Making an Offer

Alright here is the situation.

I should preface this with the following: I have had an ENORMOUS and yummy margarita to relax from the stress of all of this so if my explanations and descriptions are not clear you will now know why.

There are two houses in the same neighborhood, an area we really like. Both homes are the EXACT same floor plan. They are mirror images of each other as far as floor plans go.

House #1: Located at top of a hill with a very secluded and serene back yard which is beautifully landscaped. The interior is BEAUTIFUL with acceptable appliances in the kitchen and tile and hardwood floors through out. The color of paint on the walls is great and probably wouldn't require us to repaint. The windows have not been upgraded to dual pane, the water heater, roof, and heating/cooling have not been upgraded. The neighbor house is for sale and is not in good condition (the neighbor house's condition is abnormal for the area). The front of the house is south facing.

House #2: Not located at the top of a hill but with an huge back yard that is not landscaped except for some collapsing terraces at the rear of the property. Barking dogs are located on both sides of the yard in the neighbor's yards. The back yard has a large shade tree and is a blank slate. The front yard has new rock work and is also a blank slate. There is RV parking for our families to visit. The interior has been hastily updated to appeal to buyers - this house has been sitting on the market for a while. It has new dual pane windows, new water heater, new roof, new carpet, new kitchen cabinets, new kitchen counter tops, new showers and toilets. The interior would require new flooring because the carpet they installed is crap. It would also require new kitchen appliances and a new heating/cooling system. The front of this house faces east.

House number 2 is less expensive than house number one. House number one is listed about 15 thousand above our maximum budget. House number two is within our price range.

So what to do, what to do? We have decided to make an offer on house number two. We believe that with a little sweat equity we can make house number two feel just as cozy as house number one felt. The things that we can not change about house number two, (the barking dogs, position on the lot facing east, no real view) are not huge deals for us. The barking dog factor and lack of backyard seclusion can be fixed by adding height to the cinder block wall surrounding the yard. The dogs are muffled and not looking over the fence at us and we get more privacy. The rest of the things we loved about house number 1 are all cosmetic things - things we can do ourselves. For example I loved the hard wood floor in house number 1 but I thought it was a little too dark but I would never rip it out if we were to live there. But in house number 2 I would be able to put in the exact color/type of flooring I want and I won't feel bad ripping out the crappy new carpet.

So there you have it. House number 2. Hopefully they accept or counter offer and are reasonable sellers. I'll let you know how this all turns out. And sorry it I rambled on and on but it was helpful to type it all out. It somehow made me think of this a little more logically. Or maybe that is the margarita. . .