Johns creek or cumming (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: sale, real estate, new house)

[prime]

Want to buy a home in 250k range in Johns creek but even resale homes costs more if its not old than 10yrs.But i dont want to change schools as i like the chattahoochee high.My kids are in middle school.
Is it better choice to get a new home in South Forsyth for the same price for an old home in JC?Any suggestion on old homes vs new homes?
Thanks

[ATLTJL]

That question is about as personal as it gets...it's like asking beef or chicken?

Some people love the character of older homes, some people love brand new construction. The thing is, though, in an area like Johns Creek, you're not going to find homes that are old enough to have character most likely, just homes that are similar to what is being built today only built a few years ago.

So in a situation like that, you have to ask yourself how important new construction is. I happen to like new construction, but I bought a house that was 15 years old when I got it. It's really not that different than what they're building now aside from a few codes that have been updated (I think they are insulating homes a little better now and some things like that). Of course, new construction is going to be turn key ready, and any house with a few years on it is going to have some things that need attention. Probably not much expensive, but annoying things.

Here's the flip side: even if you get a new house, if you plan to stay in it for a while, pretty soon it's going to be a 10 year old house and have all the same issues. The only difference is, you'll be in Cumming instead of Johns Creek. There's an old saying that you can change anything about a house except where it is. So the real question is, do you have a strong location preference? If so, go with it. If not, just go with whatever individual home you like the best. There's nothing that says you can't look in both areas and see what grabs you.

[prime]

Thanks!Usually for the price range of 250k in Johns creek ,most homes are nearly 20yrs old and more.Do you think more time would go to getting the home fixed ?
Haven't started looking for homes yet but hoping i can find a well maintained home here in JC.

[ATLTJL]

As I'm sure you know since you live there, Johns Creek is mostly a wealthy area. I think people who live there are less likely to neglect their homes than in other places, so you should be in pretty good shape. You can also tell a lot from looking. Even if you're not a construction expert, just look at how the owner keeps the house and it will tell you a lot. Very few people out there will neglect a house but be conscientious enough to make it show well. Even though I think realtors are relatively useless at helping you find homes, having a smart realtor who knows a bit about construction can be very useful to take along with you when you are looking at homes. Also remember that once you sign a contract, you are going to have a due diligence period to have the home inspected and you can always back out without losing anything if something bad turns up.

I will say if you buy an older home, you do have to make sure you have extra money. Most home inspectors can tell you if an air conditioner works, but they can't tell you how many years it has left on it. Most homes in the 15-20 year range are going to need new heaters and air conditioners very soon if they haven't already been replaced. You'll also be looking at a new roof in the foreseeable future. So you have to keep in mind that the reason older homes are less expensive is because it's understood that they are going to require more maintenance.

Like I said, I purchased a 15 year old house. I probably wouldn't have even looked at it if I had known the age, but I didn't know and it ended up being the perfect house for me. I saw some homes that were a lot newer but in much worse shape, so age isn't everything. I could tell my house had been very well maintained, but even so, I had to spend about 3 or 4 hundred dollars in my first couple of weeks just having a handyman come out and tackle a bunch of minor issues I found here and there. I'll probably be looking at a new heater and air conditioner in the next year or two, but the roof and water heater are both under 3 years old, which made a huge difference. I probably wouldn't have bought the house with its original roof, or I would have asked for a much lower price.

So I don't think the age should be a huge concern, but it does bring up some points you have to consider and look into. I would also do some research on property taxes, which I imagine are a great deal lower in Forsyth county. Then you can figure out what kind of place your budget will really buy you in both areas.

[prime]

Thank you so much!Now i get an idea of what we are looking.

[mrpanda]

Prime,
I think that the Johns Creek address will always sell at a premium with higher PPSF than its surrounding cities like Suwanee, S. Forsyth, Alpharetta, Duluth with the exception of Milton.

Since the city of Johns Creek is very young (only 4 years old), the city is still not in the radar to many Atlantans, definitely not known at a national level. The city is very diverse with a large Asian population. I predict that the Asian population will make up 36% of Johns Creek by 2017/2018. If you were to ask my opinion in the next 6 - 9 years, I think that the Johns Creek address will become a "Beverly Hills" Prestige address in the northside of Atlanta like Buckhead is known for today. Case in point, there is a new home subdivision literally 5 min from my home called Old Taylor Farms by John Wieland that is selling at an entry price of $900,000. These homes used to cost $2-3 million dollars at the peak of the market in 2007. When the market recovers, I think that new constructions homes in Johns Creek will be much higher than $300s especially the undeveloped land near Shakerag Elementary and River Trail Middle School. One new subdivision "Travistock" by Peachtree Residential are selling new homes in the mid $600s in that area.

Johns Creek is the weathiest city in the state of Georgia with an average household income of $136,000 where 16% of the Johns Creek households make over $200,000. This puts John Creek up there with Sandy Springs, GA, Naperville, IL and Irvine, CA in terms of its wealth scale. I think that the real estate in S. Forsyth is newer and undervalued compared to Johns Creek, however I do not think that the median home prices in S. Forsyth will ever exceed that of Johns Creek.

The only new home development i can think of in your price range is the Gates of Johns Creek. They used to start in the $260 range back in 2009 and now I am seeing prices closer to $300,000. For resale homes in Johns Creek in your price range, I would probably look at Blackstone or RiverWalk. If you are looking to double the value of your home in the next 10 years. I would go put in some low ball offers (20-30% below asking price) in Blackstone and Riverwalk and see if you get lucky. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

Disclosure: I currently reside in S. Forsyth.

[tamlym]

I agree, chicken or beef? lol

Here's my two cents on older home vs new homes.....

I prefer an older home. I'd rather dump a little money into updating the older home. My thinking is that new homes are kinda "slapped up" really quick. Even if they have a limited warrantee period, will the builder still be around to honor it? I'm more concerned with structural issues that might turn up way later and always just when the warrantee runs out! kwim lol?

At least with older homes, (15+ years) I feel that those issues would have already turned up. That's just me. I agree with ATLTJL....a new home today is an older home 10 years later.

You can try looking in the area around the McGinnis Ferry area or along Sargent. There are some subdivisions that are way under 250k and are zoned for Chattahoochee...

I like Johns Creek, and it's pretty much built out compared to S Forsyth....so I would think that JC would retain value a little more than SForsyth (there's still room to build more so there will always be more "new houses" for new buyers)....idk

Good luck!

[prime]

Thank you all for the replies!mrpanda,you seem to favor JC but residing in S.Forsyth?What prompted your decision?

[ATLTJL]

I agree that Johns Creek is probably going to hold more long term value. It's pretty much built out, so we know what's going to happen there, the same thing as now. There's still a lot of room to grow in South Forsyth, so a lot of things can go wrong if it grows incorrectly (think certain parts of Gwinnett that grew way too fast and are now not nearly what they used to be).

I did want to comment on the newer houses being built shoddily. I had always heard that, too. But I discovered something as I was looking. You can never judge a house by its age. There have always been builders that do shoddy work, and there have always been builders that do quality work. For every McMansion built out of Elmers glue and toothpicks, I can show you a 1950s ranch with a leaky crawl space and no insulation. You can't judge a house by its age, you have to judge by its construction.

This is why it's really good to use a buyers agent that knows a lot about construction. You don't even need to care if your agent can find houses, you can do that yourself. You want someone who can walk into a house and tell if its solidly built or not. You can generally tell because most buyers agents want to close a sale as soon as possible. If you have one who goes into certain places and says, "do not buy this house!" then that's the one you want to work with.