House Hunting?

My husband and I change our minds daily on when we should next move.  We know this isn’t our “forever” home and we daily wish we were closer to more of the restaurants and shops we love to frequent.  When we first moved into our current home, we expected the area to grow up much more quickly. Add to that, our favorite neighbors next door moved, and two doors down it appears we inherited heathen children as neighbors {they’re really not that bad – they just seem to be EVERYWHERE}.  With interest rates likely at the lowest we will ever see them, we continue to go back and forth.  Honestly, I don’t know how ready I am to move or to find my “forever” {until we retire} house.  But look what I stumbled upon today:

That home with the red pushpin?  For sale for $315k. It has over 6,000 square feet, four bedrooms, five baths, six fireplaces, a workout room, a study, an inground pool {I am one of those rare people who 100% would use this all summer long} and is in a prestigious neighborhood with an ideal location.  In October 2011 – it was valued at $711k.  It needs SERIOUS work {I can tell the flooring would all need to be gutted and there would  need to be some serious painting}.  Seems like there is potential for some instant house equity here.

The home was built in 1990.  Some of the photos freak me out – there are some really bad parts and some that I can envision will be really good with a little TLC. The carpet alone {especially in the second picture} gives me the heebie-jeebies. The hardwoods could easily be re-finished and the brick front could look great with some fresh paint to cover the green paint. I honestly think someone else bought it to fix it up and then bailed halfway through based on some of the photos.

Its entirely too much house for us, but we LOVE this neighborhood.  You can see the house below, again with the red pushpin.  I have never seen this many in-ground pools in ALL of Omaha, let alone on one street!

I’ve reached out to an old co-worker who is now a real estate agent to look into a showing for the house.  We have an appointment on Sunday.  Since the price was just lowered again, my guess is this one won’t last.  But either way, it may be time for us to start some preliminary home searches.  We want to ensure we don’t wait so long that interest rates go back up, and we end up getting much less house for our money. And then I wonder if we are better off building again at some point in the future.  I have pretty particular tastes!  But who knows – by tomorrow – we’ll both have decided we are content with our current home for another ten years!

What are everyone else’s thoughts?  Would you be willing to spend this much on a house that needs so much renovation work? What if you knew there could be some serious equity down the road? Could possibly double {or nearly double} your investment? Am I crazy for even halfway considering such a trainwreck? I think I have succumbed to all the blog sites that feature home renovations.  It kind of gets me excited – and kind of freaks out my husband.  You know there is nothing I love better than a good before and after.  I blame HGTV and the blog world.  If nothing else, I always find it fascinating to see what homes in other cities go for and what home prices are like. So, consider this post educational if houses are your sort of thing 🙂