Tuesday, August 11

Housing Update

So we spent a lot of time driving around Oahu in the last ten days. It was a rollercoaster of emotion for me. I loved a place online and it was horrid in person. I saw what was readily available and worried that we were going to have a project house. I wouldn't mind a project house, but since we're here a short time and not looking toward this being our forever home, it just didn't make too much sense (or cents).

So we looked at a couple of new developments. They are the only ones that aren't short-sales and those are touchy with VA lending. We found a place that we really loved. It was a bit more than we wanted to spend, but an awesome house. Look here at the second house down called Marina. The pictures really don't do it justice. It is a weird house (two separate one car garages) but we loved it. A lot.

Then the next day, we were out looking and the agent took us to this other development. When they showed us the brochure, there were a few places within our budget and we were surprised. So we went marching through the model homes. There were two we liked, but, unfortunately, one had a weird upstairs and one had a weird downstairs. We were torn. We made an appointment to come back the next day so that she could show us the facilities. Essentially she wanted to show us the country club and marina that adjoin the property. The map linked shows you the overhead (if you choose the satellite option on google maps) of the area. It is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY more advanced now, but the project is not complete.

So, back to the house. Later we found out that the house with the weird upstairs could be changed much more to our liking. It wouldn't be perfect but better. The community is currently being built, and like most new communities, they don't put all the houses up at once. The developer builds some, sells some, builds some, sells some.

We have pretty much decided to buy this house. It won't be ready until December, but we are ok with that. Since we're staying in this little rental house, we can sock some money away. Unfortunately, we are going to close too late for the first time buyer's credit (8k) unless they extend it to 2010, but we're spending about 40k less than we had budgeted, so I guess it's a wash...


This picture is from a house just down the street (note the service flag in the window). It is NOT our house, but it is just like ours will be. We are not sure what exterior colors we will get just yet, though.



Oh and that deck you see on the front of the house, that's right off the master suite and at the proposed Flach house, that deck will be facing the south with a dog park right across the street. We should get some nice sunset views.

3 comments: