House Hunting Discussion

This is a typical house hunting discussion. We had it today. The realtor sent me a link to a couple of new listings and I really liked one of them but it was in Missouri.

Me: Realtor just sent me a link to a house and I really like it.
Vince: What year was it built?
Me: 2009
Vince: That’s 10 years old!
Me: And, 2006 is 13 years old (because our current house was built in 06).
Vince: The roof is old.
Me: 10 years old is old?
Vince: Is it on the water?
Me: It has a gas stove!
Vince: Is it on a paved road?
Me: It has a full, finished, poured walkout basement.
Vince: Does it have two air conditioner units?
Me: I love the kitchen! So many cabinets and did I say it has a gas stove?
Vince: How many bathrooms?
Me: It has a nice shop. I think you’ll like it.

Honestly, the questions he asks! He gets the same links from the realtor that I get but he never opens them.

He totally refuses to live in Missouri because they tax social security and 100% of pensions. Arkansas doesn’t tax social security and only taxes part of pensions. But, houses in Arkansas are at least $50K higher than just across the border in MO. There’s a calculator where you put in how much social security you get, your pension, your income from earnings and investments and it tells you how much taxes you’ll pay in whatever state you choose. I put in AR and MO. By the time the house values are higher in AR, you’re paying more property taxes and on the two new listings we saw today, we’d have to live in MO 26 years to make it cost us more to live in MO because the house in AR was that much more than a similar house in MO. The area where he wants to find a house in AR is 25 miles from the town where he wants to call “home” and the houses I’ve been finding in MO are 34 miles from the same town. NINE miles?? That can’t make that much of a difference!

Today I said “Just call M . . and tell her we’ll buy her house!” It’s the house we like a lot except for a lot we don’t like! The kitchen is too small. The basement isn’t walkout and there’s not enough a/c down there. There’s a beautiful deck with a beaded board ceiling. It has a gas stove and a nice fireplace and the 2.5 baths we wanted (no bathroom in the basement). It isn’t on the water but it’s just a walk to the water and she has an easement across someone else’s property to get to the water, where she has a boat dock with a swim deck. I told Vince today “We could build you a shop and make a nice outdoor kitchen. We could add a mini split to the basement.

He’s thinking about it. Tomorrow . . we’ll have a different plan. I think we’ll be in Texas forever! 🙂