What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

DH and I went to our first open house today. It was very exciting even though before we even got out of the car, we knew it was not the house for us. There were certain things we simply could not over look - particularly the fact that there was no street parking except for Saturdays, Sundays and holidays as the home was just one block away from a commercial area. Being close to a commercial area was NOT the deal breaker - Im used to that, but the street parking thing was.

We went to this open house because it did list everything we wanted in terms of # of bedrooms and bathrooms, basement, land, school district, cost and taxes on the MLS, but aside from the obvious "no-no's" (ie SMALL bedrooms and kitchen), this parking thing was something we could not ever get past and was a MAJOR deal breaker. We realize that other types of deal breakers will come up that we will either see immediately or miss which is why before signing on any dotted lines, we would of course bring someone to check them out.

When you were buying a home, what were YOUR deal-breakers aside from obvious things? TIA.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

we had a long list of them, but the longer we looked the more fustrating it became and then we shortened it and said we would consider certain things

In the end we didn't scarfice a thing!! the wait was worth it

no garage-its not an option at all
no trian tracks or busy roads in front yard or back
not on a busy road
no corner lot
doesn't back up to school or commercial property
not in the direct path of an airport
driveway that couldn't hold 2 cars

Message edited 2/28/2010 10:28:57 PM.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

had to be on a cul-de-sac
had to have a fireplace
had to have an attached garage
had to have a large, flat piece of property

We got all of the above must haves but sacrificed in other areas. Every room has to be updated. I was cool with that though because the worst thing I found when house hunting was walking into an updated kitchen and hating the countertops or appliances. I would feel bad ripping new stuff out. This crap is old so it's all going!!

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

for us we needed the following in the areas we wanted
-garage
-all the bedrooms needed to be on one floor, with the exception of an office type of room not being on that floor
-Dh wanted a pool I could have done without
-4 bedrooms
-big dining room
-we wanted something almost move in ready. We had bought a fixer up before this one and we didn't want to go through the reno with 2 kids under 2

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

Deal breakers for us:

Only one bathroom, we wanted at least 1.5
Less than three bedrooms
Taxes over a certain $$
House on a main road
Mold/water damage (it was insane how many houses had this in the basement)


Honestly, that was it We really, really tried to keep an open mind with our first house. We went to see everything that had 1.5 ba and 3+ bedrooms that was in our price range, tax range and areas we wanted to live in. We just felt like after seeing a few, pictures and MLS listings did no justice to a house.
Houses that photographed great were awful in person many times, houses with almost no pictures and description would end up great.
Ultimately, the charm of our home, combined with the number of bedrooms, the number of bathrooms and all the extras we weren't using as deal breakers we what sold us.
For example, now that we have a porch, basement, two car garage, fenced in property and formal dinging room and den, I could never buy another house without those things.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

Not on a major road
Did not back up to commercial area
Is in a neighborhood
Does not back up to train tracks
Does not have huge wires running through the property or near a transformer
Does not back up to a school

Needs
Backyard
At least 3 bathrooms
Good closet/storage space
Good school district
I know this is not our forever home, however, I know things happen and I wanted to be assured we are in a good school district.
We sacrificed on a garage and additional bedrooms. If we had those things, then I would be happy here for much longer. We have 2 deeded parking spaces and you can park on the culdesack any time you want.

In our new home I want
4 bedrooms
at least 3 bathrooms
Eat in kitchen
Living room
Dining room
Den
washer/dryer upstairs (we have this now and I will never give it up)
boiler/furnace/gas/water in basement
Basement
Garage
Flat backyard
good neighborhood/school district

I don't mind if our next house needs upgrades so that I can do it to my taste. Our current house was our first purchase and I needed move in ready. I think we are now able to adjust better and have the experience to deal with some reno projects.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

The house condition and even the floorplan didn't matter to us, we were looking for a total fixer so we knew we'd be changing some things.

We compromised on no garage, which we really wanted.
No basement would have been a deal breaker.
A main road, close to an industrial area or shooping center was also a deal breaker.
Like Rachel we felt that we got so many extras that we now love and wouldn't want to do without, it was a good trade-off.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

We only had 2 absolute dealbreakers
- it had to have a garage
- and at least 3 bedrooms

Other than that we were looking at fixer uppers so I figured I could fix the house.

We ended up with everything we would need and more except a basement.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

Our deal breakers:

No basement

3 or 4 bedrooms

Double Yellow line in front of house

No potential for hardwood floors without having to install them ourselves (ie carpet was okay as long as there were hardwoods under them)

Bedrooms all on same floor

School district

oil heating system

In retro spect, I would consider the following after the fact :

Size of bedrooms does not matter b/c we never planned on spending time in them.

Size of Kitchen would totally matter

Large open size family room/den...as we do most of our entertaining here and ours is very small. we are actually planning on remodeling our den now, if we don't plan on selling.

I still believe that 1.5 baths is enough.

4 bedrooms instead of the three that we have

Slop sink in basement

Mud room

Message edited 3/1/2010 9:13:10 AM.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

No main roads - and nothing within viewing/hearing distance of any kind of main road.

It HAD to have at least 3 bedrooms.

A backyard, we could not have lived in a home that had no yard, especially with kids.

A good school district. This was going to be our forever home and that was something we could not settle on.

It HAD to have a basement.

Message edited 3/1/2010 9:06:42 AM.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

We wanted 4 bedrooms on the same floor, good schools, nice yard and just an overall "feeling" in the house.

We sacrificed on a garage....not the ideal, but we don't have a garage. It was converted to a huge den/family room. We have a large shed, which I know isn't the same but it wasn't a deal breaker for us. Of course we wanted a garage, but we quickly realized in our price/tax range and to stay in Nassau we were going to have to make some sacrifices.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

Sounds like you were looking at the house up the block that had an open house yesterday...LOL.

The no parking issue doesn't bother me b.c in our village there is no street parking at night.

We didn't want to be ON a major road - a few houses in was okay but when I was born I lived in the same town we live in now but on a major road and NEVER again I wouldn't want to have children in a house like that.

Has to be a good school district - but we limited out search to only certain towns.

I didn't want to be on a certain side of town b.c there are problems on that side so location is definitely a deal breaker.

A bigger kitchen a basement, storage space.

Honestly I don't like to rule things out right away - I like to look in an area, with a specific school district - then I take each house as it comes - b.c sometimes I said no way - then realized when we saw the house it didn't bother me.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

Deal breakers for us are no finished basement and no garage. I could live without a garage but DH wants one badly!!

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

No major roads
had to have at least 3 beds and 2 baths
had to have a basement
master bedroom had to fit a king bed and set
price
taxes

It took us a long time to get this believe it or not.

It's not a big list.

Message edited 3/1/2010 9:57:40 AM.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

For our next home:

We really only have one neighborhood we want to live in which is going to be hard bc of the prices of homes, so we are going to have to be flex with a lot of things BUT a few musts are:

* more than one bathroom--prefer at least 2.

* a big kitchen-we spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

* formal dining room

* finished basement

* not on major road

Message edited 3/1/2010 10:11:29 AM.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

I said no to:

*Huge School Districts
*Major Roadways or roads with heavy traffic
*Neighborhoods with an overabundance of 'unkempt' houses or properties
*Living next to, across from or behind apartment complexes or short term housing
*Anything in a flood zone (flood insurance is $$$$)
*Anything in the center of the island.. I wanted to be closer to the water.
*Anything too close to commercially zoned properties.
*Houses with less than 2 baths.
*Houses with less than 3 good sized bedrooms.
*Houses with limited storage.
*Properties less that .25 acres.. and even then I wanted the property primarily in the back. I saw too many houses with HUGE front and/or side lawns.. but nothing in the back.

I didn't care so much about the condition of the house.. as long as it was 'fixable' within our budget.

Message edited 3/1/2010 10:15:42 AM.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

Our deal-breakers -

*no garage
*no basement
*less than 2 full bathrooms
(for some this may not be a deal breaker, but we had 2 teenagers and I was not sharing a bathroom with them)
*on a corner property (did not want the traffic)
*dead end or one way street

Everything else was pretty negotiable.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

Thanks everyone. Most of those things are on our list too. There were other things that we saw that didn't " do it" for us either like location of the boiler in the basement, galley-type of kitchen, no family room.

I'm still pumped about searching though. At almost 40 years old, I finally feel like a grown up.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

Message edited 3/1/2010 10:49:04 AM.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

one other thing...

the fact that I have an upstairs with all bedrooms and a bathroom is awesome when I have company over...nobody goes up there b/c we have a bathroom on the 1st floor. I only clean the bottom half in a pinch!

so make sure that the next time you come over, don't go upstairs, bc you'll get to see how we really live at the Flatbread house!!!!

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

Def dealbreakers:
so so schools + high taxes (there was a house I loved that was "Garden City" but Hempstead schools and the taxes were astronomical!)

Main roads
Commercial property too close
far enough away from the water to not have to be "flood zone"--another house we looked at was near a canal and we wouldn't have been able to get homeowners there
Bad neighbors (overgrown properties, bad looking house)
small bedrooms and small kitchen were two major dealbreakers
Needed 2 full baths, DH and I get ready and leave close to the same time.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

Posted by MrsFlatbread

Posted by Goldi0218

Thanks everyone. Most of those things are on our list too. There were other things that we saw that didn't " do it" for us either like location of the boiler in the basement, galley-type of kitchen, no family room.

I'm still pumped about searching though. At almost 40 years old, I finally feel like a grown up.

OH yeah...and I think you should consider a home not being in the Smithtown Vicinity a deal breaker!

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

Posted by Goldi0218

Posted by MrsFlatbread

Posted by Goldi0218

Thanks everyone. Most of those things are on our list too. There were other things that we saw that didn't " do it" for us either like location of the boiler in the basement, galley-type of kitchen, no family room.

I'm still pumped about searching though. At almost 40 years old, I finally feel like a grown up.

OH yeah...and I think you should consider a home not being in the Smithtown Vicinity a deal breaker!

We are NOT I repeat NOT crossing the county line. Sorry.

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

deal breakers:
we had to have 3 bedrooms
at least 1 n 1/2 baths
had to have a basement
nice size yard

wanted:
a fireplace
a garage
a shed
fenced in yard
2 baths

Re: What were your "deal breakers" when looking at homes?

Posted by MrsFlatbread

Posted by Goldi0218

Posted by MrsFlatbread

Posted by Goldi0218

Thanks everyone. Most of those things are on our list too. There were other things that we saw that didn't " do it" for us either like location of the boiler in the basement, galley-type of kitchen, no family room.

I'm still pumped about searching though. At almost 40 years old, I finally feel like a grown up.

OH yeah...and I think you should consider a home not being in the Smithtown Vicinity a deal breaker!

We are NOT I repeat NOT crossing the county line. Sorry.

Well, then I think Syosset would be the best alternative!