My Sis

[fjackson]

My sister is considering moving to Amarillo when I do later this summer. I am looking on the SW side of town as some of you may remember from my earlier post. She is tired of renting and would relay like to buy a single family home. Her budget is limited to about $60K-$70K. The areas I have been looking in are out given her price range. She would still like decent schools and for her two kids but as a single parent has limited income. I am going to drive her around this weekend to look at some areas, its to preliminary for her to get a Realtor. Any suggestions on safe areas for that price? What elementry schools in the NE hae the best reputation? She is a nurses aid so getting a job will be easy in Amarillo.

[habiba]

She will definitly be limited to the older homes in that price range. There are decent area that you can get a home for under $70K. In the SW you will be limited to small, old, fixer up home but might be able to find something but it will be difficult. I will reccomend the Eastridge area as possible option. The are is safe and there are homes in good condition for about that price. It has a very diverse population and the elementry school is in the center of the neighboorhood along with a park. The older parts of the SE are not diverse almost all hispanic so she may not be comfortable there. The newer part of the SE like Tradewind is probably to expensive. The NW is either very new and extremely expensive like Woodlands, or old and not very good. You say your mom live in North Amarillo and that area is probably not real good for kid as you can see, the school is not very high performing.

[time2fly]

I have a house for sale in a very safe, nice family neighborhood. I, being a single mom, lived in it for close to 5 years before I needed a bigger house. Right now I have a renter in it but just put it on the market. It is 3 bedrooms, 1 bath and huge front and back yard great for kids and in her price range. Send me a message if you are interested.

[fjackson]

Time2fly, Thanks for the tip on the house. She's not ready to look at any specific house. She just wants get a better understanding on what areas to check out. This will help her determine if she will make the move here with me. I tried to ask my Realtor but she seemed afraid to answer these questions, like she might offend someone or be accused of steering. Habib, thanks for the incite. I appreciate your honesty and straight forward talk.

Any additional input is appreciated, we are driving in tomorrow.

[coolarrow]

$60-70,000? You might be able to buy a run down trailer home and a lot.

[rena]

coolarrow said:

$60-70,000? You might be able to buy a run down trailer home and a lot.

Unfortunatley I think you are right.....

[time2fly]

That is not necessarily true. I had a great house for sale....like I said earlier. It was on the market less then 3 weeks and already has an offer and contract. I have had it as a rental property and wanted to get out of being a landlord. But it is a great house. And was listed at 69,900 and in a good neighborhood. In Southeast Amarillo but a nice family oriented neighborhood. The family that put a contract on it got a great house.

[petiepanzer]

Yeah, I'm going to agree with T2F on this one. I did a search on the Amarillo MLS and came up with several addresses in that price range for sale. I even found one in Olsen for that price range. Now, they may be less than 1200 s.f. and not have a 2 car attached garage, but it's still better than a trailer house. Also, keep in mind that the properties are usually priced about 10% above the true price. Real Estate is in a slide nationally and I expect that to begin trickling down to Amarillo within the next year. Already, I have noticed that a lot of these houses seem to be sitting on the market for several months before selling. Some of them have even been on the market for 6 months to a year. Eventually, people are going to start really dropping their properties, especially if they have to get out of them. It's just a matter of time.

[zebrarick]

Some of the house on the market are way over priced here also....

[fjackson]

Anyone looking for a house in Amarillo will tell you the market is definitely not slow. Anything priced well seems to sell pretty fast. I found the MLS to be a bit deceiving because most of the homes that are priced well either have an offer or a problem (busy corner, trashed inside, etc...). I am concentrating on Westover, City Park and surrounding areas but have looked all over the SW side of town including some older areas and the newer part of the SE. Under $140K it is tough to find a good one in the newer SW sections. I put an offer in on one in Westover recently and it had two competing offers so I bowed out. In tradewinds we saw a lot of homes for sale below $140K but we like Westover and City Park a lot more. I'm not in a hurry so I'll just hang tight until I find the right place at the right price.

My Sister is on the $60-$70K budget. We checked out that price range this weekend. Most are either in real bad condition or in a bad location. Especially the ones that have been on the MLS for a while. The areas that stuck out as good buys were Eastridge (NE), Southlawn South (SE) and an area near Travis Middle School (NE). Given the budget these seemed to be the cleanest and safest areas with the homes in decent shape. Her first choice is Eastridge but its a small area and there are only a few homes for sale. We took the kids to the park there. They had a great time playing with other kids and everyone seemed very friendly. I think I heard about 20 different languages that day. The diversity was a nice change of pace compared to Gary Indiana where she's moving from. She is moving in with my mom next month and will then narrow her search and get to know the areas better.

One thing is for sure, health care workers are in demand. She applied for several jobs on Friday and basically had people begging her to come to work by Monday. She may even be able to qualify for more than she originally thought.

[princessbaybay]

Has she already qualified on a loan? Time on her job may be an issue.

I know a great little house in South Lawn... I will check on the price for you... it has been VERY well maintained and should be in her price range.

Rick you are right on the overpriced houses... it's ridiculous.... and many people have watched too much HGTV and some of the paint colors are pathetic.... and would probably need to be changed immediately for most people... I have seen a BUNCH that were great houses but wouldn't even consider them because they painted funk in every room . People seem to like various shades of green on the walls...fine...but take it back to a neutral color when putting it on the market... it would sell much faster!

[zebrarick]

There are 2 houses where I live that are the sam emodel as mine. Both are about $15k over what they should be. It is a hilarious to see this. Yeah they both been up on market 6 months.

[mustakister]

petiepanzer said:

Yeah, I'm going to agree with T2F on this one. I did a search on the Amarillo MLS and came up with several addresses in that price range for sale. I even found one in Olsen for that price range. Now, they may be less than 1200 s.f. and not have a 2 car attached garage, but it's still better than a trailer house. Also, keep in mind that the properties are usually priced about 10% above the true price. Real Estate is in a slide nationally and I expect that to begin trickling down to Amarillo within the next year. Already, I have noticed that a lot of these houses seem to be sitting on the market for several months before selling. Some of them have even been on the market for 6 months to a year. Eventually, people are going to start really dropping their properties, especially if they have to get out of them. It's just a matter of time.

The first rule of RE is that everything is local. Amarillo has a very stable / diverse economy and RE prices have risen gradually over the past several years, unlike many areas nationwide. We are not as susceptible to a "slump" as areas that have experienced triple digit appreciation in a short time period. With that said, Amarillo RE is still a seller's market and doesn't show any signs of turning. I do expect things to level out eventually... this is always what happens, but I wouldn't expect prices to necessarily drop.

We close on a house Monday in a nice SW neighborhood. We looked for a long, long time before finding the right deal and we had to go with a FSBO at that. Even with the house not listed on MLS we had to battle other homebuyers in a bidding war. Ended up paying asking price, but got a small concession.

The bottom line is that if the house is nice / located ok / priced with comp's it is going to sell quickly in this market. The houses of which you speak that have been on the market for more than a month or 2 are overpriced and / or undesirable.

There was a time that $75k gave you some good options for family homes in this town. My advice to her given that particular budget limitation, is that she live in an inexpensive apartment and save until she can afford at least $100k. (this opens up so many different neighborhoods w/ better schools, safer streets) Summit Park is a great place to live (lived there twice through the years) and is in one of the best elementary school districts in town: Puckett. There are several apartments to choose from in the $500 - 600 range in excellent schools. Good luck!!

[mustakister]

fjackson said:

My sister is considering moving to Amarillo when I do later this summer. I am looking on the SW side of town as some of you may remember from my earlier post. She is tired of renting and would relay like to buy a single family home. Her budget is limited to about $60K-$70K. The areas I have been looking in are out given her price range. She would still like decent schools and for her two kids but as a single parent has limited income. I am going to drive her around this weekend to look at some areas, its to preliminary for her to get a Realtor. Any suggestions on safe areas for that price? What elementry schools in the NE hae the best reputation? She is a nurses aid so getting a job will be easy in Amarillo.

Hey - one more thing... it's NEVER too early to hire a realtor. Believe me, there are many agents out there that would love to consult with you and your sister ahead of time. Even if she decides to rent for a year or 2, it will give you some valuable perspective on the market to walk through some homes now.

[fjackson]

Thank you mustakister. Anyone who thinks the Amarillo housing market is heading down hasn't been on the streets actually trying to find a good house. If it is in good shape, in a good area and for a reasonable price it is pretty much sold. My sister has consulted with the realtor I'm using. She has decided to rent for about a year.