If you are a first time buyer, getting ready to start looking for a home at Fort Hood, here's a quick peek into a real house hunt in the Fort Hood Real Estate Market:
My latest USAA buyer already had a target subdivision and price range in mind when we met for our first consultation. He and his wife are first time buyers and are looking for a home that is close to Fort Hood and close to her work in Killeen. They also want their children to attend Copperas Cove schools, so it's been pretty easy to narrow down their choices.
They've been looking at new construction but just didn't find anything that quite fit their needs and time frame (before the holidays). So we moved on to looking at existing homes, which are a pretty good value in the market right now since prices are down and sellers are paying most if not all of your closing costs.
The buyers picked five properties off the internet to see this past week, and here's what we found when we got to the homes:
Property #1 - First Impression: Big pile of rocks and dirt in the front yard (lots of work required to remove). Front porch and door were covered in dog paw prints. The interior was, frankly, filthy. Looking into the back yard we saw that the dogs had pretty much destroyed it, and they had chewed chunks out of the back porch posts, too!
Property #2 - First Impression: Nicely maintained yard. Attractive brick with stone accents. Spotless interior, nice floorplan with a fireplace and playscape in the back yard for the buyer's children. Well priced! These sellers are as perfect as possible for an unoccupied home.
Property #3 - First Impression was not good. Yard is full of dead grass and weeds, not a bush, tree or flower to be seen. And this home was occupied! Interior was surprising in that it was clean, neat and nicely decorated, perfect for showing to a buyer. Many buyers would never get past the dead yard to even consider this home. It was very well priced, though, and the buyers took a chance and went in to see the interior. It appears the seller is pricing the home low to offset the condition of the yard.
Property #4 - First Impression: Beautiful yard, neatly trimmed, healthy, green, with nice landscaping touches. Interior was clean, neat, with a big covered patio overlooking the healthy, landscaped back yard. This floorplan was actually the same as property #3. These sellers had painted several walls a variety of "interesting" colors that didn't appeal to the buyers. This was the highest priced home we looked at. This home had been on the market three days.
Property #5 - New construction. I called the builder prior to driving out to this home. He assured me that the home was finished and ready for buyers to move in. When we got to the address, we were greeted with a bare concrete foundation.......
I guess he thought we were going to pitch a tent and use the Port-a-John out in the street!
After looking at these five homes, the buyers (who are really charming people!) said they would call me in the morning to let me know which home they wanted to buy. But it didn't take 20 minutes before they called back to tell me their choice!
So which home do YOU think they bought? Which one would YOU buy if you were a first time buyer here at Fort Hood?
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