Diana Krause lived in her family’s Brookhaven home for 42 years, but when her mother passed away and her father needed to go into a nursing home, they had to sell the home. She found a townhome of her own in Lilburn’s Creekside Manor neighborhood with three bedrooms and maintenance handled by the homeowners association fee of $115 a month. Krause, 48, who works for Delta Life Insurance Co., chatted about her purchase.
Q: How long was your search?
A: Two months. To me it seemed like it was forever. I kept panicking, thinking I’m too picky and my Realtor [Nancy Aroneck, broker associate with Keller Williams Realty Peachtree Road] is going to get aggravated with me.
Q: How did you decide to search outside the Perimeter?
A: We looked close in, but everything that was close in, if it was new, it was going to be way over what I could afford. Sometimes we would just pull up and I would not even want to get out and look [because of the poor condition of some homes in her $100,000s price range]. Nancy would wad up the paper [with information about the home] and throw it in the backseat. I told Nancy I wouldn’t mind living further out. She was like, OK, what do you want [in a home]?
Q: What were some must-haves?
A: I wanted three bedrooms. After 42 years [of living in one place], you’ve got a lot of junk. I wanted a two-car garage. I wanted to walk in from the garage to [main level] of the house. We went to Creekside Manor. Before the on-site agent even showed us the condo, I was like, oh, this is what I want.
Q: What type of monthly mortgage did you want to pay?
A: I didn’t want to go too far over $1,000 a month.
Q: Did you consider other suburban neighborhoods?
A: Some were further out. A friend of mine said I should do the drive to work. One was beyond the Mall of Georgia [in Buford]. I was like, there is no way I could do this drive. Where I am now, it’s only 15 miles to work.
Q: What is a tip for buyers?
A: Find out about the plans for amenities. I thought oh, it would be nice to move somewhere that has a pool. When we first looked [at the listing], there was no pool here. When we came to talk to the on-site agent, they were building a pool. One of the big selling points for me was no yard work. Now, I don’t have to worry about mowing the yard. I don’t have to worry about trimming the shrubbery or putting down new pine straw.
At a Glance
Diana Krause’s new townhome in Lilburn has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and about 2,500 square feet. She purchased it in August. Townhomes in Creekside Manor, a gated neighborhood, are in the $100,000s.
