how did you know

what made you decide that your house was the one you wanted to buy?

everything we've looked at so far has had some kind of drawback, which i imagine is to be expected, so it's been a lot of weighing the pros & cons and deciding what we can live with and what we can't. i think i've been looking for an intuitive signal also--like i would know my future house the way i knew my future husband. we went to look at a place yesterday, and it has a lot of pros (some cons), but at the end of the day i just couldn't picture living there.

am i being too intuitive about a big investment like this?

Re: how did you know

i loved our house the moment we saw it, but neither of us were sure we wanted a house with one level (it's a ranch).

we were going to buy another house (splanch) and that deal fell through. then we put and offer in on our dream home (colonial) and it was never accepted. we were devastated because we both felt like that was THE ONE.

we ended up going back to see the first house and fell in love with it all over again. and now that we've painted and fixed the floors and made it more "ours" it's even better! plus the more we are there, the more we see the pros and not the cons.

my advice is: don't rush it. but don't think that you're going to get everything you want either! make a list of things you absolutely cannot compromise on, and a list of things that you are willing to move past. that might help you choose a house that's right for you.

Re: how did you know

It was the only house without a pink or blue bathroom!

Really though, we saw so many duds that when we walked into our house, we knew immediately. I guess I had a list in my head of things I could live with or things I couldn't live w/out and this met all of those items.

Re: how did you know

Yes, every house had some drawback, and in fact, the house we bought had a few drawbacks, but something about it just felt like home, even though we had a lot of work to do to it. I knew it the moment I walked in and no other house felt like home to us.

Re: how did you know

Many houses have drawbacks but eventually you find one that has drawbacks you really don't care about.

When we walked into what is now our house back in April, I remember knowing that I wanted to live there just from looking at the 1st floor. Once I saw the 2nd floor, I was in love. I remember walking out and telling my DH and realtor that I "needed" to live there. I just knew. It wasn't perfect - the kitchen is small, the owner was a hunter and so there is wallpaper with deer on it all over but none of that mattered too much. It was a home I knew I would be happy in and proud to call my own.

You'll know. I really believe that. It happened when we were looking for our 1st apt in NYC too.

GL!

Re: how did you know

The house I am currently looking at is so dammed CHEAP I would be an idiot NOT to buy it.

I can put a full dormer on it and after the cost of the full dormer, it would still be less than what other houses are going for in the area.

No brainer financial move.

Re: how did you know

its really really hard. we have found and made offers on 5 houses so far. We were out bid on all but 2. one we walked away from after home inspection and another one we changed our minds (we only had a verbal offer in) because the house was just to small.

Considering we aren't spending a million dollars or having a house custom built, I feel like there is ALWAYS going to be something we don't like. The most important thing for us is that the "bones" to the house are really good. Everything else can be changed over time. the structure is very expensive to repair, so if something is a con in that dept. we keep moving.

I think its kinda the same thing as a wedding dress. Some people try on a dress and just "know" its the one. Others don't, they just really like the dress. Good luck!

Re: how did you know

In our case it was about how much potential the house had because we wanted something we could work on. We saw 10 houses and had a top 3 but could not stop picturing ourselves in the one that we ultimately bought. That's how we chose. It's not easy.
Good Luck :)

Re: how did you know

ours was a total mess, we bought it as is but we were able to see the potential and the price was so low. We knew we could flip it for a profit if it didn't turn out to be right for us. This was in 2004 FTR. We were 100% sure of this neighborhood and homes this size are rare here so we made our offer within two minutes of entering the house.
It has become home over time.

Re: how did you know

At first I was stalking it online, due to one GREAT picture the REA took and posted on MLSLI.com. Then when we saw it, we "liked" it, but we wanted to see what else was out there.

The net time we saw it, I compared it to the other house we liked and when that "other" house wouldn't budge in price, I knew it was meant to be. I think the house just needs a cleaning, some treee trimming, lighter paint, and our touch and it will be perfect!

Re: how did you know

I saw our house first, then took DH back cause I loved the layout. The current REA said we would never get the seller to come down to what we could afford (almost $50k less). The house then went into contract and we found another house and went into contract with that one. Then our contract fell through so we changed realators and the 1st house came back on the market, well we saw it again bid on it and got it for what we could afford. Sucks that the 1st agent was money hungry cause she lost out on a sale

Re: how did you know

we found a couple that we like. one that we liked more than the others. we put in an offer, and they wouldn't counter...