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Finding the Right Home – Considering Trade-offs

January 15, 2008 | By Kelley Koehler | Filed Under First Time Buyer 

I’ve been working with a couple of first-time home buyers recently, and we’ve had lots of discussions about how to pick the right home.

One of the big considerations is the age of the home.  In Tucson, older homes tend to be smaller and sit on bigger lots than a newer home for the same money.  Older homes have a lot of character, newer homes can be bland.  Old homes may need a lot of maintenance and care, newer homes may not need any work and can need less upkeep.

Ultimately, after looking at a wide variety of homes, you’ll have to figure out what is most important to you for yourself.  Your agent is there to help you work through the decision, but it comes down to personal preference.

If you’ve got an inclination to learn about home maintenance and aren’t scared to take on some small projects, an older home may be the perfect fit.  If you want a home where you’ll have to do the minimum of home maintenance, go for the newer home.

Yards are usually bigger on the older homes.  If you want a huge yard and spend a lot of time outside, maybe you want that older house.  If you are happy with an area just large enough to hold a barbeque and a couple friends without a lot of yard work, maybe that newer home is right.

Either way, there are trade-offs to be made.  My first house was a brand new home on a tiny postage stamp of a yard, and I loved that house, but missed having a big yard.  My next home was an old 1950’s adobe home on nearly a third of an acre, and I loved that house too.  I learned a lot in that house.  Then again, when you’re hip deep in a trench during the third day of digging out your old broken clay sewer line, those new construction homes start looking good!  Either that, or you realize it’s okay to learn some jobs from the sidelines while the professionals do the work.

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