我的房子夢 - 想聽聽大家的建議

搬到了寸土寸金的地方， 住了一個小黑屋

Felt depressed for a while. Always remember the good old days when I lived in a huge house in AZ. So I have kept thinking of moving to a larger house. Every time, I thought about moving, other higher priority such as commute distance, schools, etc. came up. So I always ended up in the black little house.

The other day I saw a $2M house for sale, and the house is probably worth $2.5M, and it is in the same area where I am living. So I thought about putting a bid.

Then,

1) My son said that he likes the black little house. It is close to schools, and he can go to/back from schools all by himself, and plays with his friends at play grounds. If we move to this huge house with view and it is up on the hills. It won’t be fun anymore. I need to find someone to send him to/from school

2) LD said that we need to put down $500K and borrow $1.5M. The cash –flow is negative $100K a year. We can use this money/credit line to generate rental income of positive $100K instead. If I want a larger house, then remodel the little house we have and add 1000 square feet for $200K. LD thinks the real estate tax itself will be increased for more than 10K/yr and we can use it for food and vacation.

3) My thinking - The house is a bargain. Maybe I can buy it and then sell it in several years. I can live a good house for several years. If the housing market is good, the house will worth $3M. Could I make money for sure? Not 100%, since the commission for transaction will be $100K and every year I need to put in $100K. If I don’t buy the house, that is probably the end of my luxury house dream.

4) The other thing LD worries that the house would be one of the most expensive houses in the area, not many people can afford it. If the housing market is not picking up, then we will end up holding the house for a long time. While if we remodel the little house, we can sell it at a good value around $1M.

想聽聽大家的建議

If it is not a good idea, hit me with the sticks/bricks so that I am back to reality

所有跟帖： 

• I would remodel, or even rebuild. -texastrader- ♂ (44 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:05:23

• The house has a large lot, and great view -smilee- ♀ (140 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:10:43

• 真的嘛？50萬夠嗎，能蓋個怎樣的房子？我也一直想在城裏買塊地，蓋一個新房子住。有時間麻煩您指導一下。 -melody2010- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:13:25

• 簡單，買塊地，或者一個舊房子，帶地比較大點的。 -texastrader- ♂ (110 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:20:54

• 請builder好，還是請general contractor好？ -melody2010- ♀ (206 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:32:40

• builder就是general contractor，有啥區別？ -texastrader- ♂ (837 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:41:36

• 聽你這麽說，David weekly是低價位的。 -melody2010- ♀ (269 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 17:00:18

• 舊房子推倒運走，7千到1萬。 -texastrader- ♂ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 20:06:06

• 多謝。 -melody2010- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 20:18:14

• David Weekly是低價位？看來俺是不折不扣的窮人啊 -不周山- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 17:58:02

• MM誤會TT的意思了。在新開發區David Weekly算是比較高檔的。 -melody2010- ♀ (254 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 19:38:04

• 如果沒在工地上當過民工, 很難對付 -rx300- ♂ (318 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:52:30

• 真的，您說的這幾個，我一個也不明白區別在哪裏。 -melody2010- ♀ (73 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 16:52:07

• 建議您想辦法搞定老如 -rx300- ♂ (42 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 18:38:50

• 搞定老如也沒用，他又不在我這疙瘩。 -melody2010- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 19:39:06

• 你的家底如何， 賺錢能力如何？假如那都不是問題的話， 就該享受好的。 -螺絲螺帽- ♀ (27 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:07:15

• We can afford it with both incomes, not one. -smilee- ♀ (60 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:11:59

• 算一下最壞情況：一人丟了工作， 計時2年， 頂得住嗎？行的話， 不妨殺它一個更低價 -螺絲螺帽- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:22:36

• I don't think they would low the price anymore -smilee- ♀ (273 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:27:42

• 這個不是數學問題。如果把它當數學問題處理， -FHZM- ♂ (41 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:23:46

• 時間對， 豪宅翻得更快 -螺絲螺帽- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:25:00

• also need to consider the probabilty of making/losing money -smilee- ♀ (73 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:35:41

• 聽老婆的！不然， 你會被煩死。要是虧錢的話， 婚姻都會難保 -螺絲螺帽- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:42:34

• 哈哈，你沒見樓主是女的嗎？ -texastrader- ♂ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:43:38

• 自住房是個消費，不是投資。 -texastrader- ♂ (192 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:49:00

• The answer is clearly a "no" then -smilee- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:53:32

• Thanks for your comment - I'm from USTC as well -smilee- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 15:20:05

• It is actually a lot of work to move out of the little house -smilee- ♀ (77 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 15:41:20

• 當然是買大房，如果經濟上可行。 -jzc- ♂ (63 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:44:55

• 來美國是為freedom -smilee- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 14:48:34

• 回複：來美國是為freedom:同意 -jzc- ♂ (23 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 15:03:53

• Grateful for everyone's inputs and comments -smilee- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 15:21:20

• If property tax is not big, buy it. -mike369- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 15:37:42

• reasons? -smilee- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 15:42:21

• 褲子大的MM啊，得上個PP才能把大大地主們都引來。 -kozy- ♀ (635 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 15:56:29

• So rental house approach is more steady, less risky -smilee- ♀ (126 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 16:53:45

• Thanks -smilee- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 17:02:30

• Never buy "one of the most expensive houses in the area". -cy9459- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 16:11:53

• I agree. -Fishtank- ♀ (0 bytes) () 06/07/2012 postreply 17:26:55