Back on topic, as far as school things. I would want to be in a good school district for future resale, doesn't have to be next to the school.
Back on topic, as far as school things. I would want to be in a good school district for future resale, doesn't have to be next to the school.
Yes, shoot for the best combination of elementary, middle school & high school, but be open to a less than optimum combination of schools for the right house or convenient neighborhood.
Keep in mind that your whole life will change when you move. Where you shop, how you get to work, what church you go to, what people you are around and therefore your friends list. Also think about it as picking your grand children some day.
What's normal to you? I mean what do you think is normal? Who were your very best friends when you were growing up? What are your interests? What about girlfriends/boyfriends? Why did you marry who you did?
All of those things were influenced by where your parents lived. So do the best to give your child the best combination of friends, interests, outlook on life, and the best wife/husband so that you get the best grandkids.
If you live in an area where welfare is rampant and not many of the kids finish high school or don't have much ambition beyond how to cheat the government, what do you think the odds are your child will think any different? Will your kids look to get ahead in life and better themselves or just settle? They are with the other kids and their attitudes for more time than they are with you.
If their friends are little cheats and are the ones tagging things in the neighborhoods, how will your kids turn out different?
I could go on & on & on along this vein. Yes, where you live is really that important. If your parents hadn't lived where they lived you'd have turned out differently, probably married someone else and had totally different kids.
Just food for thought.
I finance home builders for a living. Lots of good advice here. A couple of things to consider:
New home sellers WILL negotiate, but not much. Typically you can get some free upgrades if they are anxious to make a sale and you didn't come in with a realtor.
At that price point it is highly possible that investors are buying homes in the neighborhood to rent them. This is a big thing right now and Wall Street is throwing a lot of money at big firms that are doing this in high volume. Avoid any subdivision where this is going on.
Hire a good inspector that knows new construction. The builder will give you a long line of bullE36 M3 about their quality control and the local inspections they have to pass. You still need someone working for you to keep them honest. In our last build our inspector found a number of things that needed fixing. He also went overboard on some other things that just weren't that big of a deal, so use your judgement.
If you PM me with the builder's name I might be able to give you some insight, though a hell of a lot depends on the local supervisor versus the name of the company.
To add to Basil's good advice, go into the builder and tell them you have your own financing before they ever show you any houses. This needs to be the first thing out of your mouth. The sales rep must put a certain percentage of buyers through their lender or else they'll lose their job. Their first pitch is that if you use their lender they'll do "Xxxx" for you, but they won't if you use your own lender. That's BS!! They are allowed to do a certain percentage out of house and give you all the same concessions.
They all have their own "in-house" lenders who work for them. Maybe they aren't owned by the builder, but because they want more business they tend to fall on the side of protecting the builder over you. You need someone in the transaction on your side, and that won't be a Realtor.
If their lender is actually owned by the builder you definitely need your own lender. Someone who will put you first not the builder. I've been asked to, and I've seen it over and over again, where the Builder uses the lender to paint you into a corner so that you have to close with the house less than 100% with the promise they'll fix/finish it later and somehow that never gets done or else it's a huge hassle.
PM me if you want more specific info about your situation. Most of my business comes from Builders so I know them inside & out.
carguy123, thanks for the advice. I moved to OKC from Tulsa, so I have a few friends there from high school/college but they are married/children, etc, girlfriend and I have no kids. We may try in the future, but aren't sure. Being in a good school district would mainly be for resale value.
Basil, Rausch Coleman is the name of the builder. They seem to have a good reputation, but I'll definitely go check out many of their homes for myself.
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