lacofdfireman
Well-known member
I am having sort of a dilema here and want the advise of some of you on the board. I am currently commuting 370 miles (by choice) to my job as a Fireman in Los Angeles. We have decided that we need to move closer and are having a home built in Tehachapi Ca. The home we are having built is a KB Home (Tract home). The cost is cheap, it's $380k for 3400 sq ft. It's not the perfect home and we would be going into it and removing carpet and putting in Tile, Granite countertops etc to do some upgrading. (KB wanted way to much for them to do this). Some of the big things my wife and I are not to excited about are for me, RV access. 15ft on the side of the home on one side, 5ft on the other side. My trailer is a 40ft Toyhauler and so it's gonna be a tight squeeze pulling it off the street and backing it onto the side of the home but doable. My wife hates the Laundry or "Mud" room. It only has room for the washer and dryer, no counter space and no sink and is located on the main level of the home. All the bedrooms are upstairs so I guess it is a little inconvienent carrying laundry up and down the stairs all the time and no place to hang stuff. Those are a few of the things that we don't like. The lot is 8500 sq ft and measures 75ft in width and 119ft in length. The back yard is 31ft from the back of the house to the back wall. Basically we are buying this home cause it's very affordable. Here is a photo of our KB home being built.
House #2. Custom built home on 2.5 acres of usable land. Asking price is $530K. I think we might be able to get it for around $500K possibly. Already has tile and granite throughout and is 3900 sq ft. Bigger than I need but is alot of home for the money. All my children ride dirt bikes and they would have some riding room in the back yard with this home for sure. Down sides to this home is it is off of a gravel road. Not to big a deal but makes it harder to keep things clean. No curb and gutter. It's on a well, septic and Propane where the other home is on City water, sewer and natural gas. I like the idea of a well with this large of property personnally but not real excited about the propane. Parking the RV will not be a problem as you can see from the photo's and my dream of building a large Detached garage will be a possibility to keep all the toys in. I am still young in my career, 6 years with 19 to go. I could afford either payment even though this one would require me to stretch a little bit for awhile. My pay will just keep increasing with promotions, step raises etc so either one would be better with years. So what would your opinion be. Go with the home on some property or buy the tract home? Also as far as investments go which do you think would be better in the long run? Here is some photo's of the home on property.
View out the Master Bedroom Deck off rear of home overlooking Tehachapi City.
A couple other things to consider. We will lose a $7k deposit that we have put down on the KB Home. But in the long run it's not really that big of a deal to me. Where would you sink your money?
House #2. Custom built home on 2.5 acres of usable land. Asking price is $530K. I think we might be able to get it for around $500K possibly. Already has tile and granite throughout and is 3900 sq ft. Bigger than I need but is alot of home for the money. All my children ride dirt bikes and they would have some riding room in the back yard with this home for sure. Down sides to this home is it is off of a gravel road. Not to big a deal but makes it harder to keep things clean. No curb and gutter. It's on a well, septic and Propane where the other home is on City water, sewer and natural gas. I like the idea of a well with this large of property personnally but not real excited about the propane. Parking the RV will not be a problem as you can see from the photo's and my dream of building a large Detached garage will be a possibility to keep all the toys in. I am still young in my career, 6 years with 19 to go. I could afford either payment even though this one would require me to stretch a little bit for awhile. My pay will just keep increasing with promotions, step raises etc so either one would be better with years. So what would your opinion be. Go with the home on some property or buy the tract home? Also as far as investments go which do you think would be better in the long run? Here is some photo's of the home on property.
View out the Master Bedroom Deck off rear of home overlooking Tehachapi City.
A couple other things to consider. We will lose a $7k deposit that we have put down on the KB Home. But in the long run it's not really that big of a deal to me. Where would you sink your money?
