Saturday, November 12, 2005

Be My Neighbor

There is a unique opportunity to be my neighbor, because BOTH of my next door neighbors are selling their homes. That's right, in only four months, I've driven them away! ;) Just kidding. At least one neighbor is moving for work - he is a partner in a small pool heating business, and is moving to open and oversee a new store in Ft. Lauderdale.

The double sale gives me a chance to evalute my property value, something of interest to all home owners. The asking prices are eye-popping. I bought my house for $325K in early July. My home is about 1820 square feet (does not include the garage), and has a pool. My old home in Kirkland was supposedly 1850 square feet, but that must have included the garage (or was just flat out wrong) because this place is definitely bigger.

The neighbor at 784 Pickfair Terrace is asking $360K. He has about 200 more square feet, an extra bedroom, and a larger lot since he is the corner. Like his home, I have a zoned sprinkler and a security system as well.

The neighbor at 792 Pickfair Terrace, who is moving to open a store, is asking a mind-boggling $426K! He's got about 150 more square feet, a bonus room, and a three car garage. I see from the pictures the home has hard wood floors, where I have ceramic tile. In the little slideshow, picture 8 shows the patio - you can glimpse a tiny bit of my home behind the fence on the right! ;)

All of our kitchens look about the same. Our homes are by the same builder and all were built in the year 2000. All I can say is WOW. I thought homes in Florida were supposed to be cheap. I guess you have to move further away to get the bargains now. There are two or three other homes for sale in this subdivision as well - I bet some people are cashing out before the property bubble bursts. In the meantime, rising property values is good news for me, since I'm not planning to move anytime soon.

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