Re: At what point do you decide to "settle" for a house that isn't what you REALLY want?

Hard to say, it's different for everyone. I don't call it settling, I call it compromising. If you're unwilling to compromise on many things, you may pay more or have to wait longer. It sounds like you're not asking for much though.

We compromised on our current home (first house). We were trying out the neighborhood and love it as much or more since we bought. Now we know we want to stay around, but for our next home (probably 5 years or so), we will take our time.

Our priorities will be different and so will the items we compromise on. I understand wanting to commiserate but you can't really go by what anyone else does in the end.

The year we were looking, we did not see any new houses come on the market late in the season. The only thing we saw were houses that were above our price limit come down a bit. But because we had already been looking 50K+ above our limit, it was nothing new and not worth waiting for. So I wouldn't hang your hat on that.

If I were you... I would keep looking but start getting used to the idea of waiting until next season also. I'm sorry you're in the situation you're in, and I can understand where you're coming from. I hope you do find what you want.

Re: At what point do you decide to "settle" for a house that isn't what you REALLY want?

we're in a similar situation, we're not actively looking but I'm getting really antsy bc I'm not loving our house, the layout etc...I have a location in mind, but the prices are still through the roof for the size and type of house we want...DH seems to think prices will still go down, and he doesn't want ME to settle bc he knows that if I do, we'll be in the same situation in a few years again me wanting to move bc the house isn't exactly what I wanted, so he would rather wait and get something exactly what I want, then be in the same situation again!!!

Re: At what point do you decide to "settle" for a house that isn't what you REALLY want?

Re: At what point do you decide to "settle" for a house that isn't what you REALLY want?

I don't think you should completely "settle" for a home. This is a place you're going to be living for years, possibly decades. You should like it.

With that said, you might want to prioritize your "must have" list. What items a flexible? What does you DH absolutely want in a house? Have you seen anything that fulfills most of your criteria? Try an visualize the homes you see with your paint choices, your furniture, your knick-knacks. Sometimes we get so caught up in the previous owner's taste (or lack of) that we ignore the house.

Good luck! Your house is out there!!

Re: At what point do you decide to "settle" for a house that isn't what you REALLY want?

i guess i feel like settling and comprimising are two different things...

we didn't get a lakeview but we got a preserve view - we would have preferred the lake view but in the end we wanted privacy and the preserve is actually more private than the lake would have been - so to us, that wasn't really settling - more of comprimising....

same with the pool - at first we wanted our own private pool but instead we found something with a really nice community pool...which for us means no maintenance and we won't have the big expense of building our own - so again more of a comprimise....

settling would have been not getting a private yard and no pool at all....

we still got 4 bedrooms, still have 2 car garage, and got a house with more character and more living space....so those "comprimises" make it totally worth it!

Message edited 9/2/2009 11:55:44 AM.

Re: At what point do you decide to "settle" for a house that isn't what you REALLY want?

We "settled" because I was 8 months pregnant and didn't want to be living in a condo with an infant and going up and down 7 floors in the elevator to do laundry.

We found a house on a great piece of property in the town we wanted that had a good layout, a fireplace, wood floors and all replacement windows.

Cosmetically, it was NOT what we wanted, but so far fresh paint is helping a lot. It doesn't have air conditioning and we still need to redo the bathrooms. I also wish we had 2 closets in the master bedroom instead of sharing one.

We compromised on some things but not on others. There was no way we were going to get the perfect house in the perfect town for what we wanted to spend. So far it is working out and slowly the house is becoming ours.