Office, formal dining room (can open the table to seat 12), very open eat in kitchen /good sized living area. Master bath / bedroom is large and have a good sized walk in closet. As an aside we opted for upgrade on low e windows, radiant barrier, and 36" of insulation in the attic (house is a ranch style). Have not had a gas / electric bill over $120 since we moved in. We use a set back thermostat so during the winter days are at 70 and nights are at 62. Summer is 78 and down to 70 at night.
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You must be TX tough… 62 at night in MI and I would be freezing my ass off. I keep ours 72 twenty-fours a day. I know that's high but with my arthritis I like warm.
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Is this your retirement home? I've always heard that the two bedrooms just don't have the re-sale value vs a three. Was that not a concern of yours or in your area? On the flip side, your downsized two bedroom home is almost twice the size of my three bedroom home.

Dave, I/we like a warm house too, but I could not sleep with the heat set at 72. We kick it down to about 63-64 and that works. I like it cool to sleep, not too hot when moving, about 68, but 70-71 when we are sitting around doing nothing. Since we converted to gas heat, I have no fear of how much $$ we spend keeping warm. Folks are still paying $3.46+/gallon for heating oil.

We used to go to a friend's home in the winter time, but they were so cheap with the heat, I told Rick I wasn't going back until spring.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.
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This is our retirement home. We are in an over 55 "Active Adult" community. Currently there are about 1700 homes and build out is about 4000. With the number of singles the two bedroom home is a good mover. To get into a 3 or 4 bedroom home you need to spend over $400,000 (base price) which was way out of our price range.

 

Our best friends just had an offer accepted for a "down-sizing condo" on Saturday eve, and now they have to put their nearby 3000+ SF house on the market ASAP.

They have a "realtors open house" on Tuesday and will be putting their stone colonial on the market...trying to avoid owning two houses at once; paying for a bridge loan for long; or whatever. I think it's NUTS to put your house on the market in middle of holidays and in the dead of winter, but we'll see how it works out for them.

Their realtor has told them to do this....but what realtor would not tell you whatever will earn them another 6% commission Although the new house is 15-20 miles AWAY from their church, friends, usual stores and healthcare people, it's actually a pretty good move that will reduce their expenses and size of mortgage. The biggest challenge will be the TIGHT timing in the "slowest selling season" of the year.

We, on the other hand, are quite happy with our decision to likely "stay put" for the next 5 years or more.

 

I think every house my ex and I bought was in the winter. We settled in Feb on a couple of them, at least. And obviously sold the old ones at the same time. Always settlements to coincide and never carried two mortgages. So the time of year should not be a problem if the house is in a good location and well priced. I love stone houses and probably would buy that in a heartbeat. I guarantee you someone else will, too. When I met the +1 and decided to upgrade to a two-bedroom condo (where we live now), I put the contract on this one in Nov, settled in Jan, put the old one up a few days later and it sold in 10 days. I carried two mortgages for one month. To me, they are not nuts at all. There are lots of people looking around for certain houses/neighborhoods and will jump when something comes available. I did not plan on buying this as soon as I did, but it came up two days after I told my realtor what I wanted. The best decision I ever made, on two fronts.

 

 

BTW - Val and her +1 didn't downsize, but they got the deal of the century on their house in SC. I'm still in awe of that one, and I've made a couple of good deals myself.

 

We really enjoy our home more and more all the time AND we bought it in the middle of winter. Generally the winter is not a bad time to buy a house since better deals can be had at that time. I would think that in a neighborhood such as yours, Jerry, that if that house is priced right, it should move quickly.

 

The key is not to get too greedy over the price of the old one, as long as selling it enables you to buy the new one. Keep your eye on the prize.

 

We saw our house on Thansgiving weekend, closed on it in February. If someone is looking for a particular kind of home in a specific location, they will make time to check out a new listing, even during this busy season. Not the most fun time of year to go house hunting, but if you are a serious buyer...........

 

I bought mine in winter, as well. Signed the offer in January and closed escrow in Feb, 30 days later. Didn't move in until March 1, 2008.

 

We saw our current house for the first time on Xmas eve. ( ok we didn;t actually go in we just drove by. )

Actually got a viewing between Xmas and new years. We were under contract a few days later.