for another property at this late hour.
Which city is your work location? It is hard to travel from Almaden , Cambrian if you are working very north. Aim for max lot, 3bd 2bh minimum near by your work location.
Stay within 25 - 30 minutes Tuesday 8 AM traffic distance to office. I assume Tuesday 8 AM worst traffic in BA.