Did you love your first home?

Hi all! I found this forum last night and am excited to have found a forum specific to LI. I currently live in Brooklyn but am planning to move to LI. In fact, my husband and I have put an offer on a house. The truth of the matter is that I don't love the house. I think that a house that I would love would not be in my price range.

This will be our first home and I already know that it will not be my "forever" home. Knowing that I don't plan to stay in this house, is it okay to treat this as a business transaction? My husband on the other hand really likes the house and I'm thinking that should be enough to make up for my lack of love for the house. Am I wrong in thinking this way?

One of my biggest problems is that there is dark panelling EVERYWHERE! The only rooms that don't have the panelling if I remember it correctly are the kitchen, living room, mudrooms, and bathrooms. All the bedrooms have panelling as well as the family room and dining room.

Everyone seems to feel that we are getting the house for a good price but I'm not sure how much work/money is involved with finding solutions to panelling. I think my biggest concern is that when I'm ready to move I won't be able to find a buyer because of all the panelling.

I would greatly appreciate it if you tell me how you felt about your house or any other thoughts on the matter.

Thanks so much for reading my lengthy post. Sorry so long!

Re: Did you love your first home?

I would love the house if we were a little old couple with no kids but since we are a young couple just starting our family there are a lot of things that just don't work for us. But we had to make the best out of what we have.

I'm always telling myself that one day we'll be able to move up into a house that will fit us better but for now we're just grateful that we even own a home in a good school district for being so young

Message edited 1/16/2009 3:04:04 PM.

Re: Did you love your first home?

It's not a problem to remove panelling and just put up sheet rock. We've done that to a few rooms and it looks wonderful. We've also painted over some of the wood and it doesn't look half bad. When you purchase a new house, it's not going to be entirely to your liking. You're going to have years to change it. No one says you have to keep the panelling.

If panelling is the only thing you don't like, then I think that you lucked out.

Congrats on the new home!

Re: Did you love your first home?

Thanks Stefanie and LiveAgain...your posts are definitely reassuring.

The other two things I don't like about the house can't be changed but I didn't really want to be a whiner. The stairs are directly in front of the door and there is no basement but I guess first homes help you appreciate second homes right?

I'm sure that I can stick it out...I just want to be able to hook it up just enough so that when its my turn to sell, a prospective buyer won't be posting on the Internet wondering if its a good purchase for their first home.

Message edited 7/3/2008 11:14:50 AM.

Re: Did you love your first home?

Posted by Stefanie
When you purchase a new house, it's not going to be entirely to your liking. You're going to have years to change it. No one says you have to keep the panelling.

If panelling is the only thing you don't like, then I think that you lucked out.

Congrats on the new home!

Re: Did you love your first home?

We've been looking for a home for a while now, and I have the same feelings about paneling.

Instead of doing the costly removal of paneling, if it isn't your forever home, I would paint the paneling to brighten up the rooms. I don't think you have to LOVE your first home, but you should be excited. These are all thig
From HGTV:
Living with dark, outdated wood paneling, or log home siding is not a must. Even without a large remodeling and redecorating budget, paneled walls and log home siding can be wood grained and or painted to create a brighter, better wall space in any living area for just a small investment of time and money. The difference created by simply painting paneled walls is dramatic, and an investment well worth the effort.


If you have tired of dark wood paneling or just want to brighten a paneled room or log home, you can paint or woodgrain the paneling, provided you properly prepare the surface. This involves removing grease and dirt and scuff-sanding the factory finish so the paint will adhere better. Before you start, consider your options. If for example, inexpensive paneling has been applied over furring strips nailed over drywall or plaster, you might want to remove the paneling and furring, make the necessary wall repairs, and paint the walls. In most cases, however, the easiest approach is to paint the paneling, and drywall tape all seams necessary.

Re: Did you love your first home?

Welcome to the board and congrats!

We are in our first home, but it might be our forever home. We will see. I think paneling is a small problem. There might be sheetrock behind the paneling, so then you can just take the paneling down and fix and paint the walls. The house will look completely different at that point. But if you have to keep the paneling, you can surely paint over it and it will look so much better and really brighten up the house. Believe me I understand what you are feeling. My DH really saw potential in our house. I usually can see a lot of potential, but this house was pretty bad when we first bought it. Take a look at my album with the "Old" pics and you will see what I mean. Believe me we have done a lot of work and we love the house now....or at least starting to love it. See "New" house pics for what we have done. Good Luck with your new home. It can be very rewarding and you might really love it in the end!

Re: Did you love your first home?

we don't own it yet, but i love our new home! could it use some expansion/improvements, sure... but overall i think it's adorable and perfect for our small family.

i know that my DH and i are very picky and even for a very good price, if we didn't love at least the layout of the house and the neighborhood it was in, we would not buy it, because we would only buy a house we planned on living in for a while.

Re: Did you love your first home?

I love my first home, but we completely redid it. Anything is possible, you can take any home and turn it into your dream home

Re: Did you love your first home?

DH bought the house before we were together. It's older and not really renovated.

It is really a starter home but we are trying to make it work.

I am now in a "remodeling" mode.

Re: Did you love your first home?

I dont love our house either and we've been in it since 2000!! We are staying put for a little while longer though, as we continue to finish up some house projects and make some improvements. Time goes so fast, so before we know it, we'll have been here 10 years...While some things "grew" on me, the must haves are not there and we will eventually move when the time is right!

Re: Did you love your first home?

Our house had tons of paneling.. we just ripped it off and put sheet rock up. When we bought it last year we had to redo the kitchen and bathroom and the roof... but I always loved it.. and we have years to make it even better than it is now.

Re: Did you love your first home?

I loved, loved, loved my 1st home. When my STBX and I originally bought it, it was a nightmare and needed literally everything. But what it was when we sold it was everything I ever wanted in a home (spacious, airy, great features, etc.). It broke my heart to give up my home.

Now that I am in the running on the house I'm currently looking to buy, I didn't want to settle. It may not be in the most ideal location for me, but it has all the components of my "dream home" (fireplace, big basement, yard, four bedrooms, etc.). Unless I have triplets on my next turn at maternity, we won't grow out of this home and it's in amazing shape. There was other smaller homes we looked at that would be more reasonable but I knew eventually I would not be happy with them. This one (fingers crossed), I will

Re: Did you love your first home?

Boy I love this thread. I am not in love with my house. My Dh is. This is the house he lived in his entire life. His grandfather built it and when we got married we bought it from my MIL. What I do like about it is the location. We are set off on a dirt road and it is very private, no neighbors on top of us. But as far as the house, oh I could go on. I agree with OP, the house I would love we probably couldn't afford now, MIL gave us some $ off on this one. What don't I love? Most of all I don't like the way it is set up. It's a 3 br ranch, with a living room, small dining room and a den that used to be a garage many years ago. ( Mind you, my MIL was widowed young and had to have 3 jobs to support herself so alot was neglected from the house. Luckily DH is a contractor and does 99% of the work himself. ) Anyhow, we have 1 bathroom, which is not horrible, but I just feel like the bathroom and bedrooms and living room are right on top of each other and are right there when u walk in the house. Two of the bedrooms are nice sized and one is tiny. There is almost no closet space. Two tiny hall closets you can barely fit your arm in. The basement was made into an aprtment and my cousin lives down there with my BIL so that helps $wise. Most of my peeves are fixable and we are working on it little by little but alot of work has to be done and I guess I make the best of it since we got a good deal on the place. We have no cement walkway, so walking to my car Ihave to walk thru dirt and grass. I guess once Dh is done and we make our updates and changes, I may love it more. We have a nice big pool area but its not paved, its all grass and it grosses me out. We want to put an in-groundpool one day so then the pool area will be redone. I hate the windows, they are those long Anderson windows and the house has no central air. So we had to go get a casement a/c and stick an old regular a/c in sideways. I do love the fireplace (pics in album!) Its all stone and is in the middle of the house so that whether you sit in the den or living room you can enjoy it. Again, I am grateful dont get me wrong, but its not a house I would have picked. I guess I waqnted to make Dh happy and it is our starter home. I look at other peoples homes and I hate mine, whichis a horrible feeling. But I am pretty hopeful once we finish (years from now!) I will likei t more.

Message edited 7/3/2008 7:43:23 PM.

Re: Did you love your first home?

Welcome to the boards. Sounds to me like you are buying a Levitt Cape. I have the same house you are describing.

Danielle and I bought back in the bubble of 2005. Our house was an estate sale and we got it for an amazing price. The inside of our house was all white, with tan carpeting.

Since we bought the house, we knocked down walls, redid the bathroom, semi redid the kitchen, and did so much other work to the inside and outside of the house.

The re are two things I do not like about my house and they are no basement, and no 2nd bathroom.

In the future if we decide to stay here, we are going to put in a second bathroom, possibly dormer, a front Portico and a small porch in the front.

I love Levittown. Love the town, the people, the area and the school are great.

For your house, removing panelling and putting up sheet rock may be expensive, but it will possibly help you love the house more.

Also doing other work to the house to make it yours will help you.....

At the beginning our house was dull and boring. Now every room in our house has color and it is warm and inviting.

Who knows if I will live here forever....but I do love my home.

Scott

Re: Did you love your first home?

Doing some updates like fixing that paneling will help you later on if you do in fact decide to sell.

Re: Did you love your first home?

i loved my home when we first bought it because it was completely redone and the seller flipped it to us.

Four years later plus one baby...i have a very soft spot in my heart for our first home but it is WAY too small for us. So in the next yeat we'll either move or do an extension. I just love where I live and my neighbors so I'd hate to move! Just not sure what we'll be able to afford since we purchased in 2004 and the value hasn't appreciated much at all.

Re: Did you love your first home?

I love the potential of my house. We are working on it all the time and we have been here a year now and I love it.

Re: Did you love your first home?

Re: Did you love your first home?

I think with any home there are things you may not love in a home (my DH and I are on our second home now and there are things we still need to change in this home) but I think you have to make sure before you buy any house that you like the neighborhood and your piece of property, because those two things you can't change (uneless you literalllyl move the entire house).

Re: Did you love your first home?

Removing the paneling is an easy fix. We had a whole living room full of it and now we don't!

FYI, the stairs have to be in front of the door - that's fire code. The stairs must lead to the front door. David's uncle is a retired NYC fire captain, and that's what he told us.

Re: Did you love your first home?

When you open my front door you see my stairs, they are right in front your your face.

My advice is to make it "your home", make it "you."
Put lots of thought into decorating it. Bring it to life!
Once you bring your taste into it, you'll like it so much more.
Bottom line is right now it's just a house. You need to make it a home.

Re: Did you love your first home?

Re: Did you love your first home?

Re: Did you love your first home?

Not in love with it b/c there are so many things I want to do to it...but I love our location. I know over time it will look the way I want it to. I will love it then.