How to compare a home or big purchase before you buy

My partner and I are trying to choose our first home in the Seattle area before our lease ends on October 31, 2026. We expect to have our first child within the next two years, and one of our parents will probably stay with us for four to six weeks at a time after the baby arrives. I work near South Lake Union three days a week; my partner works in downtown Bellevue two days a week. We are preapproved up to $980,000, have $240,000 available for the down payment and closing costs, and want at least $80,000 left in cash after closing. We have toured three anonymized homes. Home A is a 2018 Roosevelt condo listed at $748,000: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, 1,030 square feet, one parking space, a six-minute walk to light rail, and an $825 monthly HOA that includes water, sewer, and gas. The second bedroom is only about 9 by 10 feet. Home B is a 2014 Bellevue townhouse listed at $945,000: three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, 1,510 square feet, a one-car garage, a small patio, and a $340 monthly HOA. It has three levels, with the main living space on the second floor. Home C is a 1959 detached house in Shoreline listed at $895,000: three bedrooms, two bathrooms, 1,720 square feet, no HOA, a fenced yard, and a twelve-minute walk to light rail. Its roof is about seventeen years old, and the sewer line has not been scoped. Please organize the facts, goals, constraints, and open questions into a clear current comparison. Do not recommend a home yet and do not treat any option as our favorite.

Please compare the three homes now, using the information already recorded. Focus on the two commutes, space for a baby and a visiting parent, fixed monthly cost, likely first-year cash needs, storage, stairs, maintenance responsibility, and how easy it would be to reverse a bad assumption. Help us see which tradeoffs are structural and which ones can be solved later. Do not choose for us, do not mark a preferred home, and do not assume future appreciation or resale value.

We received more documents and did trial commutes. Home A’s HOA reserve study says the building expects an elevator modernization within two to four years. No special assessment has been approved, but the unfunded portion is currently estimated at roughly $9,000 to $14,000 per unit. The building also has a 20% rental cap with a waiting list. Home B’s inspection found window-flashing repairs estimated at $3,500 to $5,000; there was no active moisture reading, and the seller said they would consider a credit instead of doing the work. The HOA minutes show the next exterior repaint is already funded. Home C’s sewer scope found root intrusion, with written estimates of $18,000 to $24,000 for replacement, and two roofing contractors said the roof likely needs replacement within three years at roughly $16,000 to $21,000. Our real weekday trial from Home C to Bellevue took sixty-eight minutes door to door, while the other commutes were within the ranges we expected. Please update the comparison with these confirmed findings and the remaining uncertainties. We still have not chosen.

We reviewed the proposal and have made our decision. Home A is out because it does not have the third true bedroom we now require. Home C is out because the combined repair exposure and the real Bellevue commute conflict with our first-two-years plan. Home B is our first choice, and we want to submit an offer with these confirmed limits: offer no more than $925,000; request a $10,000 seller credit toward closing costs or the flashing repair; keep financing, inspection, and HOA-document review contingencies; walk away if further inspection finds active water intrusion or flashing-related work above $8,000; and do not proceed if the lender’s updated fixed monthly estimate rises above $5,900 or if closing would leave us with less than $80,000 in cash. Please update the formal decision and preserve the unresolved checks. Do not describe the home as purchased or the offer as accepted.