The Super Official Homeowners Thread

[D_Eclipse9916]

1) dumb da dumb dumb dumb!

2) For safe/reasonable gains, a house that hasn't been too updated in a nice neighborhood, good schools; and with a floor plan generous to families.  Since many americans choose the starting of a family to buy a house; any house that is a good family house will see fair appreciation vs one that has a mini 2nd bedroom.  At this point I would avoid anything that isn't 3 bedroom, multi-bath.  It's a limited market, unless you plan to rent.  You *could* get lucky but its far riskier.

3) I am not akin to the legal ramifications, but as far as I know; you also need to be linked to a brokerage; split commissions with your brokerage or pay fees.  You also need to keep up with your license as an ongoing fee.  One house, not worth it.

4) People already harped on this; and don't let increasing taxes/homeowners insurance/HOA fees catch you in a bind.  

5) All the above and as I alluded to before, schools for families.  Areas with bad schools struggle to get out of their own depressed areas.  Good schools = higher earning families moving in = higher property values.  You won't see an influx of high income earners with families moving to bad schools.  You want higher returns?  Seeking out areas with already high growth means that value is already built in and you won't see significant increase long term yourself. 

For Example: Many were fooled in Reston buying there thinking with the Metro coming it would help; but it was already built into the price of the homes ever since it was a high possibility.  Prices didn't rise once Metro was finished.

6) All depends on your own income and marital status, for me it was a wash between itemizing and standard deductions because of SALT Limitations.  This erases some of the value of having a mortgage, starting to weigh in on the value proposition.  Since you will be living there at least a couple years it sounds like; you are already built in to have your $250k of equity deduction, so again; no huge loopholes to be found.

Your example is high renovated, at the top of the neighborhood for $ per sq/ft; and is in a horrible school district.  It also is fairly small; limiting your resale opportunity.  It's not all bad news though.  Freshly renovated with a $400k asking price in a transitional neighborhood where the "asking" rent is fairly high indicates to me a good rental case may be made.  However this is where you need a real estate agent to provide real comps and giving a real monthly rental expectation.  You would also have to be fairly involved in finding and keeping up with tenants as most would be there for just a year due to the area/neighborhood.