Two houses to choose (Houston, Katy: section 8, foreclose, HOA fees)

[readonly]

I am in a dilemma right now and have to choose one between two houses in South Katy area. The two houses share the same junior high and high school.

House 1: Grand Lakes
2711 sq ft, 1 story, family/dinning/4 bedroom/study room, plus 3 full bathrooms, built in 2005 by Trendmaker Homes, Lot size 8800 sq ft.
Floor Plan
http://www.trendmakerhomes.com/pdf/plans/F511.pdf
With bedroom 4 option, that is why it has 2711 sq ft living area.
Smart Viewer
http://www.trendmakerhomes.com/plan_viewer/?planid=F511
Model home pictures (click Plan F511)
http://www.trendmakerhomes.com/modelhomes/

Good: 1) 1 story with 4 bedrooms/1 study room/3 bathroom
2) Very good location in an excellent neighborhood (grand lakes), very short walking distance to two central parks,
swimming pool, tennis courts and lakes
3) inside 99 grand parkway, about 3 miles closer to my work place than House 2
4) One of the best elementary schools in great Houston, Alexander Elementary (RAE), No. 2 in Katy,
maybe Pattison Elementary (PE) is slightly better
5) better builder reputation
6) it is slightly cheaper than House 2

Bad 1) It is a short-sale (pre-foreclose) house, with very quick closing requirement
2) the house has been empty without electricity/gas/water since Nov. 7 after the owner moved out. How to do a home inspection will be a issue.
3) In the recent house showing, I found that there are two small cracks near the ceiling of master bedroom,
one straight small crack line near the center of the ceiling, another one is misaligned crack line along the raised region between the ceiling
and the wall as shown in the floor plan. My Realtor said it might just be a very small issue from his past experience.
Anyway it is up to the home inspection.

House 2: Seven Meadows
3200 sq ft, 2 story, family/dinning/4 bedroom/study room/media room/ game room, plus 3.5 bathrooms. Corner lot with lot size 8560 sq ft
Floor plan
http://www.meritagehomestexas.com/fl...splay/?id=4607
I convert the dinning room into study room and turn living room to dinning room.
Virtual viewer
http://www.meritagehomestexas.com/ho...splay/?id=4607
See the virtual tool

Good: 1) Brand new house, it is being built now (I believe that the builder has just finished the slab foundation), and will take another 3 months to finish
2) Larger living area with more rooms
3) another 3/4 months away and we will save much more money for the down payment/closing because of the tax return/annual bonus/saving.

Bad 1) 3 miles more faraway and outside 99 grand parkway, and the morning commuting has to pass two school zones, 1 junior high and 1 elementary
2) the current Elementary is not as good as that for House 1. Next fall, all the pupils in seven meadows except Avalon will transfer to the new
Elementary 31
3)In my oponion, the overal design of Seven Meadows is not as good as Grand Lakes, except that region of Avalon.

Long story short. First I made the offer for the House 1 this October, Because of short-sale, everything must be decided by the bank (lender of the original owner). It takes them really really long. I got the final decision just yesterday (they accepted my offer and require me to have a very quick closing). In the middle (this November), I went ahead with Meritage homes to sign a new house construction contract with $2000 earnest money. Now I have to decide which house to take. Taking house 1 is kind of risky and I have to lose the prepaid $2000 earnest money and I may have some other liabilities as shown in the signer contract. Could anyone here please give me some advice, which I greatly appreciate.

Happy a New Year,

gqchen

[SkyeAnjel]

Just based on the homes, I would pick house 2.

[cla]

The extra 3 miles from the grand lakes home to the seven meadows home is not as significant as you think. I was originally adamant about staying east of 99, but ended up buying west of 99. I realize I'm not as far out as I originally thought I'd be.

Consider current traffic patterns. Peek is a very quiet peaceful street (but that could change depending on what goes up at 1093 and Peek) - getting to and from the Tollway is very easy (I used to take that route to my office before I moved). 99 and Fry is another story altogether. But the section that Meritage is building in is at Gaston and Fry, so you can take Gaston to Cinco Ranch or take Katy-Gaston (a little further west) to 1093. I take Katy-Gaston to 1093 and the light at that intersection changes often, so I never have much of a wait. Of course, when they finally build whatever retail/commercial properties behind SLHS, that route will get worse (but not at 6:00 in the morning). Also, Gaston is eventually supposed to be completed, making another route to 1093

[cla]

and I wouldn't worry about the elementary school. I don't believe there is very much difference in the quality of the elementary schools in Katy. Your child(ren) will do equally as well whether it be at Alexander or the new school.

Choose the home you like best. If you like them equally, then you have a tough choice ahead of you.

[Poltracker]

You've got more to worry about. It sounds like you have signed two contracts for two houses. You may have to worry about getting sued for specific performance by one or the other of the entities. Albeit this is not likely to happen, they will probably just take your deposit and call it quits. It is however one more thing to think about. Also discuss this with your attorney.

[readonly]

Poltracker,

Thanks a lot for your reply. Frankly, I wouldn't worry about the offer for the used house in grand lakes. We don't have the formal contract except that it looks that the seller(bank) is ready to accept my offer because they urge me to have a quick closing. The worst is that I have 10 days option in my offer. I should have realized that the short-sale sometimes takes really long even to get a reply.

Originally Posted by Poltracker

You've got more to worry about. It sounds like you have signed two contracts for two houses. You may have to worry about getting sued for specific performance by one or the other of the entities. Albeit this is not likely to happen, they will probably just take your deposit and call it quits. It is however one more thing to think about. Also discuss this with your attorney.

[readonly]

Cla.

Thank you so much for your insight. Maybe I consider too much. The new house I picked is in seven meadows 60' section by Meritage and Pulte. Overall, for Seven Meadows, the south side of South Fry road (section 80, 90, 100, Avalon and the section behind HEB) is much better than the north side (section 60, 65, 70). There are less amenities in the south side with dense houses. Of course, you have to pay much more to enjoy the south side of Fry road. My working place is in BMC campus (the intersection of Beltway 8 and Westheimer) and my wife's one is north of I-10 and Beltway 8. I think we will drive along 1093 unless the traffic of I 10 gets improved.


Happy a New Year,

Originally Posted by cla

The extra 3 miles from the grand lakes home to the seven meadows home is not as significant as you think. I was originally adamant about staying east of 99, but ended up buying west of 99. I realize I'm not as far out as I originally thought I'd be.

Consider current traffic patterns. Peek is a very quiet peaceful street (but that could change depending on what goes up at 1093 and Peek) - getting to and from the Tollway is very easy (I used to take that route to my office before I moved). 99 and Fry is another story altogether. But the section that Meritage is building in is at Gaston and Fry, so you can take Gaston to Cinco Ranch or take Katy-Gaston (a little further west) to 1093. I take Katy-Gaston to 1093 and the light at that intersection changes often, so I never have much of a wait. Of course, when they finally build whatever retail/commercial properties behind SLHS, that route will get worse (but not at 6:00 in the morning). Also, Gaston is eventually supposed to be completed, making another route to 1093

[descovy]

I would lean toward house #2 in Seven Meadows. The HOA fees in grandlakes are $995 vs $750 in Seven Meadows. Considering Cinco is $775 for more ammenities than Grand Lakes, I would never pay $995.

East or West of 99, not so much an issue especially if you will be commuting 1093 or westpark. We live in Cinco SW just West of seven meadows... but a quick jump on 1093, vs more congestion at peek/mason rd.

Both have good schools, honestly, RAE is the same "good" as Griffin, which will be just as good as elem 31 (the seven meadows elem) Just keep in mind for the future, that this area is growing rapidly, with new schools being built and rezonings will abound. If you can't roll with it and feel certain you *must* go to a specific school, fast growing KISD isn't for you.

For instance I live maybe 2 miles from Beckendorff but next year our Jr Hi will be 5? miles away at woodcreek. But in 2011 there will be a new Jr Hi by SLHS and we will most likely go to that. People pin their hopes on a school that a builder/developer/realtor *promised* them and then raise holy heck at KISD when they don't get their way.

My neighborhood was zoned to Kilpatrick when we put down earnest money, zoned to Griffin by the time school started, and will be zoned to elem 32 in 2009. No big surprise to me, as all this land is being developed... but after sitting on a rezoning comittee this fall, and seeing the anguish from parents who chose a house based on one particular school, it can be a surprise to some.

Please, just don't choose the house according to the school!