We found a house we love!

kara_leigh

kara_leigh

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We've been looking for the past week almost non stop since we decided to move to Dallas. My husband found a great place to move his shop to in Watauga, north of Fort Worth, and we are looking at houses in the North Richland Hills area which is close so he won't have to drive far. There are quite a few houses we are interested in, but this is the top of our list so far. It is a great price and looks wonderful from the photos. http://www.homes.com/Content/Listing...=Overview#stay

I can't wait to actually go down there and see some of these houses in person!! I mostly just can't wait to move down there!! I'm so excited!
 
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kara_leigh

kara_leigh

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I looked on the real estates website and it says that that house has had the price reduced, so hopefully it won't sell before we can get down there to look at it. That house is bigger than our current house and about half the cost!!

I got all the paperwork I need to transfer my nursing aide certification from Nebraska to Texas, and hope to get that turned in sometime this week.
Now to just find a job.

Anyone have any good tips for getting a job long distance??
 
tara g

tara g

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Gorgeous house!
That is a wonderful price, too. I wish real estate was that low here
My house was almost twice that, at 1700sq ft.
 
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going nova

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Originally Posted by Tara & Rob

Gorgeous house!
That is a wonderful price, too. I wish real estate was that low here
Click to expand...
I looked at a house recently. It was about that much, and only slightly bigger than my apartment! Not in a great neighborhood either.
 
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kara_leigh

kara_leigh

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That's one of the reasons we are moving to the Dallas area. Our current house is about 1900 sq ft and was $225k when we built it 3 years ago! Property taxes in Nebraska are horrible too.
This state isn't very good to its residents.
 
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strange_wings

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Add on another $100-150 or so for your house insurance and that's still not too bad for a monthly payment.

I don't see anywhere that actually lists how much land it's on. Maybe I'm overlooking it? Just know that "spacious backyard" could mean at least there is a backyard. Your idea of space may differ - especially if you want a garden. All those trees can be a problem. Depending on the type they may already be destroying the fence or any lines running to the house with their roots.

Also, big difference you'll find in Dallas - the weather. I didn't see a storm shelter or basement mentioned? Will the backyard have space if you decide to have a small storm shelter put in? (I really want to do that with ours)

When DH and I were looking for a house we'd often see the backyard listed as big or spacious, but when we looked at it ourselves it would be pathetic - of course we were picky and wanted at least an alley exit. We did better than that, the back drive way goes out to a street and we have a large shop/garage building for our vehicles and DH's tools. The extra storage space is nice too.


We only have a 1390? (I think) sqft home. 3bd, 2bth, den, living room, it has a fireplace, and once we tear up the ugly carpet - redwood floors. We don't have children and never intend to have any. Ours was 81K after all of the interest was added.


As for job... If you know someone who could help you get in somewhere locally, that could help. But most places need nurses so hopefully it shouldn't take you very long.
 
motoko9

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Wow. I know this wasn't your intention, but this makes me so sad. Houses are so much more expensive in my neck of the woods!

That said, I wish you the best of luck. I don't know much about jobs in your field, so I can't advise you on your search. However, everyone says the health care industry is growing, so I'm sure your prospects are good!
 
laureen227

laureen227

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

Also, big difference you'll find in Dallas - the weather. I didn't see a storm shelter or basement mentioned?
Click to expand...
most places down here don't have basements - we have a clay-based soil & basements are 1) hard to dig & 2) likely to have issues based on soil expansion & shrinkage [as does slab, but not to as great an extent]. you will find some pier & beam, but not in the newer houses - they'll all be slab.
storm shelter? what's that?
seriously, i've lived here [metroplex & surrounding] for over 45 years. i've never seen a tornado. i've only heard a siren twice.
true, it's considered a part of 'Tornado Alley' but it's on the edge. we get some major winds, some of which the weather will say have 'rotational force' but even those not every year.
i just go to an interior room [bathroom] w/no windows.
 
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kara_leigh

kara_leigh

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

Add on another $100-150 or so for your house insurance and that's still not too bad for a monthly payment.

I don't see anywhere that actually lists how much land it's on. Maybe I'm overlooking it? Just know that "spacious backyard" could mean at least there is a backyard. Your idea of space may differ - especially if you want a garden. All those trees can be a problem. Depending on the type they may already be destroying the fence or any lines running to the house with their roots.

Also, big difference you'll find in Dallas - the weather. I didn't see a storm shelter or basement mentioned? Will the backyard have space if you decide to have a small storm shelter put in? (I really want to do that with ours)

When DH and I were looking for a house we'd often see the backyard listed as big or spacious, but when we looked at it ourselves it would be pathetic - of course we were picky and wanted at least an alley exit. We did better than that, the back drive way goes out to a street and we have a large shop/garage building for our vehicles and DH's tools. The extra storage space is nice too.


We only have a 1390? (I think) sqft home. 3bd, 2bth, den, living room, it has a fireplace, and once we tear up the ugly carpet - redwood floors. We don't have children and never intend to have any. Ours was 81K after all of the interest was added.


As for job... If you know someone who could help you get in somewhere locally, that could help. But most places need nurses so hopefully it shouldn't take you very long.
Click to expand...
We pay $5000 per year alone in property taxes here, so insurance and everything down there doesn't phase us. We aren't sure exactly how much yet, but we think we have around $130k, maybe more, in equity, so we can probably buy the house outright and not have to worry about a house payment. We don't have one now. It helps having a father that owns a residential construction company.


As for the yard, it looks bigger than the one we have now. Our's currently isn't very big, as we back up to a pretty major street. That doesn't bother me though, less to mow!
I love gardening, but I'm pretty lazy about it. Especially in the back yard where the kids just tear it up anyway. I'll probably have a couple shrubs and some flowers in the front but nothing in the back. We don't have any gardens in the back yard now. I prefer to keep my grass pretty and green. lol

I'm not worried about a basement or storm shelter. I know that houses down there don't have basements, my husband's best friend lives in Arlington. The ground is too hard. Even here in Nebraska where we get tornado warnings all the time in the peak seasons (which is about 9 months out of the year) Omaha hasn't had a tornado since 1975. There was one last summer, but it was minor and only hit one neighborhood. No one was hurt, though. I don't think anyway.

Thanks for everyone's advice!! I appreciate it!
 
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strange_wings

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Originally Posted by kara_leigh

I prefer to keep my grass pretty and green. lol
Click to expand...
Be prepared to waste a lot of water if you want green.


We have the same soil issues here, so a lot of newer homes tend not to have basements. Though I fail to understand how they did it 20-60 years ago and all of those homes are fine... That and there's a lot of the underground homes around here - I'd love to have one!

I live about 10-15 miles from a town that had portions of it destroyed in 2001 from an F3 tornado, apparently it was hit pretty badly back in '81, too, and last summer there was a tornado spotted about 3 miles from where I used to live (other side of town). Though, as far as I know, this town has never been directly hit getting a storm shelter is rather high on our list of priorities. Also, I have no interior rooms. Looking at a lot of the new houses going up, unless they were designed to have a safe room (a lot of newer ones around OKC have been after it was hit) usually the layout and ceilings make it a bit unlikely to for them to be very safe - add in those large windows, too.
 
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