We recently purchased a new home here in Chattanooga, TN. Home prices in this area have increased dramatically in recent years. When deciding what we could afford, we did what most people do. We talked it out and set a budget for the most we wanted to pay for a home. Our max budget was $250,000.
Our realtor is amazing. (Shout out to Matt McDonald with The Group Chattanooga) He showed us tons of houses in that price range. However, in order to buy a house in our price range in an area we wanted to live, most of the homes needed a lot of updates. Some of the major systems like the roof, HVAC, water heater were aging and needed to be replaced within 5 years. Honestly, we were getting a little discouraged.
Did I mention we had a great realtor? He knows every part of the city and suggested a small area about 15 minutes from downtown. The property taxes there are 90% less than other parts of town. He showed us a brand new development with houses priced from $300,000-380,000. The homes were absolutely stunning, but the price tag was overwhelming to both of us… until we ran the numbers.
Not only are our property taxes lower, but so is our homeowner’s insurance. Because of the location of the home and the fact that it was a new build with all new systems, it is a lower risk to insure. To our surprise, the total monthly payment for the brand new house is only $30 more than it would have been for the $250,000 house we looked at the week before.
We were able to purchase a brand new construction house in a beautiful neighborhood for $310,000. Our monthly payment, including taxes and insurance, is not much different than if we had bought the $250,000 house just a couple miles away.
This is why a great realtor is worth their weight in gold. Now, we get to live in a beautiful new house, one we never thought we could afford right now!
Cheers to a better financial future! Feel free to reach out or comment. We are all in this together!
-Erik & Jessie
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