Home and Auto I Want To Buy A New Home

The Rick · 05-27-2008, 02:31 PM

I'm ready for a new home and am looking for some advice.

Our current home is/was our first, and we've lived in it for about 4 years now. It was something to get us started at the time, but I'm ready to move on to something bigger and better.

First of all, my income situation is much better than it was 4 years ago. A nice promotion a couple of years ago has bumped my income up by over 40%. We've added one new child to the mix with another on the way.

In addition to the increases in income and children, there are other reasons. This house feels too small now. Now that I'm older and wiser, there are things I want like a bigger garage, an attached garage, a bigger yard, bedrooms all on the same floor, etc. My oldest child will be starting kindergarten in fall 2009, so I want to be in a better school system.

We bought our house for $167,000 and currently owe about $153,000 on it. Our tax bill for last year showed an assessed value of $180,000.

My first question is, does this mean that we should be able to sell our house for $180,000 if not more since that's what the city assessed it at? What's typically the correlation between assessed tax value and actual value?

Also, we've remodeled one bathroom and finished off the basement since that assessment, which means the value should be even higher, correct?

Finally, the last part of my post is this:

I'm trying to figure out a gameplan.

I think for the type of house I'd like to have in the area I'd like to be in, we'll probably be looking in the $250,000 range. I'd like to put 20% down to avoid PMI, so $50,000.

We just bought a vehicle, so our savings account is down right now. I figure we could save up at least $20,000 over the next year. That combined with the equity in our current home would hopefully provide us with that 20% down I'm looking for. That would mean that we'd wait another year to start shopping around. At least, that's kind of what I'm thinking.

I guess the purpose behind this post would be to ask the following:

1. What's the correlation between assessed tax value and what we could actually get out of it (with the remodeled bathroom and newly finished basement)?

2. Would it be better to simply save that $20,000 over the next year, or put it towards improvements on the home (new windows, remodel kitchen, etc.) to increase the value?

3. What does the current housing market mean to me and my situation? I'm thinking it's a good time to buy, but in the same regard, it's not necessarily a good time to sell. What about when you take in to consideration the $20,000 I think I could have at this time next year?

I'll be the first to admit that I'm pretty elementary when it comes to housing, the housing market, etc. Like I said, our current home is our first, so I've never sold a house before. Any advice would be appreciated.

05-27-2008, 02:31 PM	Topic Starter
The Rick Veteran Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Milwaukee, WI Casino cash: $6801320	I Want To Buy A New Home I'm ready for a new home and am looking for some advice. Our current home is/was our first, and we've lived in it for about 4 years now. It was something to get us started at the time, but I'm ready to move on to something bigger and better. First of all, my income situation is much better than it was 4 years ago. A nice promotion a couple of years ago has bumped my income up by over 40%. We've added one new child to the mix with another on the way. In addition to the increases in income and children, there are other reasons. This house feels too small now. Now that I'm older and wiser, there are things I want like a bigger garage, an attached garage, a bigger yard, bedrooms all on the same floor, etc. My oldest child will be starting kindergarten in fall 2009, so I want to be in a better school system. We bought our house for $167,000 and currently owe about $153,000 on it. Our tax bill for last year showed an assessed value of $180,000. My first question is, does this mean that we should be able to sell our house for $180,000 if not more since that's what the city assessed it at? What's typically the correlation between assessed tax value and actual value? Also, we've remodeled one bathroom and finished off the basement since that assessment, which means the value should be even higher, correct? Finally, the last part of my post is this: I'm trying to figure out a gameplan. I think for the type of house I'd like to have in the area I'd like to be in, we'll probably be looking in the $250,000 range. I'd like to put 20% down to avoid PMI, so $50,000. We just bought a vehicle, so our savings account is down right now. I figure we could save up at least $20,000 over the next year. That combined with the equity in our current home would hopefully provide us with that 20% down I'm looking for. That would mean that we'd wait another year to start shopping around. At least, that's kind of what I'm thinking. I guess the purpose behind this post would be to ask the following: 1. What's the correlation between assessed tax value and what we could actually get out of it (with the remodeled bathroom and newly finished basement)? 2. Would it be better to simply save that $20,000 over the next year, or put it towards improvements on the home (new windows, remodel kitchen, etc.) to increase the value? 3. What does the current housing market mean to me and my situation? I'm thinking it's a good time to buy, but in the same regard, it's not necessarily a good time to sell. What about when you take in to consideration the $20,000 I think I could have at this time next year? I'll be the first to admit that I'm pretty elementary when it comes to housing, the housing market, etc. Like I said, our current home is our first, so I've never sold a house before. Any advice would be appreciated.
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